d. Christianity
has done more for the world than any other religion or principle and yet
it has never been given the chance it should be given to do its complete
work among men. When you look about you and behold the suffering and
misery, the sin and shame, can you but offer a prayer that the day will
soon come when a large number of our strong men shall receive a training
for the ministry which shall fit them to battle effectively with these
great problems which confront us in this modern age? Unless it is done we
go backward. Here is the Negro's great opportunity, viz: To let
Christianity have a chance through him. Will he lose it?

The great reformers of the church have always been men of the broadest
training. Luther and Calvin were not only preachers as we think of
preachers, but also were men of splendid legal training. Dr. F. J. Grimke,
(who is highly esteemed and respected as a minister), not only is a high
honor man of the Divinity School of Princeton University, but also is a
graduate in law as well. Henry Ward Beecher, the greatest preacher America
ever produced, had a law library that any young lawyer would be glad to
have, and a medical library that would be a credit to any young physician.
There was not a phase of knowledge with which he did not have some
acquaintance. The broad training these men had gave them the mastery of
difficult problems. When we shall have a large number of thoroughly
trained men of unquestioned character whose hearts are warm with the love
of God and whose eyes behold the true condition of their people, and whose
hands shall be ready to work for the good of an inspiring race, then we
shall see the kingdom of God come among men in a larger way than it is
possible for us now even to imagine. While many have not had the privilege
of securing the training which fits us to understand in the most
comprehensive way many of the problems which are round about us, it is
still possible for every minister to qualify himself so that he may be a
workman which needeth not to be ashamed. Unfortunately a great many of our
ministers do not do what they might. For some cause they do not purchase
books at all, or do not purchase them as wisely as they should. It is a
poor plan to spend money for books which agents carry about from place to
place. They are generally high-priced and little used after they are
bought. Find out what you ought to buy by reading reviews and by
consulting with men who certai