Lay influence also, connected with the higher classes of society, often hangs a weight upon the simplicity and power of his work. The contempt of the Sabbath -the predominant character of pleasure, dissipation, and the general inattention or hostility to religion in the heads of the parish-oppose a hostile front to the course of the Christian Ministry. And, where the influence is of a less decided character, or even where it is exercised on the side of the Church-yet it is rarely unattended with material drawbacks. The respect for religion and for the ordinances of God does not always regulate the arrangements of the house, the general style of appearance, or the deportment of the lower members of the household. It may also be not wholly divested of a love of power; a reluctance to be controuled by spiritual restraints; or to depart from the indulgent course of neutrality, when a more full sway of influence on the side of the Gospel might incur inconvenience or reproach. Now these hinderances are irrespective of personal responsibility in their origin, but most detrimental in their consequences. It would be obviously impossible to prescribe any specific course of procedure, applicable to every form of resistance. The general principles of the Ministry, well directed against the several points of attack, will be however of immense service in this warfare. The combined influence of the diligence of faith," the meekness of wisdom," and "the patience of hope"-if they do not wholly counteract the evil— will materially retard its aggressive operation. Nor are the difficulties attached to extensive spheres insurmountable. Much may be done-much has been done by bending general systems to more minute. applications. Methodized habits have been more effective under the greatest disadvantages, than an undisciplined course of Ministry, assisted by much local superiority. District systems of visiting have enabled laborious ministers to pass over a wide extent of ground with far more particularity and fruitfulness. And above all, the wise superintendence of the Great Head of the Church has been signally displayed in a suitable adaptation of his chosen instruments for their specific work. Men are not all alike qualified for all situations. But his right hand," he that holdeth the seven stars in appoints unto each its place in the firmament of his Church-as shall be most suited for the honour of his name, for the purpose of his will, and for the edification of his Church. The hinderances, however, to which we have alluded, must impede the progress of the Christian Ministry; so that its success will often consist, not so much in any prominent outward change in its sphere, as in the silent and effectual opposition to the current of evil, in the raising up of a band of witnesses to cooperate with the Minister in his labour, and in the steady perseverance, with which the ground is maintained in the midst of conflict and discouragement. CHAPTER VI. THE WANT OF A DIVINE CALL A MAIN CAUSE OF FAILURE IN THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. THE want of Ministerial success may sometimes be traced to the very threshold of the entrance into the work. Was the call to the sacred office clear in the order of the church, and according to the will of God? 1 Rev. ii. 1. This question bears with vast importance upon the subject. Where the call is manifest, the promise is assured" Certainly I will be with thee." 1 But if we run unsent, our labours must prove unblest. Many, we fear, have never exercised their minds upon this inquiry. But do not we see the standing ordinance of the church written upon their unproductive Ministrations-"I sent them not, nor commanded them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord?" The curse of barrenness was not, that their doctrine was unsound, but that they preached unsent. Under the old dispensation it was marked as the most dangerous presumption to intrude upon the priestly office.3 Nor is it a less direct act of usurpation to take authority in the Church of Christ without a Divine commission. Our great Head himself appeared with delegated, not with self-commissioned authority. He had declared his call prophetically 4 upon his prospective undertaking of his work. It was manifested to the world, as the preparatory step to his public Ministry, as well as in the course of his work. Often did he appeal to it as the credentials of his commission. Those who "entered into the fold," without his authority, he stamps as "thieves 6 1 Exodus iii. 12. 2 Jer. xxiii. 32. Luther's language is very strong-Expecta vocantem; interim esto securus; imo si esses sapientior ipso Salomone et Daniele; tamen, nisi voceris, plus quam infernum fuge, ne verbum effundas. Si tui eguerit, vocabit te. Si non vocabit, non te rumpat scientia tua.-Nunquam enim Deus fortunat laborem eorum, qui non sunt vocati; et quanquam quædam salutaria afferant, tamen nihil ædificant. E regione, magna semper fecerunt, qui Deo, vocante docuerunt.' Quoted in Sal Terræ, ut supra. 3 See Num. xviii. 7. 2 Chron. xxvi. 16—20. 4 Isa. xlviii. 16. lxi. 1. 5 Matt. iii. 16, 17, also xvii. 5. John xii. 28-30. and robbers;" and he only, who "entered in by his Divine commission at "the door into the fold, was the Shepherd of the sheep." 1 Indeed the different illustrations of the office necessarily suppose a regular call. We cannot conceive of a herald-an ambassador-a steward-a watchman -a messenger-an angel-with self-constituted authority. The Apostle asks, with regard to the first of these--"How shall they preach, except they be sent?" They may indeed preach without a mission, but not as the messengers of God. No one can be an ambassador, except he be charged expressly with instructions from his Sovereign (else would he deliver the fruit of his own brain, not his Sovereign's will and commands); nor can any one legitimately come in the name of God to confirm the revelations of his will, except by his own express appointment.? The divine call is either external or internal. As external, it is a commission received from and recognized by the church, according to the Scriptural and primitive order: not indeed qualifying the Minister, but authorizing him, whom God had internally and suitably qualified. The external call communicates only official authority. The internal call conveys personal qualifications. Both however-though essen 1 John x. 1, 2. 'The Ministry is a matter of pure grace and favour; who then will dare to enter into it without a Divine call? There is nothing, in which a king would willingly be more absolute than in the choice of his Ministers. And shall we dare to contest and take away this right from the King of kings? Quesnel on Ephes. iii. 2. Col. i. 1. 2 Hooker admirably observes-'They are therefore Ministers of God, not only by way of subordination as princes and civil magistrates (whose execution of judgment and justice the supreme hand of Divine Providence doth uphold,) but Ministers of God, as from whom their authority is derived, and not from men. For in that they are Christ's ambassadors and his labourers, who should give them their commission, but He whose most inward affairs they manage?' tially distinct in their character and source are indispensable for the exercise of the Divine commission. Both of them therefore unite in His government, who is not the Author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints; "1 and whose unction, of a rational, holy, and orderly character, harmoniously combines with the constituted appointment of his will. How plainly do the superscriptions of St. Paul's Epistles, (with one or two exceptions,) stamp his instructions to the churches with the seal of his Divine commission! As Quesnel observes- He is never weary of inculcating to us this truth-that the will of God is the sole rule of any man's call, and the only gate, by which he can enter into the Ministry. The Mission is Divine in its fountain and institution-human in its channel and way of communication.' 2 The external call, though necessary and authoritative in its character-yet,-as being the mere delegation of man, is not of itself a sufficient warrant for our work. The inward call-the work of Divine influence-is the presumptive ground, on which our church delegates her authorized commission. Nothing can be more explicit than the solemn question, which she has put to us- Do you trust, that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this office?' 6 Certainly, (as Bishop Burnet remarks with his usual seriousness) the answer that is made to this ought to be well considered; for if any says— 'I trust so -that yet knows nothing of any such motion, and can give no account of it, he lies to the 11 Cor. xiv. 33. 2 Quesnel on 2 Cor. i. 1. Gal. i. 1. 'In times past,' observes Luther, when I was but a young Divine, methought Paul did unwisely in glorying so oft of his calling in all his Epistles; but I did not understand his purpose: For I knew not that the Ministry of God's word was so weighty a matter.' On Gal. i. 1, |