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AN EDUCATED MINISTRY.

To determine relatively the education of the ministry of the different denominations, it would be very erroneous to compare the whole number of theological students in one denomination with the whole number of some other. If one denomination has only half as many members as another, the number of its theological students should also be only half as large, if the ministerial education and ministerial supply be proportionately equal in the two denominations. The Baptists have 1,101 theological students, while the Congregationalists have only 626, but it should not be concluded that the Baptist ministry is therefore better educated than the Congregational, for there are about seven times as many Baptists in the United States as there are Congregationalists.

If we consider the number of members in the Congregational Church, we find that they have a larger number of theological students relatively than any other denomination, and consequently we would expect them to have the best-educated ministry. For every 10,000 members in the Congregational Church there are over 12 theological students. The Presbyterians rank second, with 11 students for every 10,000 members; the Episcopalians third, with 8 students, followed closely by the Lutherans. In the Catholic Church there are not quite 2 theological students to 10,000 members; in the Methodist Church a fraction over 2, and in the Baptist not quite 3. The above figures show more conclusively than anything else that some modifying circumstances must be taken into consideration. For instance, it is well known that the Catholic priesthood are usually well educated, although the diagram would indicate differently. Again, the ministerial supply may be much greater proportionally in one denomination than in another.

COLLEGIATE TRAINING OF THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS.

There is little doubt that taken as a whole a larger number of theological students have received a collegiate training than any other class of professional students. In the forms sent out to professional schools the question was asked, how many students had received the degree A. B. or B. S. The replies from theological schools were far more satisfactory than from any of the others. Of the 147 theological schools all answered the question except 43. Quite a number of the larger seminaries publish this information in their annual catalogues, giving name and residence of each student, the college he attended, and year of graduation, if a graduate.

In the theological schools which answered this question there were 4,699 students, and of these 2,185 had received the degree A. B. or B. S. It is probable that this is a fair and correct representation of the number in theological schools. Nearly onehalf of the theological students are, therefore, graduates of colleges (46.5 per cent). On account of the defective returns in regard to this item from the other classes of schools, it has been found impossible to compare the percentage of college graduates among theological students with those in law, medicine, etc. Of the 67 law schools no information was received from 25 schools having 3,129 students, and in some cases where the question was answered it was evidently incorrect. Judging from the returns received, only about 20 per cent of law students are college graduates. The information from medical schools was evidently so imperfect that no attempt was made to tabulate the answers.

WOMEN IN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES.

There are in the United States 147 distinct theological schools and departments of universities giving theological training, the students until recent years being young men in almost if not entirely all of them. But while woman has been making her way into so many new spheres of activity, and has been looking around for still other Celds to conquer, her eyes have rested on the umbrageous walks in the theological

domain, where the vocation of enlisting men and women on the side of sobriety and godliness, and of pointing out to them the duty and advantages thereof, is held to be of such worth to mankind as to compensate for free education and a maintenance while receiving it. While she has been granted admission to many colleges and universities, she was not to be appeased by any annex to a theological school. As so many women are going out as missionaries to China, Japan, Egypt, and other countries, they desire some training in theological studies in order to accomplish a full measure of success. Where can they receive this training so well as in a theological school? For such reasons we find the names of women occurring quite frequently in some theological catalogues. Tufts College Divinity School had 4 women enrolled in 1893-94, Hartford Theological Seminary had 10, and at Newton Theological Institution there were 6 preparing for foreign missions.

BENEFACTIONS.

The Chicago Theological Seminary of the Congregational Church was the recipient of the largest benefaction during the year, $470,612. Of this amount, $180,000 was contributed by Dr. D. K. Pearsons.

The Lutheran Seminary, at Gettysburg, Pa., received $38,710. "The real estate of the institution, consisting of a seminary building and three professors' houses, with some 20 acres of ground, is valued at $75,000. The general endowment fund amounts to $110,820, and the scholarship endowment to $15,146. The library numbers over 11,000 volumes. The board of directors have taken steps for the enlargement and strengthening of the institution. As the beginning of this, a new building is in process of erection, mainly for lecture and recitation rooms, chapel, and library, the cost of which is in part provided for by a bequest of $22,000 from the late Matthew Eichelberger, of Gettysburg. The old building is to be remodeled and renovated." The Episcopal Theological Seminary, at Sewanee, Tenn., received $48,000. "The generous bequest of Mrs. M. D. Tustin as a memorial to her husband, Dr. J. P. Tustin, amounts to the endowment of a professorship. In addition, the gift by a prominent Northern churchman of $20,000, the interest of which is to be expended primarily upon the material fabric of the department, provides the means for adding many much-needed improvements, as steam heating, water supply, etc."

Mr. J. A. Alexander, of Woodford County, Ky., deeded to the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary property in Chicago valued at not less than $100,000.

Benefactions to theological schools in 1893–94.

Pacific Theological Seminary, California....

Divinity School of Yale University, Connecticut..

Catholic University of America, District of Columbia..

Gammon Theological Seminary, Georgia..

Chicago Theological Seminary, Illinois

Lutheran Seminary, Chicago, Ill..

Augustana Theological Seminary, Illinois.

Concordia College of Springfield, Ill..

College of the Bible, Lexington, Ky..

Wartburg Seminary of Dubuque, Iowa..

Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Kentucky.

Bangor Theological Seminary, Maine.....

$13,000 31, 375 35,000 50, 300 470, 642 5,000 3,500 13, 000

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6, 250 50,000 1,000 2,000 14, 368 15,000

34, 008 25,000

25,000

12,000

8,000

8,300

18,000

Oberlin Seminary, Ohio

Xenia Theological Seminary, Ohio.
Allegheny Theological Seminary, Pennsylvania
Western Theological Seminary, Pennsylvania..
Lutheran Seminary at Gettysburg, Pa....
Meadville Theological Seminary, Pennsylvania..
Columbia Theological Seminary, South Carolina.
Southwestern Presbyterian Seminary, Tennessee

Biblical Department of Vanderbilt University, Tennessee
Sewanee Theological Seminary, Tennessee

Rio Grande Congregational Training School, Texas.
Nashotah House, Wisconsin ..

Total benefactions.........

DEGREES FROM THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLS.

$2,000

18, 500

21, 121 14,500

38, 710

18, 000

6,000

1,500

2,500

48,000

4,476

25,000

1, 152, 116

In 1893 the Bureau of Education received an inquiry from a professor in a theological school as to what seminaries conferred a degree upon students completing the theological course and whether it was given by diploma. These questions were placed in the forms sent out to theological seminaries and the answers tabulated. (See tables of theological schools in another part of this volume.)

Of the 147 theological schools, a little more than one-third (51) replied that they gave a degree to students completing the course and 71 replied that they did not. Of the latter a few gave a simple certificate of completion of the course. Twentyfive did not answer the inquiry at all. All of those answering affirmatively gave the degree B. D. (bachelor of divinity) except 5 which gave S. T. B. (bachelor of sacred theology).

Of the 51 schools giving a degree upon completion of the course, 42 gave it by diploma, 3 did not, and 6 did not answer.

The Chicago Theological Seminary confers "the degree of bachelor of divinity upon college graduates who take in full the prescribed course in Hebrew and Greek, present a thesis on a prescribed theological topic, and pass the final examinations." In answer to the inquiry what degree is bestowed upon a student completing the course, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary says: "Full graduate Th. M., master in theology; eclectic graduate, Th. B., bachelor in theology; English graduate, Th. G., graduate in theology. Also, Th. D., doctor in theology, after an extensive graduate course."

In several schools the degree is granted only to those students who have taken A. B. or B. S. before entering the theological school.

BETTER PREACHERS

Bishop W. X. Ninde, of Detroit, Mich., says:1

"In schools of theology emphasis is placed on scholarship. The student is stimulated to enter deeply into the scientific aspect of the subject—to give himself to the severely critical study of the Scriptures until he shall become a finished exegete, employing his enthusiasm and strength on these lines, and deferring a studious application to the more practical features of his life work till he shall become fully and solely absorbed with it. The result is that graduates from our theological schools are often well equipped as scholars, and sound and forceful as thinkers, without being essentially improved as preachers. Perhaps it is painfully evident, especially in the case of men who have interrupted their ministry to take a school course, that while their preaching has gained in literary finish, it has lost somewhat in fervor and pathos, and is really not as acceptable to the people as it formerly was. The urgent call to-day is for live and magnetic preachers-for pulpits that can draw and move the people. While poor preaching is not wholly responsible for the nonchurch-going habits of multitudes among us, it is undoubtedly so in part. No man

Boston Zion's Herald, June 7, 1893.

will reach high success in the ministry who has not an enthusiastic love for preaching, not for the praise it will bring to himself, but as an instrument of blessing to others. No amount of learning will compensate for the lack of this. The student should be impressed from the beginning of his course to the end that the chief and dominating aim is to improve him as a preacher; that all the studies he is required to pursue are to serve this end directly or indirectly, and that if this end is not met his course for practical purposes will have proved little less than a dead failure. If theological schools have a great mission in our church it is along this line. The great need of our young ministers throughout the land is sympathetic but searching and faithful criticism, and, I should add, intelligent criticism. This they will seldom receive after they have entered upon their work. People will express their opinion by absenting themselves from church or by inattention while there, but the preacher will be tempted to attribute this to anything else rather than to his own faults. In the seminary these faults can be pointed out and corrected."

DIAGRAM 3.-Students in professional schools.

Medical students-21,802.

Theological-7,658.

Law-7,311.

Dental-4,152.

Pharmaceutical-3,658.

Nurse pupils-2,710.

Veterinary-554.

MEDICAL SCHOOLS.

INCREASED NUMBER OF STUDENTS.

The variation in the number of students of any particular class from one year to a succeeding year can not be regarded of special significance in determining the general growth, for many causes may be in operation to produce a result directly the reverse of the true one. Not only so, but the number of students from year to year will vary more or less without any special cause. To arrive at any definite conclusion, one must take the number of students for a series of years, or else take the numbers of two years sufficiently remote from each other to eliminate all minor variations. If we compare the number of students, for instance, of 1883-84 with the number in 1893-94, we can form very correct ideas of the growth. In 1883-84 the number of regular schools of medicine was 88, in 1893-94 it was 109; homeopathic schools in 1883-84, 13; in 1893-94, 19; eclectic, 9 in 1883-84, and 9 in 1893-94. Although there was a net increase during the decade of 42 in the number of medical schools, it should not be inferred that the permanent establishment of medical schools is easily accomplished, for we find that 12 schools which were in the list of 1883-84 are now defunct, while 3 others that launched their barks since that time were not able to stem the tide. It should be remembered, too, that the names of medical schools are not generally included in the list of this office until their second or third year; so that other schools that only survived a year or two may not have been included. The number of schools, however, is not of particular importance, for a struggling institution with a dozen students and with instructors whose only stipend is the name "Professor" counts for as much in making a total as an institution with a thousand students. The number of students is a far better index.

The students in regular medical schools in 1883-84 numbered 10,600; in 1893-94 they numbered 17,601, an increase of 66 per cent. Students in homeopathic schools in 1883-84 were 1,267; in 1893-94, 1,666, an increase of 31.5 per cent. The eclectic students numbered about the same at the two periods-767 in 1883–84, and 803 in 1893-94, an increase of only 4.7 per cent. The number of regular medical students increased more than twice as fast as homeopathic students, and more than fourteen times as fast as the eclectics.

If this increase in medical students continues, the question will soon be raised, What are they all to do? Where can so many find places to practice their profession? "It is no wonder that medical men complain of hard times when competition must necessarily be so keen. We presume that a rather large percentage of American medical students fall by the wayside, or, if they graduate, fail to pursue their profession. It is at best hard to understand how 8,000 new doctors every year can earn a living. It is, in fact, becoming constantly harder for a young medical man to get a foothold. What he lacks in training at college he makes up by long waiting after he gets his degree."

The ratio of medical students to population in the United States is about twice what it is in European countries. The following statistics from the Journal of the American Medical Association, January 12, 1895, give an exhibit of different countries: "United Kingdom (Great Britain and Ireland), 8,696 total registered medical students between 1889 and 1893; for the year 1893, based on yearly accretions, 7,000; population, 37,000,000.

'France, total number medical students inscribed on the books of the Paris Faculty of Medicine for 1894, 5,144; population, 40,000,000.

"Germany, total number medical students registered for 1894, 8,684; population, 50,000,000.

"United States and Canada, total number medical students in attendance in 1894, 20,800; population, 70,000,000.

1 Pacific Medical Journal.

*This was below the actual number; in the United States alone there were 21,802.

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