The Divine Authority of the Christian Ministry

The truth of God has power, be it uttered by whom it may. It possesses the authority of truth; and ought, even though uttered by meanest lips, to control the understanding, the conscience, the heart, and the life.

But there is superadded to the power of truth, as thus uttered, a circumstance of some importance, which constitutes one of the elements of that influence which is exerted by the Christian pulpit. The truth it commimicates is uttered in God’s name, and by God’s authority.

There is a sense in which every man is authorized to utter the truth of God, and to urge home its obligations on the consciences of his fellows. There is no law of nature, of rectitude, or of God, that locks his lips in silence. The mere fact that he is acquainted with truths that are essential to the salvation of his fellow-men, with which they are unacquainted, lays him under obligations to make them known, and to impress and enforce them. Truth herself authorizes him to utter them; she says to every one of her disciples, imbued with her principles, and filled with her spirit, “Go and proclaim them; make them known to those who are shrouded in darkness; make them understood by the ignorant, and felt by the thoughtless, and do whatever in you lies to reclaim and save those who are wandering in the perverse and crooked ways of sin and death. Be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life.’”’

Truth is personified in the Scriptures as everywhere announcing her own claims; she does this by the lips and lives of her disciples. Doth not “Wisdom cry, and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men!” The last message of the Saviour’s love ever given to this lost world, is contained in those precious words, “And the Spirit and the Bride say, come; and let him that heareth say, come; and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely!”

The oracious invitation should sound forth from every tongue, and through every land.

The Clnirch of God ought every vvliere to invite men to Jesus; the voice of all her members ought everywhere to unite with the voice of his Spirit, in presenting the invitations of his mercy to a lost world. The personal obligations of every believer, to assist in spreading the truth, can hardly be called in question. The field is large, and there is abundant room for the combined efforts of all the friends of the Redeemer in this blessed w ork. “Come and hear, all ye that fear God,” says the Psalmist, “and I will tell what the Lord hath done for my soul.”

The agency of judicious and private Christians has ever been appreciated during those seasons when God, in a remarkable manner, has poured out his Spirit; it is required, it is absolutely necessary. Ministers cannot perform all the work; a multitude of minds must be moving in concert w ith theirs, and a multitude of hands employed. No man may refuse to speak a word for Christ, because he is not an ordained minister of the Gospel; nor fold up his talent in a napkin, and bury it in the earth because it is but one talent. “The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” He may not have the gift of prophecy, and be called to the sacred ministry; but if there be given to him, ‘’ the word of wisdom,” and the “word of knowledge,” it is that he may he profitahle to others, and employ the gift for the salvation of men.

But while these are truths that ought neither to be forgotten nor abused, it is equally true, that no private Christian is authorized to utter the truths of the Gospel in God’s name, and as his commissioned ambassador. He may, and ought to speak for God, in his private capacity; but not as a minister of the Gospel. When two nations are at war, the private citizens of both, who are resident in the land of the enemy, may, in their private capacity, urge the claims of their own land; while as commissioned ambassadors, they have no authority, and in that capacity have no claim to be heard. This world is at war with God: every friend of God in this revolted empire of his dominion, is bound to act the part of a friend, and in his capacity as a private citizen of the Divine kingdom, to urge men to cease from their rebellion, and become reconciled to their injured and offended Lord; but he has no instructions to do this as God’s special ambassador.

The legitimate occupants of the pulpit claim this as their prerogative; they are appointed by God himself to this responsible service. God has invested them with this high office j and they have ever claimed and exercised it in every age of the world. When Moses and Aaron appeared in the presence of Pharaoh, they carried with them the credentials that they were commissioned by him, and spake by his authority, and in his name. When Samuel, one of the most eminent of the Jewish prophets, appeared before Saul and the people of Israel, it was a question of great moment that it should be known and confessed that he was God’s special messenger. Hence we have this record concerning him: “And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground; and all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, hiew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord.” When Nathan appeared in the presence of David; when Elijah went before Ahab; when later Prophets presented themselves before the kings and people of Israel and Judah; it was not without the evidence of their divine appointment.

False prophets there were, of whom it is written, that “they ran, but God did not send them;” they were dishonored in the eyes of the people; God poured contempt upon them, and “cast dung upon their faces.” From the calling of Enoch to the present hour, with one exception, there never has been a period during which divinely commissioned teachers of religion were not found among- men. That exception is that sombre age of four hundred years, between Malachi, the last of the Jewish prophets, and John the Baptist. Priests there were; authorized and commissioned prophets there were none. Sacred writings there were; but the voice of the living prophet, sent by the God of Israel to his apostate people in their calamity, was silent. The last sentence from heaven which that degenerate people listened to, was the memorable declaration of the last of their prophets, “Behold I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

John the Baptist and the seventy, received their commission from a divine source. When the Saviour sent forth the twelve Apostles, they went by his special appointment, and in his name; they had his promise that he would be with them, as well as the additional evidence of their commission which was furnished by their possession of miraculous powers.

In perfect accordance with this brief statement is the general language of the Scriptures in relation to the authority by which these divinely commissioned teachers were invested. “Thou shalt hear the word at mv mouth, and warn ihem fro?n me.” — I warn them by you: it is as tlioiiijh I spake to them, when you speak in mv name. — “Go preach the preaclung that / bid thee.” “As my Father |jiath sent me, even so se?id I you.” “We are cwihassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

The Christian ministry, in every age of the Avorhl since the ascension of its great Founder, possesses, virtually, the same commission. The institution and the perpetuity of this order of men is, of all others, the most important arrangement for the enlargement and perpetuity of the Christian Church, and the salvation of men. By them the public worship of God is to be conducted, the ordinances of the Gospel dispensed, and the faith and order of God’s house are to be preserved. It is not a moral, but a j)Ositive institution, growing out of the moral wants of our race; and its authority depends entirely upon the will of its great Founder.

After our triumphant Lord had risen from the dead, he came and spake to his disciples, saying, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” And then he added his own solemn and emphatic Amen. The office originates with him, who, after his resurrection, was invested with the mediatorial crown, and formally appointed to he “Head over all things to the Church.” This commission was originally given to the eleven Apostles upon a mountain in Galilee, where the Saviour had made an appointment for this special interview; nor is there any evidence that it was given to any others. The service for which it was designed was to make disciples of the Christian faith, to baptize them, and to instruct them in all the doctrines, precepts, and institutions of the Gospel. The duration for which it was to continue is “to the end of the world.” It must he so from the nature of the case, and in order to accomplish its object, which was, “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ.” This object could not be accomplished if the commission expired with the lives of the Apostles. The promise appended to the commission, also, was to have effect till the consummation of time; for if the ministry be not continued, there are no objects of the promise; it is a dead letter, and has not been fulfilled. The commission, therefore, is perpetual; the legitimate ministry of every age act under its authority, and have a rifflit (o the promise. Their apy)c)intinoiit is not, indeotl, ])y an aii(H])le voice from heaven; nor is it conferred by miraculous powers. But thouiih the commission is but a recorded one, and the age of miracles is past; yet is the Christian ministry as truly of divine appointment, as was that of the Seventy, or the eleven Apostles.

It IS no part of our design, in these pages to discuss the vexed question of Apostolical, or Ministerial succession. Whether the Christian ministry receives its fiuthority immediately from Jesus Christ himself, or in an unbroken series from their predecessors in office; whether a formal induction to it by the laying on of the hands of Bishops, or Presbyters, or the Church, be essential to the office itself; or wdiether the external rite of transfer be a matter of order, or of substance; are questions on which there are, and w ill be different opinions. We dare not affirm that an uninterrupted line of succession is indispensable to the Christian ministry. The burden of proof lies upon those who affirm that it is indisyensable; it is a heavy burden, perhaps too weighty for them or their fathers to bear; nor do we know that they have ever made out, that in no possible case, the Christian ministry can be perpetuated in any other way. We are not converts to this doctrine, we confess; and for ourselves, as

Presbyterians, we are not disturbed by it, if it is true. We scarcely know how this question is viewed by the “straitest sect” of Prelatists. Sometimes, it seems to us they look upon it as one of the great problems of transcendental metaphysics; and then again it would appear that they regard it as one of those questions which are too plain to need discussion, and that exclusive prelacy belongs to that class of universal truths which it is impossible to consider as doubtful. The conviction of its truth is connate and instinctive; all that is necessary is to have boldness enough to own it. The grounds of the belief, it would seem, are of little consequence; the belief itself is the result of what a comparatively modern writer on Logic calls “the unreasoning faculty.”* To us it appears

* These remarks would scarcely be supposed to be called for in the nineteenth century. It is almost incredible that a writer who makes pretensions to scholarship and piety would venture on an assertion so puerile, as that high-church Episcopacy needs but to be boldly avowed in order to be believed. Yet is there a modern writer who has actually done this. The work to which we refer is an anonymous volume, entitled “Hawkstone; A Tale of England,” which made its appearance on the other side of the Atlantic, in 1845, and which has recently been republished by Stanford &, Swords, of our city. The preface to the American edition, by J. W., informs us that it is not allowable to “indicate “the author, although the work” has been very generally appropriated to a distinguished individual.” Speaking of some acts of excommunication from the English Church, of persons who left her religious services, from a preference for other denominations, this “distinguished individual “says:” The effect of this boldness upon schismatics was startling. It made them reflect.

1 licit (lie ministers of the Gospel are all of one order; that a division of their powers is incon-It was the assertion of an authority of which they had never dreamed. It was the appearance of the Church of England in a icholly new light, invested with privileges which could only belong to an ambassador of Heaven, and the very claim of which, boldly and unhesitatingly MADE, WAS IN ITSELF AN EVIDENCE OF THEIR TRUTH!”

Truly, this is not a little to our amusement and edification. To our amusement, because if this doctrine is true, Heaven has had all sorts of ambassadors; to our edification, because “moniti, non temnere divos!” Better perhaps for Episcopacy to take a lesson from the pages of her own historj’, both in England and Scotland, and venture to bo a little more bold and startling. The author is sadly in error, when he affirms that “this was the appearance of the Church of England in wholly a new light.” It is a poor rule that will not work both ways. Truly, we must take courage; we must imitate the audacity of churchmen! Instead of peacefully dismissing now and then a “stray sheep” from our folds, and bidding him God-speed as he seeks a refuge at the altars of prelacy, we must have the boldness to excommunicate him. The “effect of this boldness would be startling.” It would be “the assertion of an authority of which the wanderers had never dreamed,” and the “very claim of which, boldly and unhesitatingly made, would in itself be an evidence of its truth.” Has it then come to this, that the classical and accomplished J. W., either as a logician, or a Christian, endorses such reasoning and such a sentiment? Surely, Episcopacy must be in a bad way. “Insonuere cavae gemitumque dedere cavernae.”

Our own opinion of Hawkstone is very summarily expressed. The work was sent to us by a lady of our own communion, and who requested us to express our opinion of its merits. We do not often read so artful a book. The grand object of it is to assert the claims of the most arrogant and exclusive Episcopacy. The author creeps upon it by cautious and gradual steps, as a tiger advances to his prey, without giving alarm. He talks about every thing that is good, and introduces matter as irrelevant as would be Homer’s battle of the frogs and mice. At length he comes out, and like a circumambulating wolf, shows his head over the wall around which, with cautious steps, he had so long manoeuvered. It has just truth enough to mislead, and sufficient error to poison and sistent with the commission under which they hold their office; and that their powers are

destroy. It speaks of doctrine, yet has nothing in the form of doctrine, save the impossibility of salvation out of the Episcopal Church. It condemns Rome, yet claims Rome’s infallibility for the Church of England. Jesuitism it condemns, but if its author has not turned out a Jesuit, we shall confess ourselves mistaken. It evinces much more labor than talent, and much less of Christianity than sect. It commends the spirit of that age when “the very name of a dissenter would have been sutHcient to set the populace in commotion;” it denounces benevolent institutions in every form, unless they are under the supervision and direction of the Church of England; it puts the Church above the Bible, and denies the right of bringing her doctrines to the test of the Holy Scriptures; it professes to be the offspring of Protestantism, but is the illegitimate child of Papacy, and ashamed of its parentage. Its design is to insinuate the high-church doctrines of Papacy, by pressing into its service the fascinating form of fiction; and such a series of miserable misrepresentations, prejudice, and heated zeal in the cause of Puseyism, is rarely to be met with. J. W. has overshot his mark; he must certainly be classed with those baleful prophets who said to the king of Israel, “Go up to Ramoth Gilead, and prosper;” and it will be well for him if he do not one day, like the counsellor of Ahab, seek to “hide himself in an inner chamber” for what he has done. It is easy to bluster and talk stout on the sul)ject of Episcopal claims, as the author of Hawkstone does; but as he does not attempt to substantiate any one of his positions, he must be treated as relying on the old and sometimes very respectable argument, Ipse dixit. Our offset to this argument is, Ego dico: — Episcopacy is a dragon with fieiy horns and cauda reim-ta; but it has no more foundation in the word of God than Poole’s dragon had in the air.

But to speak of this matter in another strain. With my Episcopalian brethren I have never had any controversy. Why is it that they will not let us rest? Are they satisfied with nothing short of a war of extermination? So it would seem. J. W. appears fully to imbibe the spirit of that horrid imprecation, —

“Nunc olim, quocunque dabunt se tempore vires, Litora litoribus contraria, fluctibus undas Imprecor, arma arinis, pugncnt ipsiquc ncpotes.”

l.’U THE POWER OF THE I’ULPIT.

one ;ni(l llio snin( Wc lioiior the office as one derived from heaven; nor are we prepared lo rejiard those “as polluted and put from the priesthood,” who, while they hold to the doctrine of ministerial succession, are so utterly unable to produce the proof that the commission under which they themselves individually preach the Gospel, is any thing better than a nullity. We are no exclusionists; we believe that the water of life retains its healing virtue, by whatever consecrated channel it is communicated. Exclusiveness has its pretensions; mutual forbearance its claims.

It is sufficient to our present purpose to assume, that the Christian ministry is a distinct order of men; and that every man who possesses the necessary qualifications, and is approved and set apart to the office by the expressed judgment of the church, acting either

Shall the sword devour forever? What have Episcopalians ever gained by this conflict? The subject has been abundantly discussed, and it appears to us that it must be the conviction of every fair and ingenuous mind, that Episcopacy has no foundation to rest upon; and that its claims, when brought to the test of history, or the divine records, must utterly fiiil. We have no desire to prolong it, yet we must act on the defensive. We say, with the eloquent Roman,” Est enim haec, judices, non scripta, sed nata lex: quam non dedicimus, accissimus, legimus, verum, a natura ipsa arripuimus, hausimus, expressimus: ad quam non docti, sed facti; non instituti, sed imbuti sumus.*

Cic. pro Mil. Sect. Orat. p. 30G.

in her own capacity, or by her official representatives, be those representatives a Presbytery, or an Ecclesiastical Council, or a single Bishop, is a divinely commissioned minister of Christ.

Every denomination of Christians regards its own ministrij as divinely commissioned. It looks upon them, and they look upon themselves, as “called of God as was Aaron,” and sent in the name, and by the authority of the Great Head of the church, to proclaim the truths, and enforce the obligations of the Gospel. This is the fact we here dwell upon; because it is one which cannot be affirmed of any other class of men. INo public teachers in the world, save those who serve at the altar, carry this divine commisison.

Enthusiasts and fanatics there may be, who place themselves upon this eminence. Men of the “fifth monarchy” did in England; and so do some mad zealots in our own day. So have false prophets, and false apostles, and false christs in times that are gone by. Satan himself assumes the form of an angel of light. But the Church is in little danger from such deceivers; they do not commend themselves to the consciences of men. Public teachers there are too, of great worth, who neither have, nor claim any such authority. The statesman, the jurist, the popular lecturer,

13G THE POWER (3F THE PULPIT.

however ini|)orliiiit llic truths they deliver, teafh not in the name and by the autlioritv of the Living God. Nm’ does every tcaclier of true religion. The parent does not, however wise, faithful, aflcctionate, and successful his instructions to his children. He has his warrant; it is divine; but it is sim])ly and purely patriarchal. It is a different commission from that of the Christian ministry; it is not so extensive, but is limited to his own household, and does not include- many duties that belong appropriately to the ministers of Christ. It is a commission of vast importance so far as it extends, nor has the Christian ministry any .such important auxiliary, as the religious influence of pious parents, and the religious instruction which they are authorized and required to give officially to their children. Yet the commission under which they act is not the ministerial commission. Nor does the Ruling Elder teach in God’s name, and by God’s authority. He is not a teaching, but a ruling elder. He rules in God’s name, and by his authority; when he “labors in word and doctrine,” it is rather a service wdiich is incidental to his office, an appendage to it, rather than an official act. He may often perform this service; there are exigencies in which it is necessary that he should conduct the religious exercises of the congregation; but it is a matter of fitness and propriety, rather than strictly a duty that belongs to his office. Nor does it belong to the deacons to be public religious teachers; they have an expressed commission from God for another and a different service. The doctrine of the Episcopal church on this subject is not the doctrine of the New Testament. No deacon, as such, has a right to preach and baptize; the moment this right is conferred upon him, he ceases to be a deacon, and becomes a teaching presbyter. It is not by virtue of his office as a preacher, that he attends to the ministration of the poor; nor by virtue of the deacon’s office, that he gives himself to prayer and the ministry of the word. The same thing may be said with equal, if not greater emphasis, of every other class of men. The mere tract distributer is not a minister of the Gospel: he does not speak in the name, and by the authority of Christ. Nor does any private Christian, male or female, however laborious their teaching and their prayers, and however great the service they may render to the cause of Christ. The ministers of the Gospel are the appointed ambassadors of the Head and King of the Church; he sends them on their great and responsible errand, and they possess authority to publish his Gospel in his name, which belongs exclusively to themselves. It is not an authority which they usurp, nor an office which they themselves have sought; but one which has been imposed upon them. The responsibilities of it are of no enviable kind; they must give an account of their stewardship, and such an one as no other men must render. Nor are the disabilities and dependencies of the office to be envied. No honest, right-minded man was ever invested with it without much fear and trembling; nor is there one among them all who would ever have consented to this investiture but for the constraints of conscience. They have been thrust forth into the harvest. The office is upon them, nor may they disclaim either the responsibilities or the commission, without being recreant to their trust.

Now this is one of the strong peculiarities of the pulpit, and places it upon high Aantage ground. Its legitimate occupants are divinely commissioned men. Inspired men they are not, but sinning and fallible, like their fellows; yet do they utter his truth, not on their own responsibility, but God’s; — not in their own names, but his; — not for themselves, but for him ;- — not as men merely, but as accredited ministers of their divine Lord who sent them. Their messages are not wise counsels merely, nor are they merely seasonable rebukes and encouragements, which men may regard at their option: they come clothed with obligations that arc authoritative, and authority infinitely above that of those who utter them. Though they themselves are but men, sinning men, worms of the dust, they speak in God’s name, and what God himself would utter were he in their place. It is not simply the authority of truth with which they speak; for then every man who utters truth woidd be invested with this authority: it is the authority of truth uttered by those whom God has raised up, and qualified, and sealed by solemn sacrament, and sent forth, and specially authorized to utter the things that are commanded them of him. This is one of the elements of power which belongs to the pulpit, and which gives it a prevalent and permanent superiority over every other method of religious instruction. Arrogant as this claim may be in the views of some, despised as it may be by others, and abused as it has been, is, and will be, by an ambitious and tyrannical priesthood,- — this pre-eminence God has given it.

God’s arrangements are all wise. His wisdom, whether regarded absolutely and in itself, or relatively to us, challenges our highest homage. Its arrangements in the particular we are contemplating are enlightened and benevolent. It seems to be lowering the great subject, to say that it was an expression of the wisest policy to clothe his ministers with this authority; but I know not better how to express my admiration of (his arrangement. Its leiritimate influence upon the mind of the preacher must, in every view, be potent for good, and not for evil. Well may it humble him in the dust, to reflect that he stands before men as “the legate of the skies.” He must be a most weak, as well as a most wicked man, whoso heart is lifted up by such a thought as this. In every view, it is a most solemn thought, and in some views a most depressing one; and in contemplating it, it were no marvel if the preacher should exclaim, “Who is sufficient for these things?” We may all avcU tremble at the thought of standing in God’s name, and by his appointment proclaiming the truths of the everlasting Gospel. There is responsibility in uttering it, be the lips whose they may: how great the responsibility when uttered in God’s name! O, how often does this thought rush upon the preacher’s mind, as he treads his way to the house of God! How it awes him into reverence, moves him to fidelity and earnestness, and gives solemnity and tenderness even to his severest admonitions! How is it fitted to quench his thirst for fame, to call to mind that he speaks in His name who was despised and rejected of men, — who was spit upon, scourged, and crucified! What lias such a man to do with being a “fiishionable preacher,” or with aiming to gratify the gay world? It is the Master who sent him whose approl3ation he seeks; the only testimonial that can satisfy him as a man of God, and a Christian minister, is from the lips of his Divine Lord, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

There is one particular in which this thought has a most appropriate and powerful influence. Few personal qualities are more indispensable to a minister of the Gospel, than a high degree of moral couracre. His mind must be familiar with great things, and preserve itself undaunted amidst opposition and danger. The fear “of man bringeth a snare,” and should find no place in the pulpit. And whence the victory over a pusillanimous mind, which embarrasses so many preachers, if not from the thought that they are .God’s servants? Moses trembled not before the haughty despot of Egypt, because he was the messenger of Israel’s God. Elijah quailed not in the presence of the bloody Ahab, because God sent him. “Fear not, Paul, thou must be brought before kings;” and he did not fear, because he stood before them in the name and by the authority of Him who is the “Prince of the kings of the earth,” and the Lord of the universe. See him at Athens, at Jerusalem, at Cesarea, when philosophers cowered before him, and the proud Roman trembled. “Whether it be right to hearken unto ycm, more than unto God, judge ye,” — this was the bold appeal of God’s commissioned servants in other days. No matter what the difficulty, or danger, that lies in their course, there is that in the bosom of every intrepid teacher of God’s truth, that, whether he wake or sleep, is reiterating the thought, God sends me, and I must go; God speaks by me, and I must speak. What but thoughts and sentiments like these, sustained John IIuss and Jerome of Prague, in the presence of the perfidious Sigismund; and John Knox, in the presence of the almost adored Queen of Scotland? When entreated not to present himself at the Diet about to convene in the imperial city of Worms, in Germany, “I must go;’ says Luther, “were there as many devils in Worms as there are tiles on the houses.” Nil desperandum, Christo duce;” — it is the order of his Master, and lie had nothing to be afraid of. That distinguished American preacher, Samuel Davies, then the President of the College of New Jersey, when on a visit to England, in behalf of the college, was invited to yreach before George III. His youthful queen was sitting by his side; and so enchanted were they by the preacher’s eloquence, that the king expressed his admiration in no measured terms, and so audibly and rudely as to draw the attention of the audience, and interrupt the service. The preacher made a sudden and solemn pause in his discourse, looked around upon the audience, and fixing his piercing eye upon England’s noisy monarch, said, “When the lion roars, the beasts of the forest tremble; when Jehovah speaks, let the kings of the earth keep silence before him!” He was God’s messenger; he feared not man, who is a worm. It is not God’s ministers who tremble amid such scenes.

Shall I speak of the influence of this thought upon the hearers? Who has not felt it 1 “For this cause,” says the Apostle, writing to the Thessalonians, “for this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God.” Men would hear very differently, if they were satisfied that ministers had no authority to preach. They need the thought that they are listening to instructions uttered by higher than any human authority, in order to give weight and emphasis to those instructions. When Cornelius and his fellow-worshippers were assembled in the presence of Peter, he addressed this apostle in the memorable and beautiful words, “Now, therefore, we are all here before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God,” The thought that God’s messenger was coming to address them, brought them together: none were absent; “we are all here.” It made them sensi])li’ in lo’^ii presence lq were; “we are all here present before God.’” It disposed them to hear; no matter what the message, or how unwelcome, they would hear it all; — “all tln’?i(jrs that are commanded thee of God.” And it was because God had cominanded him to speak in his name.

The thought is one which may well fill the hearers with awe, as well as their ministers. “He that heareth you,’’^ saith the Saviour, “heareth me, and he that despiseth you, despiseth me.” It is not ministers whom men honor, or dishonor, hen they honor or dishonor their message; it is Him who sent them. They come to a guilty world, with their letters patent, their instructions signed and sealed from the Court of Heaven; and woe to the people or the man that accounts their message a little matter! Nothing can relieve them from the obligation of receiving them, and the truth which they utter. It was of one of his ancient ministers that God said, “I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak all that I command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken to my words, which he shall speak in my name, I avill require it of him.” When he first commissioned the twelve disciples, he told them, “Whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house, or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, it shall he more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment, than for that city.” It is a solemn truth, but one which the Bible utters, that the eternal happiness of men is suspended upon their receiving the Gospel thus preached in Christ’s name. There is no one thing they are more bound to do than this. They may quarrel with God’s ministers, and quarrel they may with God’s truth, but this does not relax the bond. They may think little of the ministerial oflice; but this does not relieve them. Nothing is little which is of God’s appointment. There is a reality in the ministerial commission; and though we claim for it no magical influence, and none of the authority of the civil power, yet is it one of those elements of influence and of strong moral power with which God himself has invested the ambassadors of his truth and grace. It stands upon a sure foundation, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. It cannot be a weak and insignificant agency. There is power in the pulpit, when girt round by such a rock as this.