Call to the Work of the Ministry

In the office of the English Established Church for the ordination of deacons, the candidate is asked, “Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this office and ministration, to serve God for the promoting of His glory, and the edifying of His people?” and he is required to answer, “I trust so.” At the ordination of an Independent minister, it is not usual for any such profession to be formally demanded, but still it is our profound and solemn conviction, that if any man assume the office without an inward and divine call to its responsibilities and glories, he involves himself in awful guilt, and will be a curse instead of a blessing to his people.

How this call is to be ascertained, is a question which has filled the hearts of thousands with perplexity and anguish. Most of our graver and wiser ministers would determine it in words something like those which occur in the admirable Addresses of the Bishop of Oxford to Candidates for Ordination: — “Some desire, at least, to live nearer to Christ in employment and pursuit than worldly callings render possible; some personal sense of the deliverance brought to the soul by His gospel; some desire to speak His precious name to others; some love for souls; some aptness for ministering to them; some of the desires and qualities of the watchman, the steward, the shepherd, the physician, the good master-builder must be certainly within us, and attest the working of the Spirit of the Lord, if we would assert safely that we act beneath His guidance. And these may, and in not a few instances, thank God, do mount up to an earnest, self-devoting love to the Lord our Redeemer; to a supreme desire and labour to live in all things for His glory; to a spirit burdened with a ‘Woe is me,’ and strugghng like a pent-up fire until it can witness unto others of the love of God our Father, of the power of Christ’s cross, of the healing, ennobling presence of the Lord the Holy Ghost.” Change the “may” of this last sentence into “should,” and most evangelical Nonconformist ministers would adopt the language as their own.

This “call” came to Angell James while still a youth. He “kept no account in writing of the workings of his mind at the time,” and was not able sixty years afterwards to recall them. But it is not difficult to imagine the fervent and impetuous passion with which he longed to be a preacher of the gTeat salvation. Unlearned in ecclesiastical history, and unfamiliar with the traditions of saints and martyrs which stir the hearts of the ardent and devout youth of some churches, his imagination was not fired with the poetry and romance of a mystic and heroic piety; neither St Bernard nor Thomas a Kempis, neither Fenelon nor Ignatius, suggested the type of spiritual perfection and ministerial service to which he aspired. Nor is it probable that he coveted the honour of being enrolled in the glorious company of the doctors of the Church; to his eyes, Augustine, Anselm, and Aquinas, the scholars, and bishops that gave form to the theology of the English Church, even the illustrious theologians of the Reformed and Calvinistic communions, seemed crowned with a meaner diadem than Whitfield and Wesley, whose apostolic labours had regenerated the religious life of England. To catch their inspiration, to be surrounded in this world by eager crowds crying, “What must we do to be saved?” and to be welcomed into immortal glory by the songs and gratulations of thousands, who through his labours had escaped eternal destruction, would seem to him the highest honour and blessedness possible to man. His own narrative rims thus: —

LIFE OP JOHN ANGELL JAMES.

AutoWo- During the latter part of my residence at Poole, the Sunday grdpiucai. gpjjQ^i ^yg instrumentality of gratuitous teachers, came into pretty general use, and was taken up by Mr Durant and his congregation. An application was made to many of the young people, and to me among the rest, to come forward and to assist in this good work. I accepted the invitation, and took my place at the head of a class. The work was exceedingly agreeable to me, and I became much attached to my children, and much interested in their welfare. I needed no stimulating addresses from time to time, to make me regular and punctual in my attendance; for the occupation was my delight. The other teachers were also devoted and in earnest. There was at that time less system in the methods of teaching, and none of the modern excitement of tea-parties, Sunday-school unions, and teachers’ meetings: we loved the employment, and found stimulus and reward enough in the work itself to keep us going on with it. I do not condemn the modern practices, but I wish we could do without some of them; and it is much to be feared that many engage in the work more for the love of the excitement that is connected with it, than for the work itself.

It was while working as a Sunday-school teacher that I first felt a desire to be employed in a field of usefulness more extensive than that of my weekly class of boys, and to engage in the work of the Christian ministry. As I kept no account in writing of the workings of my mind at the time, I have not a very distinct recollection of the progress of my views of this great undertaking. My religious friends encouraged my desires; but as I was not then received as a member of the church, there was no small degree of irregularity in the proceeding. I opened my mind I believe to Mr Durant, but forget whether he mcouraged or cZiscouraged me; but my present impression is, that he did not think very highly of my qualifications, and left me to follow pretty much the bent of my own inclinations. My father was no sooner apprised of my intentions, than he opposed them. Having given a handsome sum as a premium at the time of my apprenticeship, and being now required to advance stUl more money to procure my liberation, he felt much objection to the scheme on this ground, AutoiHoand also from a consideration that all my time had been thrown ^’’^’^ away as well as the money, and that he should have to support me a longer period than he would have been called to do had I proceeded to complete my apprenticeship and enter into business. I will not say that he attached no importance to the views I had taken up of the ministry, but he might justly be doubtful of my success if I prosecuted them. In this stage of the affair it was made known to Mr (since Br) Bennett, then settled at Eomsey in Hampshire, who was one of our friends. I remember I took a journey to Eomsey while my sister Jane was visiting at Mr Blake’s, our maternal uncle, and had an interview with Ir Bennett. On this journey I had a narrow escape from a broken limb or a still more serious injury by the fall of the horse on which I rode, in consequence of which I was thrown with considerable violence over his head. However, through the good providence of God, I received not the slightest harm. By the mediation of !Mr Bennett with my father, his consent was obtained, and an arrangement was made for leaving my employment and going to Gosport to study under Dr Bogue. Just before I was to quit Poole, I was seized with a fever of the form of mild typhus, which, though not of a malignant or dangerous character, brought me very low.

As soon as I recovered from this, which was in two months, I left Blandford, at the close of 1802, for the scene of my studies. This was an eventful era of ray Ufe, and excited most grave and solemn reflectiona