Decline in Ministry Candidates
According to statistics recently published in the Advance, there has been a marked falling off, of late years, in the number of college graduates who have entered the ministry. From 1837 to 1840 Oberlin sent out 56 graduates, 66 per cent. of whom entered the ministry; but of the 201 graduated from 1861 to 1870 only 31 per cent. entered the ministry. During about the same years the per cent. of graduates entering the ministry from Yale declined from 32 to 15; while the per cent. of those from Harvard decreased from 12 to 6. A number of other colleges make about the same showing. The Advance says: "We doubt not that some pastors find these facts solemnly suggestive." "These figures, even with the most favorable interpretation and largest allowance, are eloquent as to the demand for more men in the ministry."