The frequent occurrence of incidents like this fill all our hearts with deep awe and invest every act and word with a tender solemnity. We feel the majestic presence in our midst of One seeking and saving that which was lost.
Pray for us, brethren, that the will of God may be fully wrought among us, and these youths, so eager for that education which is so necessary for the future well-being of the South, be enriched above all other getting with “the gift of eternal life.”
M. L. BERGER.
FISK UNIVERSITY.
The time has come in the religious history of the year in Fisk University when an account of the work done may be given. I have no doubt that it will interest and encourage the friends of the Association.
During the week of prayer for the Y. M. C. A. among colleges, the young men of the institution who belong to the Y. M. C. A. of Fisk held meetings and did good work among the young men who do not profess to be Christians. As a result, three or four were hopefully converted.
The week of prayer was observed in the institution, meetings being held immediately after supper. From the beginning to the end the attendance was large and the interest great. The meetings continued four weeks, and have just closed. Twenty-five of the students have been converted, including the three or four who were converted during the week of prayer held by the young men. The interest culminated at the meetings during the day of prayer for colleges.
The afternoon meeting of that day was one of the most remarkable ever held in the University. At the beginning of the meeting, President Cravath gave the following statistics of the higher grades: Students in college, 42, professing Christians, 37; Normal students, 40, professing Christians, 36; College preparatory students, 46, professing Christians, 34. Total number in higher grades, 126; total number of professing Christians, 121, or about 86 per cent.
The key-note to the meeting was given by George McLellan, a former graduate, who had studied theology at Hartford for a year. He said that in a meeting at Hartford he found that Fisk had a larger percentage of Christian students than any other college represented in the meeting, but that the students of Fisk were not entering the ministry in such large numbers as the students from other colleges were.
The key-note once struck, a most interesting discussion arose as to why the students of Fisk were not entering the ministry. Different causes were assigned, which may be reduced to one or two. There is not sufficient inducement offered to the young men to become ministers; the claims of the ministry are not presented with sufficient stress; the churches are so few and so small that the prospect is very discouraging; if a young man offers himself for the ministry, he must go North to study theology, where he is in danger of being educated out of sympathy with his people. The Southern schools have no well-equipped seminaries in which young men may be educated.