66 of persons, occasions and circumstances-to their strength or feebleness-their progress or decay-their mistaken or wilful abuses-their different capacities, advantages, or disadvantages! With what exquisite address does he "change his voice," in meekness or in vehemence-in tenderness or in sharpness——— in reproof or in expostulation-thus in his administration, as in his personal conduct, " becoming all things to all men, if that by any means he might save some !” 1 This spiritual wisdom is as important for the building up of the Church of God, as was the wisdom imparted to Bezaleel and Aholiab for the raising of the Levitical tabernacle. 2 Thus we 66 approve ourselves unto God, workmen that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 3 Thus, as "Stewards of the mysteries, and rulers over the household," of God, we distribute the stores of provision to every member of the household, suited to their several wants, and answering to their Master's wise and gracious will. Thus we take account of their individual state-the strength and exercise of their spiritual capacities—the kind of food, which they severally require for the nourishment of the Divine life, according to their infantine, growing, or adult state-their special hindrances or advantages-their advance, apparently stationary condition, or visible decay in the ways of God. The treatment of these several individualities demands a deep and well-digested acquaintance with the methods of Divine grace, in order to administer a seasonable and effective distribution of the word. The Apostle marks also the gift of "utterance"¿ spiritual endowment in the dispensation of the word as a 1 See the close of quotation from Erasmus, ut supra, p. 36, note. 2 Exod. xxxv. 30-35. 4 1 Cor. iv. 1. Luke xii. 42. 4 2 Tim. ii. 15. "2 enabling us to address our people with "opened mouth" and " enlarged heart;"1 to "speak as the oracles of God"-in mode as well as in matter, in "sound speech" as well as in "sound doctrine; delivering our testimony with holy confidence," not as the word of man, but in truth the word of God-" in a manner suitable to the dignity of the pulpit, and yet plain to the weakest capacity. The natural powers of clear thinking and arrangement of matter— of aptitude of expression, and of familiar and appropriate illustration, are often used as sanctified instruments of conveying the life-giving power of the Gospel with increasing acceptance and application. Not however that these abilities are communicated by an extraordinary or sudden afflatus, or that they necessarily accompany in an equal measure the efforts of diligence. The diligence of faith will ever receive its measure of encouragement in the growth, increase, and improvement of Ministerial gifts. Yet we must not intrench upon the exercise of the Divine sovereignty; remembering, that all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." It is not to be supposed' therefore (to use the words of a sensible writer) that such an office can be easily filled. It demands not merely some but many, 2 Titus ii. 1, 7, 8. 1 2 Cor. vi. 11. Bishop Sanderson observes-' It was Simon Magus's error to think, that the gifts of God might be purchased with money; and it has a spice of his sin, and so may go for a kind of simony, to think that spiritual gifts may be purchased with labour. You may rise up early and go to bed late, and study hard, and read much, and devour the marrow of the best authors; and, when you have done all, unless God give a blessing to your endeavours, be as lean and meagre in regard of true and useful learning, as Pharaoh's lean kine were, after they had eaten the fat ones. It is God, that both ministereth the seed to the sower, and multiplieth the seed sown: the principal and the increase are both his.' 4 1 Cor. xii. 11. nay, all excellencies, in happy combination. A person may, in a general way, be said to be qualified for the Ministry, who has talents for preaching, though not fitted for profitable private intercourse, or the affairs of Church Government. But this is evidently not a complete adaptation to the work. It is, on the contrary, a very imperfect one, and one with which no man should be content. For all the aspects of Ministerial labour are, if not equally, yet highly important; every one of them far too important to be trifled with. The right performance of each affords facilities for the rest, and gives additional beauty and efficacy to all. To be fit for only one department, cannot but greatly impede our activity, and diminish our success. To fill the Ministerial office with a degree of satisfaction and benefit commensurate with its capabilities, or with the desire of a heart awake to its importance, we must be all that it demands—men of God, perfect, completely furnished to every good work.'1 This is an elevated standard. He that aims highest will most approximate to it, 1 Hinton on Completeness of Ministerial Qualification, pp. 11, 12. 'It will not fail to be objected '-remarks Mr. Ostervald― 'that If none were to be admitted into holy orders, except those who are possessed of every necessary qualification, there could not possibly be procured a sufficient number of Pastors for the supply of our Churches.' To which I answer, that a small number of chosen Pastors is preferable to a multitude of unqualified teachers. At all hazards we must adhere to the command of God, and leave the event to Providence. But in reality the dearth of pastors is not so generally to be apprehended. To reject those candidates for holy orders, whose labours in the Church would be wholly fruitless, is undoubtedly a work of piety. Others on the contrary, who are qualified to fulfil the duties of the sacred office, would take encouragement from this exactness and severity; and the Ministry would every day be rendered more respectable in the world.' Ostervald on Sources of Corruption. CHAPTER VII. PREPARATION FOR THE CHRISTIAN. MINISTRY. We have already seen, that the weight of Ministerial responsibilities renders the work apparently more fitting to the shoulders of angels than of men.1 It is therefore a matter of the deepest regret, that any should intrude upon it, equally unqualified for its duties, and unimpressed with its obligations. Fools rush in, where angels fear to tread.' Many see little necessity for preparation.-But here, if ever, labour, diligence, observation, and intelligence, are needful to produce a "workman that needeth not to be ashamed."? The influence also of selfish or secular motives awfully blinds the conscience to the sense of the present necessity, and to the anticipation of the day of account; while young mitu of ardont feelings and promising talents, but with unfurnished minds and unrenewed hearts, are thrust forward by the persuasion of injudicious friends, or by the excitement of some momentary bias, into the sacred office. The Church has severely suffered from this woeful inconsideration; and the victims of this self-deluding impetus have felt to ther cost its bitter fruit in the disappointment of their Ministry and the discomfort-if not the ruin— of their own souls. In other cases, the precious time for gathering in the store has been either wasted in feebleness and sloth; or misapplied in studies, which have no direct tendency to form a solid, judicious, and 1 Onus Angelicis humeris formidandum. Augustine. 2 Nulla ars doceri præsumitur, nisi intenta prius meditatione discitur. Ab imperitis ergo pastoribus magisterium pastorale suscipitur in magna temeritate, quoniam ars est artium regimen animarum. Greg. de Cura Pastor. cap. 1. experimental Ministry; so that, with every advantage of deliberation, but a slender stock of spiritual or intellectual furniture is ready to meet the successive and daily increasing demands. A considerate calculation, therefore, of the momentous cost opens the prospect of an efficient Ministrybecause the work is then contemplated,-not in the colouring of a self-indulgent anticipation, but in its true light, as warranted by Scripture, and confirmed by the experience of every faithful labourer,-a work not of ease, but of self-denial-not of hasty effort, but of patient endurance-not of feeling and impulse, but of faith, prayer, and determination. A season of preparation-employed in storing the mind with Scriptural doctrine, and in directing it to devotional and practical purposes-in habits of selfcommunion and converse with God, and in the exercises of active godliness, will turn to most profitable account throughout the course of a protracted Ministry. shall venture to offer a few suggestions on the subject under the divisions-of Habits of General StudyThe Special Study of the Scriptures-Habits of Special Prayer-and Employment in the cure of souls. We SECTION I. HABITS OF GENERAL STUDY. "GIVE attendance to reading "is the Scriptural rule for Ministerial study. It is obviously of a general character, nor is there any reason for restricting its application to the Sacred Volume. "Paul the aged," 1 1 Tim. iv. 13. |