Bishop Quayle, in his latest work, "The Pastor Preacher," says, "If God or man has a manlier business than preaching, that business has not been set down in the list of masculine activities. Preaching is a robust business ... 'If, after the manner of men I have fought with the beasts of Ephesus' is not a phrase descriptive of physical or metaphysical lassitude or incapacity. The preacher is not a man of cartilage, he is a man of bone and sinew. He feels the riot of mighty deeds. Life is epic to him. 'I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus' was another of the granitic sayings of Brother Paul, sometime preacher in the Church of God."
But let me say right here this preacher must be God's man-called of God to this business, saying, "This ONE thing I do"; "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel"; conferring not with flesh and blood, but inquiring, "What wilt Thou have me to do?" and knowing by the Holy Ghost that he is a chosen vessel of God; the answer of the entire being is "Here am I; send me."
God alone can call a man to the ministry. This is a Divine prerogative. No sovereign would allow another to appoint his ministers. The Sovereign of the universe calls whom He will. Christ is the head of the Church, and He makes known to the Church that waits for guidance, whom He designates by the Holy Spirit. "Casting lots" or an apostle never was God's method. Jeroboam dared to make priests of others than Levites, and took of the lowest of the people for this high office, but it meant the doom of Israel and ruin for himself. No man taketh this honor unto himself but he that is called of God. Listen to the Word, "I have given your priest's office unto you as a service of gift, and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death." "The prophet which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, shall die." "Behold, I am against the prophets that steal my words." "Woe unto the foolish prophets, that have followed their own spirit, and have seen nothing." "The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work WHEREUNTO I HAVE CALLED THEM." When God gave the plan of the Tabernacle to even the most minute detail, He also "called Bezaleel and filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning work, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in cutting of timber to work in all manner of workmanship," and it may be granted He would not have men to enter on the greatest work to which a mortal can be called, without the leading, inspiration and equipment of the Holy Spirit.
The Church of God, in all generations, has recognized this great truth. Luther, the moving spirit under God in the great Reformation, solemnly warns men, whatever their attainment in learning and wisdom, never to enter the ministry unless called of God. Vinet says: "We MUST be called of God. Whether external or internal, the call ought to be Divine." The Church of England requires an affirmative answer to the solemn question, "Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon this office and ministration, to serve God for the promoting of His glory and the edifying of His people?" Burnet well says, "Certainly the answer that is made ought to be well considered, for if any says, 'I trust so,' that yet knows nothing of any such motive, and can give no account of it, he lies to the Holy Ghost, and makes the first approach to the altar with a lie in his mouth, and that not unto men, but unto God."
There will be a time come in the ministry of every preacher when he will be glad "that God put him in the ministry," that he did not seek the office, for with the knowledge that it was God who called him there will come the assurance that He who called will also equip, defend, accompany and energize his servant, rendering him effective wherever his lot may be cast. "To me is this grace GIVEN that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, having this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of men."
Let us consider for a little, what do we understand by "a call to the ministry" or the "Preacher's Call"? When God calls to the work that an archangel might covet, the man knows it, and feels it so strongly that he says, "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel." There is a necessity laid upon him, a sense of moral constraint, a consciousness that, unless he minds God, the heaviest of all woes, the woe of a remorseful conscience, the woe of a spirit that has fallen from a height of glory that might have been its own forever, would fall upon him if he proved unfaithful to the call. God's will becomes his will, God's purpose becomes his purpose. The manifested love of God in his heart must be an impelling power leading his whole being into captivity to the one work, drawing forth every energy of his nature into a holy and joyous service. Accompanying this will be an intense desire for the work, a cheerful obedience to the will of God. There may be, because of the knowledge of unworthiness and unfitness, a shrinking from such an humble dependence on Him who saith, "My grace is sufficient." If there is not this earnest desire for the work, founded upon obedience to God, and a burning love for souls, the trials to be met with in the ministry will soon quench one's zeal. THE MINISTRY IS A LIFE WORK, THE LOVE OF IT MUST BE LIFELONG. The desire is not for honor, or leisure, or ease of office, or plaudits of folks, or opportunities for advancement, but for the work belonging to it, with the joys and sorrows, pains and pleasures, labors and comforts attending a conscientious discharge of its duties.
God equips for this service, therefore take heart. When Jeremiah was told that he was ordained of God to be a prophet, that burning flame said, "Ah, Lord God, I can not speak, for I am a child," but God gave him assurance of all needed strength and succor. When Jesus called "the tiger of Tarsus," he knew what difficulties he would have from his past life in his future labors, and He personally said to him, "Rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to MAKE THEE A MINISTER AND A WITNESS both of these things which thou hast seen, and those things in the which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom I now send thee, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." Paul never forgot this interview. He quoted these words in his old age. They made him calm and firm before the mighty and cruel. But for them, he might have fallen at the very threshold, for, be it remembered, his sense of personal weakness and unworthiness never left him; rather, it seemed to grow upon him, and though looking unto Jesus he could shout, "I can do all things through Christ strengthening me," yet he writes, "I am less than the least of all saints," and still later he cries, "I am the chief of sinners."
Good men, men called of God, invariably shrink from the awful responsibilities of the ministry. When Philip Henry was ordained, he humbly wrote, "I did this day receive so much honor and work as I ever shall know what to do with. Lord Jesus, proportion supplies accordingly." The better men are fitted for this great work, the deeper is their sense of unfitness and unworthiness. Let this be laid down as a maxim, "Men who seek and demand ordination are unworthy of it."
A call to the ministry that is from God will also be accompanied by a sense of the dignity of the office. Paul said the ministry "is a good work." He honored his own calling. There is no human comforter like an able minister of the New Testament. There are no glories like those to which he points and invites. A keen writer says, "A poor country preacher fighting the devil in his parish, has nobler ideas than Alexander ever had." When a man voluntarily quits the ministry for any secular office, it is as if the king of a great people had laid aside his scepter for a constable's bauble. A high appreciation of the ministry will produce a hearty devotion to it, and keep one from dabbling in stocks, promoting doubtful enterprises, or making the office a stepping-stone to some more lucrative profession.
Another part of a call to the ministry is a desire and willingness on the part of the one called to study to show himself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed; to "give attendance unto reading," acquiring the necessary learning and power of explaining and enforcing the truth. If God can do without our wisdom, He can certainly do without our foolishness, and it is foolishness to think that a call to the ministry is the end-it is only the beginning. It means putting forth every energy that God has given us, that we may be polished shafts in His quiver for the accomplishment of His work. No man is called to teach what he does not know and cannot or will not learn. One of very limited knowledge of divine things may be called TO PREPARE for the great work of this holy calling. "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." A minister called of God must have an experimental knowledge of saving truth, and an acquaintance with the truths of Scripture that only comes through intense mental application and study. It is "the words of the wise that are as goads."
God's ministers must indeed be harmless as doves, but they must also be wise as serpents. The truth must be spoken, and it must be SPOKEN FITLY. Does that mean a college course? Not always. It may be "Brush College," or burning midnight oil, or "studying between times," but be sure of this, IT MEANS STUDY, and God's man always wants to be at his best. One preacher beginning his study for the ministry walked all the way to college, and slept out of doors on the ground for lack of money to pay for lodgings. Another blacked boots, swept corridors, and was a man of all work. Where there is a will there is a way-and YOU may find it.
