Chapter Vi. The Lack Of A Divine Call Is A Main Cause Of Failure In The Christian Ministry.
CHAPTER VI. THE LACK OF A DIVINE CALL IS A MAIN CAUSE OF FAILURE
IN THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY.
We may sometimes trace ministerial failure 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? This question bears with vast importance on the subject. Where the call is manifest, the promise is assured.402 But if we run unsent, our labours must prove unblessed. Many, we fear, have never exercised their minds on this inquiry. But do we not see the standing ordinance of the church written on their unfruitful Ministrations—“I did not send them, nor command them; therefore they shall not benefit this people at all, says the Lord?” 403 The criticism was not that their doctrine was unsound, but that they preached unsent.
Under the old dispensation, intrusion into the priestly office was marked as the most dangerous presumption.404 Nor is it a less direct act of usurpation to take unwarranted authority in the
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Church of Christ. Our great Head himself appeared with delegated, not self-commissioned authority. Prophetically he had declared his call to his great work.405 It was manifested to the world at the commencement, as well as during the course of his public Ministry.406 Often he appealed to it as the credentials of his commission.407 Those who “entered the fold,” without his authority, he stamps as “thieves and robbers;” and only he, who “entered by the door” of his divine commission, “was the Shepherd of the sheep.” 408
The Scriptural terms of Ordination imply a direct controlling influence on the agents.409 The various illustrations also of the office tend to the same point. 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, unless they are sent?”410 They may indeed preach without a mission, but not as the messengers of God. No can one be an ambassador, unless he is expressly charged with instructions from his Sovereign (or else he would deliver the fruit of his own brain, not his Sovereign’s will and commands); nor can anyone legitimately come in the name of God to confirm the revelations of his will, except by his own express appointment. God will seal his own ordinance, but not man’s usurpation.
As to the entrance to the sacred function—having no extraordinary commission, we do not expect an immediate and extraordinary call. Our authority is derived conjointly from God and from the Church—that is, originally from God—confirmed through the medium of the Church. The external call is a commission received from and recognized by the Church, according to the sacred and primitive order. This is not indeed qualifying the Minister, but accrediting him, whom God had internally and suitably qualified. Therefore this call only communicates official authority. The internal call is the voice and power of the Holy Ghost, directing the will and the judgment, and conveying personal qualifications. Both calls, however—though essentially distinct in their character and source—are indispensable for the exercise of our commission.
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Both therefore unite in His government, who “is not the Author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints;” 411 and whose unction, of a rational, holy, and orderly character, harmoniously combines with the constituted appointment of his will. How plainly the superscriptions of St. Paul’s Epistles (with one or two exceptions) stamp his instructions to the churches with the seal of his heavenly commission! ‘He is never weary of inculcating this truth on us —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.’ 412 It is therefore in this combined authority that we “serve God with our spirit in the gospel of his Son;” 413 that we have the confidence that he will stand by us and own our work; and that we “thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled us, for he counted us faithful, putting us into the Ministry.” 414
The external call, though necessary and authoritative in its character—yet, being the mere delegation of man, it is evidently not of itself a sufficient warrant for our work. The inward call is the presumptive ground on which our Church delegates her authorized commission. Nothing can be more explicit than her solemn question to us—‘Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take this office upon you?’ ‘Certainly,’ (as Bishop Burnet remarks with his usual seriousness) ‘the answer that is made to this ought to be well-considered; for if anyone says—‘I trust so’—yet knows nothing of any such motion, and can give no account of it, he lies to the Holy Ghost, and makes his first approach to the altar with a lie in his mouth, and he does that, not to men, but to God.’ 415 Now if there is any meaning in terms as being illustrative of things, an inward movement by the Holy Ghost must imply his influence upon the heart—not indeed manifested by any emotional impulse; but enlightening the heart under a deep impression of the worth of souls; constraining the soul by the love of Christ to “spend and be spent for him;” and directing the conscience to a sober, searching, self-inquiry; to a daily study of the word: to fervent prayer in reference to this great matter; and to a careful observation of the providential indications of our Master’s will.
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However, ‘that which no man ought to do, almost every man does, in making himself the sovereign judge of his own calling.’ 416 A misguided bias, constitutional propensity, or worldly considerations, often perplex the path, and obscure the tokens of the Divine guidance. May a man presume that he is thus “inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost,” because his inclination leads him to the Ministry—or because he has been educated for it—or because he is thrust into it by the wishes of friends, or even by parental counsel or authority? It would indeed open a wide door for emotionalism to suppose that a bias of the mind was a sufficient warrant for this most solemn undertaking. Motives and feelings, individual character and capacities, are so often viewed through the medium of self-complacency, that we are forcibly reminded of the sacred aphorism, “He that trusts to his own heart is a fool.” 417 What would survive the fervour of the bias, besides the melancholy exhibition of an unfurnished mind; or such a low standard of Ministerial obligation, as would bring the office into utter contempt? Nor must we admit parental interference in the choice of a work that wholly depends upon what Burnet calls ‘a Divine vocation.’ ‘The national Church’ (as has been truly and feelingly stated by one, who had a deep personal interest in the subject) ‘groans and bleeds from the crown of its head to the sole of its feet from the daily intrusion of unworthy men into the Ministry ‘from this source.’418 ‘The will of man ‘must be in subservience—not in forwardness—on a point so deeply connected with the interests of the Church, and where the will of God should govern the sole and ultimate decision. ‘Happy is that person, who can say with the Apostle, that it is “through the will of God,” and not through his own, or that of his parents, that he is in the sacred Ministry.’ 419
Nor should personal and consistent piety (irrespective of other considerations) form our determination. ‘No man’ indeed (as Bishop Burnet remarks), ought to think of this profession, unless he feels within himself a love for religion, with a zeal for it, and an internal true piety, which is chiefly kept up by private prayer and reading the Scriptures. As long as these things are a man’s burden, they are infallible indications that he has no inward vocation, nor motion of the Holy Spirit to undertake it.’ 420 Yet, on the other
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hand, every Christian is not ordained to be a Minister. The examples of Aquila and Priscilla,421 and the various helpers of the primitive church called by name in the Apostolic salutations,422 clearly prove that devotedness to the cause of God is a component and acceptable part of Christian obligation. In this wide field of service, laymen may exhibit the spirit of the Ministry in perfect consistency with their secular employment, and without an unauthorized intrusion upon the express commission of the sacred office. Without a Divine call, the greatest talents, the most elevated spirituality, and the most sincere intentions, cannot justify the entrance into the ministry.
The two grand combining requisites for this “Divine vocation” may be determined to be, a desire, and a fitness for the office.
I. The desire of the work was a prominent feature in the Ministerial character and qualifications of Christ. While in the bosom of the Father, and in the anticipation of his work, “his delights were with the sons of men.” 423 “When he comes into the world” for the accomplishment of his work, the same earnest desire distinguished him.424 On one occasion of bodily need, he told his disciples, that “he had meat to eat that they knew nothing of;” bidding them to understand, that his delight in his Father’s work was to him “more than his necessary food.” 425 The Apostle strongly marks a constraining desire as a primary Ministerial qualification;426 something far beyond the general Christian desire to promote the glory of God—a special kindling within—in character, if not in intensity, like “the burning fire shut up “in the prophet’s bosom, and overcoming his determination to go back from the service of his God.” 427 This constraint rises above all difficulties, takes pleasure in sacrifices for the work’s sake, and quickens to a readiness of mind that (were it not restrained by conscious unfitness and unworthiness) would savour of presumption. The sense of defilement almost shuts the mouth; but the sense of mercy fills the heart, and it “cannot stay.” 428 The work is more desirable than the highest earthly honours; so that, even under the most desponding anticipations, it cannot be relinquished.429 This desire will be
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most enlivening, when the mind is most spiritual, and it will connect the communication of the blessing, with ardent prayers for a large reciprocal benefit.
It should also be a considerate desire—the result of matured calculation of the cost. This, we fear, has been sometimes lost sight of in the exchange of secular professions (more especially the army and navy) for the service of the altar. But seldom is the declaration more important—“He that believes shall not make haste.” 430 Waiting time is of the utmost moment431 to scrutinize the real principles of the heart, which have dictated an abandonment of the calling originally (as it was presumed) suggested by the Providence of God; and in which ordinarily it is the will of God that we should “abide.” 432 The relinquishment of a secular calling for the sacred office can never be justified in foro conscientiae,433 or produce ultimate advantage either to the individual or to the Church—without the clearest providential light—the most watchful caution against the influence of natural inclination as the interpreter of Providence—the most earnest and persevering prayer—and the most satisfactory evidence of abstraction434 from all motives of personal ease, indulgence, or interest. Under these circumstances, where the call is not evidently of God, a due contemplation of the difficulties in prospect, combined with a trembling sense of his own weakness, will probably direct the mind of the candidate to some less responsible undertaking. This inconsiderate desire will gradually weaken and die away; or, if it should act presumptuously in pushing forward to the work, it will issue (unless the Lord should open his eyes) in bitter and unavailing fruits of repentance.435
It must also be a disinterested desire. Pure intention is indispensable to the meanest service in the Lord’s work. It is much more important, therefore—that our choice of the service of his sanctuary should be uninfluenced by the love of literature, or the
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opportunities of indulgent recreation—that we should guard against desires of professional elevation—that we should be divested of the selfish motives of esteem, respectability, or worldly comfort—that we should “seek not great things for ourselves “—that we should aim at nothing but souls, rather willing to win one to Christ than a world to ourselves—and that we should exhibit a devoted consecration of all our talents to the service of God.436 ‘He who is called to instruct souls’ (said Bernard) ‘is called of God, and not by his own ambition; and what is this call, but an inward incentive of love soliciting us to be zealous for the salvation of our brethren? So often as he, who is engaged in preaching the word, shall feel his inward man to be excited with Divine affections, so often let him assure himself, that God is there, and that he is invited by him to seek the good of souls.’ 437 To the same purpose Quesnel observes—‘One of the most certain marks of the Divine call is, where it is the purpose of a man’s heart to live, to labour, and to possess nothing, but for Jesus Christ and his Church.’438
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Where the heart is freed from selfishness, and purely acted upon by the will of God, and the readiness to labour for him, there is much encouragement to advance toward this holy function. The importance and purity of this desire are strongly marked, as the grand qualifications to “feed the flock of God.” 439 “If I do this thing willingly,” (says the Apostle) “I have a reward.” 440—‘But if you do not feel in yourselves’ (as the eloquent Massillon addresses his clergy) ‘a desire to be employed as the ambassadors of God—judge yourselves, whether you are called into the Lord’s vineyard. God implants a love in the heart for the service to which he calls; and it would have been better for you to have felt that it was not the Ministry for which you were intended, than that you should possess a lack of inclination for the performance of its duties. It is not necessary that a voice from heaven should say to you in secret—“The Lord has not sent you.” Your judgment, enforced by the dictates of your conscience, tells you so.’ 441
II. But to this desire must be added a competent measure of Ministerial gifts. Our Lord was furnished with this evidence of his call, and endowment for his work.442 The Apostle distinctly connects this ability with our commission, which he directs to be consigned not to “faithful men” generally—but to those among them, “which shall be able to teach others also.” 443 But as this subject has already come before us,444 we shall only observe, that the ability for the sacred office is very distinct from natural talent, or the wisdom and learning of this world. These—though subordinate, most useful, and important—are nowhere mentioned as constituting the essentials of Ministerial qualifications. A man of ordinary natural gifts, and under Divine teaching, may be able to pray, to preach the Gospel, to administer the sacraments, and to save immortal souls. And such a man has a far better claim to the title of a Minister of Christ, than an erudite scholar or accomplished theologian, destitute of spiritual qualifications. In directing the ignorant in the way of heaven—in awakening the careless and insensible—in subduing the rebellious—in dealing with the entanglements of tempted consciences—how inefficient would be all the force of philosophical or historical illustration! One simple declaration
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of the Gospel,445 on the other hand, would, with the Lord’s blessing, remove the darkness, melt away the stubbornness, and bring in all the consolation of heavenly light and peace. We do not doubt that the true Christian Minister, well-furnished with human learning—without casting away this valuable gift—still makes far more use of, and estimates at a far higher value, that learning which he has obtained “in the secret place of the Most High.” 446 This is the fitness mainly, though not exclusively, to be sought for. Let the noviciate be found in the daily habit of prayer, in the conscientious improvement of his natural gifts, in a diligent increase of his intellectual as well as spiritual stores—and he will find the promise made good—“Whoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundantly.” 447 In this course he may largely encourage his desire to be duly admitted into the sacred office, soberly anticipating the results according to the will and word of God, but not regarding them as the warrant of his preparation or desire for the work.
So important, however, is the combination of desire and capacity, that neither, separated from the other, can be deemed sufficient. The desire (though correctly answering to the standard of intensity, consideration, and purity) does not of itself attest a Divine vocation. We cannot suppose the Lord to send unqualified labourers, however willing, into his vineyard: 448 and none but he can qualify them. The servant of God, therefore, may be called to yield his most ardent wishes in the conscious inability to set forth the truth in an intelligent and effective form. Yet he may, in this self-renouncing sacrifice, console himself with the most gracious acceptance of his desires, 449 even though his services are not required. Nor will the richest furnishing of Ministerial gifts, without a special desire and interest in the work (though it may qualify the Christian for important usefulness as a helper of the Church) evidence a movement by the Holy Ghost for this high and important service. But when the Lord constrains the heart of his servant with a desire, and furnishes him with competent ability—when in the clear apprehension of the labour, pain, and difficulty of the work, he can still say—None of these things move me450—then he may seek to be set apart by the instrumentality of man, having the witness
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within himself that he has been called by God. And such a call will be duly authorized by the presbyters of the Church, and will doubtless be still more clearly attested by the Divine blessing upon his work.451
The Providence of God, as we hinted before, will probably afford more or less confirmation of this call. For this is “the wheel within a wheel,” moving in harmonious conjunction, but in direct subservience to his purposes respecting his Church. If these arrangements therefore direct the choice of a secular calling, then much more may we expect him to thus guide the inward call to his own work—a matter so deeply connected with the interests of his kingdom. The providential disposing, therefore, of a person’s circumstances, thoughts, inclinations, and studies, to this main end—the disappointment of his plans for a future course in life—the unexpected and repeated closing up of worldly avenues—unlooked-for openings in the Church (in the way of usefulness, not of preferment)—some particular crisis in the individual sphere—some change or influence of family circumstances—one or more of these may prove the “word behind him, saying—This is the way, walk in it.” 452 Direction, however, will probably be given rather in opposition to indulgence of a constitutional propensity—damping an optimistic temperament, and rousing an indolent habit. Wise and tender discipline will form the pliable spirit, ready to discern and follow our Father’s will. The Lord usually trains his servants for waiting, and for much conflict on their way to his immediate service. But in humble patient confidence their “path will be as the shining light.”453
The judgment of Christian friends, and especially of experienced Ministers, might be useful in assuring the mind whether or not the desire for the work is the impulse of feeling rather than principle, and whether it is the capacity is self-deceiving presumption. The
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late pious and learned Dr. Leland took this satisfactory view of his own case—‘God has been graciously pleased’ (he said) ‘to give me some talents, which seem capable of being used to the edification of the Church. He has disposed and inclined my heart to a willingness to take upon me the sacred Ministry, and that is not from worldly, carnal ends and views, but from a sincere intention and desire to employ the talents he has given me in promoting the salvation of souls, and serving the interests of truth, piety, and righteousness in the world. And I have been encouraged by the judgment and approval of several learned and pious Ministers who, after a diligent course of trials that were carried on for a considerable time, judged me properly qualified for that sacred office, and motivated me to undertake it. Upon seriously weighing all these things, I can only think I have a clear call to the work of the Ministry; and I truly believe, that, if I rejected it, I would sin against God, grieve many of his people, counteract the designs of Divine providence towards me, and alienate the talents he has given me to other purposes than those for which they seem to have been intended.’ 454
The importance of this discussion will be generally allowed. To labour in the dark, without an assured commission, greatly obscures the warrant of faith in the Divine engagements; and the Minister, unable to avail himself of heavenly support, feels his “hands hang down, and his knees feeble” in his work. On the other hand, the confidence that he is acting in obedience to the call of God—that he is in his work, and in his way—nerves him in the midst of all difficulty, and under a sense of his responsible obligations, with almighty strength. Yet under no circumstances is there a warranted ground for distress in a simple consecration to the service of God. Let the Minister in seasons of anxiety cast himself upon the mercy of God, and not doubt acceptance.
But in closing our consideration of this subject, we cannot forget that the inward call has not always accompanied the public investment with Ministerial authority. With many of us, it is a painful recollection that we entered into this sacred office with hearts unenlightened with Christian doctrine, and unimpressed with Ministerial obligations.455 Yet let the remembrance of this sin be in
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humiliation—not despondency. Let us be afflicted indeed for our unhallowed approach to the sacred altar: yet not be “swallowed up with excessive sorrow.” There is with our gracious God, mercy for this as well as for any other sin; and we shall not apply to him for it in vain. Doubtless we should bear this sin in special remembrance to the end of our days; both as an occasion of magnifying the grace of God,456 and as an incentive to redouble our exertions throughout our future course. In order to generate in our hearts this deepened contrition, it would be well to bring it frequently before our minds, and especially at the anniversary of our ordination, the vows which we then took upon us: and in a new perception of their responsibility, to consecrate ourselves to God afresh, with a full determination of heart through grace to fulfil them. Thus receiving, as it were, a second commission, with shame and self-reproach, and yet with thankfulness; we shall be given to it; we shall have an evidence in our own souls that, though at the time of our ordination we were not “moved by the Holy Ghost,” we are moved now; and if our conscience bears witness to us that we are now cordially renouncing whatever is inconsistent with our high and heavenly calling, then we need not doubt God’s merciful acceptance in all our labours of love, and (in confirmation of his own word) of a blessing to be conferred also on our own souls according to our labour.