Having first portrayed
Having first portrayed
Having first portrayed the eminently spiritual character which the ministerial office sustains — we shall then be prepared to regard some of the peculiar temptations to a lessening personal spirituality which the ministerial office involves. This in turn will conduct us to a consideration of the measure of personal holiness which the ministerial office demands.
The office of the Christian ministry sustains a character so peculiarly its own, that we can find no parallel to it in any other sphere of holy enterprise. It is so essentially divine in its origin, so purely spiritual in its character, so solemn and tremendous in its responsibility, so vast and far-reaching in its results — that it stands out apart from all other departments of Christian labor, towering in its own lofty greatness, and invested with its own solitary grandeur. But were we to select from its numerous characteristics, a single one more prominent and impressive than another — we would unhesitatingly place in the foreground its pre-eminent spirituality .
In support of this we would allege, first, the divine nature of a call to the ministerial office. He who is truly and properly called to the work of the Christian ministry, is called, as Aaron was, by God. He cannot be self-moved nor self-commissioned. The will of man cannot breathe in his soul an inspiration for the work; nor can the power of man clothe him with gifts and authority for its discharge. A still small voice from the eternal throne, unheard by any but himself, has fallen on his ear: "Son, go work in My vineyard!" And from some lowly employment, it may be, he has been summoned to the high and sacred office of a prophet in Israel.
God has called him, Christ has commissioned him, and the Holy Spirit has anointed him to the work. With the great apostle of the Gentiles, he can say, "I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His mighty power."
My brethren, the history of our denomination records upon its pages, the instructive fact, and doubtless the records of other and honored sections of the Christian church confirm it — that numbers have entered the Christian ministry with no other call to, or preparation for, the sacred work than that immediately derived from the Great Head of the Church. And yet, thus summoned and thus qualified — who would dare assume the responsibility of disputing their authority, of questioning their credentials, and of thrusting them from the vineyard? True, they have gone out from the academic halls of no human school; the literature of Greece and of Rome has shed not its light upon their minds; no university has conferred its honors upon their heads; no rules of rhetoric have shaped and polished, no flowers of genius have clothed and adorned their sentences — and yet, deeply taught of the Spirit and fragrant with His anointing — the men of one book, and the preachers of one theme — they have been mighty through God to the pulling down of the strongholds of impenitence and unbelief in the human heart. As Milton truly and beautifully said of the martyrs — so we say of them, "They shook the powers of darkness with the irresistible might of weakness."
Am I pleading for an ignorant ministry? Far from it. But I am pleading for a holy ministry; and no ministry can be either holy or efficient — which is not divinely called and spiritually taught . The solemn charge alleged against the self-commissioned prophets of old, we tremble to think, will find its appropriate application to many in our day: "I did not send the prophets — yet they ran; I did not speak to them — yet they prophesied."
It may be expected that in connection with this part of our subject, an allusion should be made to what may be considered the nature of a divine call to the Christian ministry . We can but in brief terms point out what appear to be some of its essential and more decisive features. We allude to those marks alone which decide the momentous question in the mind of the individual himself — not to those marks which authenticate his call to the ecclesiastical body from whose bosom, with whose sanction, and followed by whose prayers — he goes forth into the vineyard. That the Christian ministry has its foundation in the life of God in the soul — is a truth which will not admit of a moment's question.
An individual, then, revolving in his mind the evidence of his call to the holy priesthood, will first closely and honestly examine whether he has truly "passed from death unto life." He will ponder the question of his new birth with all the seriousness and prayer which its vast importance demands. Pursuing this process of self-examination, he will take nothing for granted. He will search God's holy word for a clear apprehension of the nature of the great change, and he will scrutinize his own heart and life for the evidence of its possession. In the course of his
investigation, these passages will arrest and fix his eye: "If anyone is in Christ — then he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." "For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision — but a new creation." "Unless one is born again — he cannot see the kingdom of God." "That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit." "It is the Spirit who gives life." "The life I now live in the flesh — I live by faith in the Son of God." "Christ in you, the hope of glory."
In view of these solemn declarations, the questions will arise: "Am I the subject of this great change? Have I been renewed in the spirit of my mind? Have I been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and have I Christ dwelling by faith in my heart? Is He made unto me — wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption? Is Jesus, in His person and work, the all and all of my acceptance with God?"
The fact of his being a partaker of the divine life being clearly evidenced by the Spirit of God to his own satisfaction and comfort — he will then proceed to put to his spiritually enlightened conscience the following solemn and searching interrogatories: "Has the Great Head of the Church endued me with intellectual gifts and spiritual graces, peculiar and appropriate to the work of the Christian ministry? Have I a sincere and earnest desire to be engaged in the work? Is it the one all-absorbing, all-engaging impulse of my mind, pressing me into the holy strait of the apostle, when he exclaimed, 'Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel?' Have I narrowly scrutinized my motives and aim in desiring the work — and are they such as involve a deep concern for the glory of God? Am I willing to forego all the allurements of human ambition and prospects of earthly glory and temporal advantage — and become a humble, self-denying, self-sacrificing, holy, and laborious minister of Jesus? Does the love of Christ constrain me? Do I pant to preach Him in the glory of His person, in the perfection of His work, in the depth of His love, in the fullness of His grace — to dying sinners? Do I long for the conversion of souls, and is it my heart's desire and prayer to God that His spiritual Israel may be saved?"
Considerations of a providential character, having an important though collateral bearing on this question, and materially aiding in its decision — will be well and prayerfully weighed. The movements of the pillar of fire and of cloud, as indicating the divine mind — will be closely watched. The revelation of the Father's will, the unfolding of the Father's heart, and the guiding of the Father's hand in this momentous step of His child — will be points of observation possessing great interest and importance to one who, with the Spirit of adoption in his heart, subduing that heart with meek submission to the will of God, bends before the mercy-seat with the prayer, "Here I am! Send me."
With a heart so surrendered,
with a soul so enkindled,
with an aim so holy,
with an eye so single, and
with a will so filial and resigned
— no candidate for the holy office of the Christian ministry need despair of the divine blessing and guidance. Let him foster the holy desire that glows in his bosom with more sleepless vigilance and tender solicitude, than the vestal virgins were accustomed to feed the lamps that perpetually illumined their temple; or than the Jews were accustomed to guard the holy fire upon the altar, that, by God's command, was never permitted to go out. Let it be nourished in faith, and sustained with prayer, and encouraged by hope — and faith and prayer and hope will, in God's own time, work out the wonders of His providence, grace, and love.
The nature of the ministerial work, stamps its spiritual character. A work of greater magnitude, and on whose issues more tremendous consequences were suspended — never was entrusted to mere human hands. It is the office of the Christian minister to treat on the great matters of eternity between God and the soul of man. Before this view of its transcendent greatness and corresponding solemnity — all the pomp and circumstance of human glory, melts into thin air. The most gorgeous embassy, the most absorbing question of human legislation, the profoundest secrets of state cabinets, the stability of thrones, the very existence of empires — dwindle into utter insignificance, when placed beside the great commission of an ambassador of Christ.
And what is his commission — and to whom is it sent? He comes with a message from the court of Heaven — of the most all-absorbing interest — to a world in arms against its sovereign Majesty. He throws himself in the midst of a race of rebels against the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; and with weeping eye and outstretched hands and persuasive voice — he beseeches them to throw down their weapons before the cross, and submit to the laws and government of God.