office; but the Romish Church vindicates for its priesthood an indelible character, imparted in ordination, which forever separates them from the laity. It sharply opposes the clergy as the governing, to the laity as the governed, class." 8

(1) This ministerial function is not exclusive. It does not shut out the general body of believers from active participation in church worship. No line of separation is drawn between the ministry and the laity, as between the priesthood and the people. As in the synagogues every adult male Jew could take part in the services, so in the primitive churches. laymen could take part in the worship (1 Cor. 14: 31). The function of teaching or preaching, by the Acts, the Epistles, and the Apostolical Constitutions, was open to laymen.10 In this respect all are priests, to offer spiritual sacrifices (1 Peter 2: 5). The ministry is a function of the church-kingdom common to all its members, yet specifically manifested in the superior fitness of some.

(2) This ministerial function is prepared and called into service by the Lord Christ. He calls men into his churches by his Spirit; and he calls men into the ministry by gifts, graces, opportunities, and the influences of the Holy Spirit. 'No man taketh the honour unto himself, but when he is called of God" (Heb. 5: 4); "who also made us sufficient. as ministers of a new covenant" (2 Cor. 3: 6); "separated unto the gospel of God" (Rom. 1:.1); and "approved of God to be entrusted with the gospel" (1 Thess. 2: 4). Hence it can be said: "And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers" (Eph. 4: 11). This divine calling and appointment is every-where recognized; as when Paul addressed the Ephesian elders: "Take heed . . . to all the flock, in the which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops" (Acts 20: 28). "Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received

• Winer's Confessions of Christendom, chap. xx, 244. Schaff's Hist. Christ. Ch. i 459.

10 Hatch's Org. Early Christ. Chhs. 114, 115, 123.

of the Lord, that thou fulfil it" (Col. 4: 17). The ministry is thus called of God.

(3) The distinction between the ministry and the laity in the churches is due to the suitable recognition of this divine call. Those who possess the function of teaching or preaching will manifest it to the satisfaction of the churches, or they will be moved by an inward impulse to seek the work and to prepare for it, and such, if they possess the other needed qualifications, are set apart to their work with prayer and the laying on of hands by the churches. But they are not elevated above the laity by any priestly character, nor separated from them by any indelible quality; but they are set apart, in the interest of good order, to a special function for which God has endowed and called them. The churches seek in ordination to recognize the divine call, and by suitable examination to guard against imposition.

(4) The ministry of the Word precedes the churches, and is, therefore, in some sense independent of the churches. The function belongs to the church-kingdom, not to the local churches as such. When Christ had winnowed out the nucleus of his ecclesia from the kahal of Israel, he chose twelve whom he named apostles (Luke 6: 13), whom he trained for the founding of churches. He afterwards sent out seventy to preach and prepare the way for himself (Luke 10: 1). These, after the setting up of the churchkingdom, went about preaching the Word (Acts 8: 4), preparing the material for churches of Christ. And so it has ever been, the ministry of the Word has preceded the gathering of churches, but has not preceded the churchkingdom, of which it is a function. The minister must go before the local church, the missionary before the congregation of believers. The churches are planted through the instrumentality of this ministerial function.

It follows, then, that the ministry is independent of the churches in some respects. The churches may not stop one called of God to preach the gospel. Their refusal to ordain,

though ordinarily sufficient to silence a man, may for cause be disregarded, and should be disregarded, if he has in fact been called by the Master to preach the Word. The whole question of ordination (§ 121) and of ministerial standing (§§ 122-124) respects good order, not the function of the ministry. One's right to preach does not depend on the call of a local church, or on ordination, or on regular standing, but on the commission of Christ, the Head and King. How much less then is the ministry an official relation in a local church, as was once held by the New England churches.11 This narrow view has been supplanted by the better and normal view of the ministry.12 The churches do not create the ministry; they only recognize it. He whom the Master calls is the true minister; but he whom the churches call may be still a layman. The power of the keys is for recognizing the true ministry, and regulating their standing for the good of the churches; but the power to create and silence is not theirs, although generally good order requires acquiescence in their action.

(5) The ministry of the Word is not prelatical. A prel ate is a clergyman of a superior order, having authority over the lower clergy. It is true that the apostles were empowered to plant and order the churches, to appoint, it may be, and instruct the ministry; but they by reason of death soon ceased. Their function was special and temporary. In the permanent ministry there is no superior and inferior, higher and lower, in rank or order, but equality in function. Christ rebuked the spirit of hierarchy that appeared among his apostles, and said: "Whosoever would be first among you shall be servant of all" (Mark 10: 44). "And be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father on the earth," etc. (Matt 23: 8-12).

(6) The ministry of the Word appears both as a special

11 Cambridge Platform, chap. ix, 7.

12 Boston Platform, part iv, i, 1.

function and as a permanent function, as occasion demands. In the planting and ordering of the churches at the first, in inaugurating a new dispensation, extraordinary qualifications would be required, with special names, as apostles and prophets; but for the permanent work of the ministry ordinary qualifications would suffice. Hence the ministry is. divided, by reason of this difference in qualification and function, into the temporary and the permanent.

I. - THE TEMPORARY MINISTRY OF THE WORD.

§ 114. At the head of the temporary ministry of the Word stand the chosen apostles of our Lord. Their number is fourteen: the original twelve, Matthias, and Paul. Their name signifies "one sent forth, a messenger"; and consequently it is applied to others, as, "one that is sent" (John 13: 16), messengers (Luke 11: 49; Phil. 2: 25), false apostles (Rev. 2: 2), Barnabas (Acts 14: 14), and Christ (Heb. 3: 1). The word is used twice of Simon Peter; fifteen times of Paul, and fifty-five times of the apostolate. Out of the seventy-eight times used, it is a distinctive title seventy-two times of the chosen messengers whom we call apostles.

§ 115. There were certain special qualifications which characterized the apostles and separated them from all others in the Christian ministry, which need to be clearly detailed:

(1) They were personally selected by Christ himself. The original Twelve were so selected. "He called his disciples and he chose from them twelve, whom also he named apostles" (Luke 6: 13). In the selection of Matthias, he designated by the lot whom he would put into the vacancy (Acts 1: 23-25). He personally appeared to Saul of Tarsus. when he chose him to be the apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 9: 1-9). Thus each apostle was personally selected in the most marked manner, with the exception of Matthias, of whom we hear nothing thereafter, save one indirect reference (Acts 6: 2).

The apostles were personally taught by Christ for their ministry. The Twelve were so taught. Matthias was selected from those who had been so taught from the baptism of John (Acts 1: 21, 22). Paul even was not an exception. He had seen the Lord (1 Cor. 9: 1). He defended his claim to be an apostle on this very ground: "For neither did I receive it [the gospel] from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1: 12). "By revelation was made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ" (Eph. 3: 3, 4). Thus all the apostles were personally taught the gospel by Jesus Christ, a qualification insisted on by Peter as essential, and by the opponents of Paul.

(3) They were inspired by the Spirit for their mission. They did not plant churches as missionaries now do. They were the founders of the first churches, and gave them in germ their doctrine and order, creed and polity, and that, too, for all churches in all time. They needed a guidance. by inspiration which none others need. They had been promised such inspiration (John 14: 26; 16: 13). They were forbidden to begin their work until they had been "clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24: 49), and thus fitted for the proper exercise of the power of the keys, to bind and loose (Matt. 16: 19) and to forgive and retain sins (John 20: 23); that is, to found and order the churches. Hence they waited until the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost, before they made converts, or sought to make them. They thereafter claimed inspiration in what they said and did in respect to doctrine and order. Hence in the decree of the council at Jerusalem (A.D. 50) they claimed guidance and inspiration (Acts 15: 28). This inspiration seems to have been conceded to all the apostles except Paul, who had to defend his apostleship. He was not singular, when he said: "Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth"