Much of the bitterness which the clergy have manifested towards the Brethren has sprung from the question of ordination. It is the great pillar on which the whole system of clericalism rests; therefore, it must be jealously guarded. Do away with ordination and the clergy become as other men. Then they could only rise to their own moral level. But there is a charm in the fiat of ordination which gives them to feel that they are a different caste, that they are superior to all other men. They must not be spoken to, questioned, or dictated to as other men are. Their dignity must be maintained at all cost. And so real is this charm over the human heart that it rarely loses its effects even after the office is given up as unscriptural. The gown, it has been said, may be rolled up and put into the pocket, but some corner of it is often visible.
The question is a vital one as it deeply affects the operations of the Spirit, the sovereignty of God, and the ministry of the word, which is the food and refreshment of the divine life in the soul. To insist on a certain ceremony through which a man must pass before he can be recognized as properly a minister of Christ, is the crowning sin of Christendom. It places human authority above the call and gifts of the ascended Lord and Head of the church. " If a man possessed all the gifts of the apostle Paul himself, he dared not teach or preach Jesus Christ, unless he were licensed or authorized by man; whereas, on the contrary, though destitute altogether of spiritual gifts, nay, even of spiritual life itself, yet, if authorized, ordained, licensed or approved by man, he might teach and preach in that which professed to be the church of God. Man's authority, without Christ's gift, was quite sufficient. Christ's gift without man's authority was not."
Surely we cannot, as Christians, be too deeply impressed with the importance of the servant's individual responsibility to the Master Himself. It must be a very serious thing for a servant of the Lord who has been entrusted by Him with the gift of preaching or teaching if he refrain from exercising that gift until he be authorized to do so by man. We nowhere read in scripture that such gifts ever needed man's sanction. May the Lord awaken His people more generally to their responsibility in this matter, lest they should hide their talent in the earth during His absence, and have a sorry account to give of their trading at His return.
The apostle Paul, who is in many things the model man of the Christian dispensation, is especially so in the matter of ordination. There were those in his day who sought to discredit his apostleship because he had not been with the Lord Jesus when He was down here. This leads him to vindicate his divine call without human appointment in the most energetic way. Writing to the Galatians, he says, Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.' It was not of men as a source, nor by man as a medium in any way, ' but by Jesus Christ and God the Father.'
" Nothing could have been more easy than for God to have converted the apostle in Jerusalem; it was there that his first violence against the Christians broke out. But when God met him, he was away from Jerusalem, carrying on his hot persecution of the saints; and there, outside Damascus, in broad daylight, the Lord from heaven, unseen by others, reveals Himself to the astonished Saul of Tarsus. He was called not only a saint, but an apostle; and to make it the more striking, when he was baptized, whom did the Lord choose to make the instrument of his baptism? A disciple' who is only this once brought before us as a godly old man, residing at Damascus. God took special care to show that the apostle, appointed to a signally important place, the most momentous function of any man that ever was called to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel-that St. Paul was thus called without the intervention, authorization, or recognition of man in any shape or form. His baptism had nothing to do with his being an apostle. He immediately goes into Arabia, he preaches the gospel, and God at once owns him as Christ's minister in the gospel, without any human interference. Such, indeed, is the true principle of ministry, fully illustrated in the call and work of Saul of Tarsus, henceforth the bondman of Christ.
" It may be objected, however, by some that we do read of human setting aside and laying on of hands in the New Testament. We own it fully. But in some cases it is a person who had already shown qualifications for the work, set apart in a formal manner by apostolical authority to a local charge, and clothed with a certain dignity in the eyes of the saints, perhaps because there was not much gift. For the elder, it will be observed, is not said to be a 'teacher,' but simply 'apt to teach.' In Acts 14:2323And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed. (Acts 14:23) we read, ‘And when they had ordained elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.' This proves not that the church, but that they -Paul and Barnabas-chose and ordained the elders. It seems that an apostle, or an apostolic delegate, was the only one who chose or appointed elders in the churches. In no case is the church invited to select them. The fact is, people confound eldership with ministry. Elders were appointed by those who themselves had a higher authority direct from Christ; but there never was such a thing as ordaining a man to preach the gospel. In scripture, the Lord, and the Lord only, calls men to preach the gospel. As He says, Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit.' And of Paul he says, He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.' John 15:1616Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. (John 15:16); Acts 9:1515But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: (Acts 9:15).
" In apostolic days there never was such a thing as a person appointed a teacher any more than a prophet. But among the elders there might be, some of them, evangelists, teachers, &c. Therefore it is said, Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.' The presbyters, or elders, whose business it was to rule, even if they were not teachers, were in danger of being despised. They were to be honored as a class, and especially they who labored in the word and doctrine.
"The case of Timothy is, no doubt, peculiar. He was designated by prophecy to a certain very peculiar work-that of guarding doctrine. And the apostle and the presbyters laid their hands upon him, by which a spiritual gift was communicated to him which he did not possess before. It is evident that there is no man now living who has been similarly endowed and called to such a work. See 1 Timothy 1:18; 4:1418This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; (1 Timothy 1:18)
14Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. (1 Timothy 4:14) Timothy 1:6.
" It may also be said that, in the case of the apostle Paul, there was the putting on of hands, which we have in Acts 13 What does this show? Not, certainly, that he was an apostle chosen by man; for the Holy Ghost declares that he was an apostle, not of men, neither by man.' That which took place at Antioch was in no sense ordaining him to be an apostle. It is evident from many scriptures that for several years before hands were laid on him, he had been preaching, and was one of the recognized prophets and teachers at Antioch. I believe that the point there was the setting him and Barnabas apart for the special mission on which they were just about to go out-to plant the gospel in new countries. It was purely and simply a recommendation to the grace of God, for the new work on which they were about to enter. Some such thing might be done at the present day., Supposing a man, who had been preaching the gospel in England, felt it much laid on his heart to go and visit the United States of America, and his brethren felt that he was just the man for that work, they might, in order to show their concurrence and sympathy, meet together with prayer and fasting, to lay their hands upon the brother who was going thither. This, in my opinion, would be quite scriptural; but it is not ordaining. What I believe to be unscriptural, and indeed positively sinful, is accrediting a number of men who are not ministers of Christ, and discrediting a number of men who are His ministers, because they do not go through this traditional innovation."