Gospel ministry

“ And, in the first place, we argue the obligations of supporting the Gospel, in a decent and honourable manner, from this consideration, it [p. 270] is the will of God that there should be stated public worship, and an order of men appointed to preside over, and to dispense to worshipping Assemblies, Gospel-truths and ordinances. The office of a Gospel-Ministry is sacred. It is derived from the great head of the Church. This is a true saying, if any man desire the office of a Bishop, he desireth a good work. ”

“ The most learned of its adversaries have never been able to fix on any period in the Christian Church, from the time of the Apostles to the Reformation, in which the ordination of men to the ministry of the gospel was considered to be vested in any other minister or ministers than a Bishop. ”

“ Doubtless no young minister, no matter how consecrated he may be to the will of God, finds it easy to take his first step in gospel work. I was no exception to the rule. Twice already when I arose in the public assembly to bear witness to God's dealings with me, my testimony became an exhortation, and God spoke through me to the edification of the people; but I had so far done no preaching, and now that I had reached the decision to go with my brother into the active ministry, I was conscious of conflicting emotions. ”

“ This letter is a sign that you are fully empowered and authorized to exercise this ministry, accepting its privileges and responsibilities as a priest of this Diocese, in communion with your Bishop.
Having committed yourself to this work, do not forget the trust of those who have chosen you. Care alike for young and old, strong and weak, rich and poor. By your words, and in your life, proclaim the Gospel. Love and serve Christ’s people. Nourish them, and strengthen them to glorify God in this life and in the life to come. ”

“ The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. Likewise, Is. 55, 11: So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth; it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please. If ordination be understood in this way, neither will we refuse to call the imposition of hands a sacrament. For the Church has the command to appoint ministers, which should be most pleasing to us, because we know that God approves this ministry and is present in the ministry [that God will preach and work through men and those who have been chosen by men] . ”

“ The truth is, there is the greatest possible vagueness of belief, or rather opinion, respecting the Christian Ministry, in our times and country especially. There is, perhaps very generally, an indistinct impression, that something is required to make a man “a minister of the Gospel;” ”

“ He must instruct others, and train them up for the ministry, and so commit to them the things which he had heard; and he must also ordain them to the ministry, lodge the gospel as a trust in their hands, and so commit to them the things which he had heard. Two things he must have an eye to in ordaining ministers:—Their fidelity or integrity ("Commit them to faithful men, who will sincerely aim at the glory of God, the honour of Christ, the welfare of souls, and the advancement of the kingdom of the Redeemer among men") , and also their ministerial ability. ”

“ The ministry of the Gospel is a ministry of reconciliation; the preacher of the Gospel is primarily an evangelist. He has to proclaim that wonderful grace of God which made peace between heaven and earth through the blood of the Cross, and he has to urge men to receive it. ”

“ And though we believe, that none ought to take the Office of a Minister, but he that is elected and ordained thereunto, yet we believe also, that it is the duty of all private Christians, in a brotherly way, out of the common bond of charity, to build up one another in their most holy Faith. And therefore let those [149] that fear the Lord, speak often one to another, especially in these evil daies: and strive together for the Faith of the Gospel, standing fast in one spirit with one mind. ”

“ Thus far I have been speaking mainly to young workers in the early part of their ministry. Now I wish to say a few words that will be helpful to them as they grow older in the service. If you are fully persuaded that God has chosen you as his mouthpiece to declare the everlasting gospel to eternity-bound souls, you should feel the weight of your responsibility. A very weighty responsibility rests upon him who stands between the living and the dead. The attitude a minister holds, both toward his call also toward the Word of God, and also toward the people, is of vital importance. ”

“ The apostles engage to addict themselves wholly to their work as ministers, and the more closely if they can but get fairly quit of this troublesome office (v. 4) : We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. See here, [1.] What are the two great gospel ordinances— the word, and prayer; by these two communion between God and his people is kept up and maintained; by the word he speaks to them, and by prayer they speak to him; and these have a mutual reference to each other. By these two the kingdom of Christ must be advanced, and additions made to it ”

“ So that they were truly ministers of Christ sent forth to minister in his name to all who would believe, and by means of this ministry, and power, they could build up the kingdom of Christ among men, and establish his cause in the world. The gospel that men preach in these days have no such ministry or priesthood: the priesthood of modern times has no such power or authority. ”

“ As by this gift, or light of God, all true knowledge in things spiritual is received and revealed; so by the same, as it is manifested and received in the heart by the strength and power thereof; every true minister of the gospel is ordained, prepared and supplied in the work of the ministry: and by the leading, moving, and drawing hereof, ought every evangelist and Christian pastor to be led and ordered in his labour and work of the gospel, both as to the place where, as to the persons to whom, and as to the times when he is to minister. ”

“ We all know these good men lived but short while in the world: however, the promise originally made to them, extends to faithful ministers of the gospel in their several generations, to the end of time. Therefore, whatever be pretended, it appears to me a very unfriendly office to Jesus Christ and his religion, to depreciate a public ministry——It is an attempt to blast what the Lord has most certainly blessed in all ages to the conversion of souls. ”

“ If it is to preach the gospel, we should devote ourselves to the duties of that ministry, and we ought to strive with the utmost of our ability to qualify ourselves to perform that specific labor, and the way to do it is to live so that the spirit of God will have communion and be present with us to direct us in every moment and hour of our ministry, night and day.—Apr. ”

“ It was then proposed to the church, whether they considered me as called and qualified for the ministry; which was carried without a dissenting voice. Our pastor then gave me a most solemn charge on the subject, and I believe he acted as became a Christian, a gospel minister, and a circumspect man. I felt some sacred pleasure in this approbation, and went forth teaching and preaching. The Lord was with me most sensibly, and many souls were edified, comforted, and built up on their most holy faith. The Scriptures were opened to them, and God gave them light, life, love and liberty. ”

“ Thirdly, the lawful calling of such to the ministry or service, according to Christ Jesus.
ποίμενες διδασκαλοὶ ἐπισκοποὶ πρεσβυτεροὶ Matt. xxviii. μαθητέυειν. Preachers and pastors far different.
For the first, he acknowledgeth, that the ordinary ministers of the gospel are pastors, teachers, bishops, overseers, elders, and that their proper work is to feed and govern a truly converted, holy, and godly people, gathered into a flock or church estate; and not properly preachers to convert, beget, make disciples, which the apostles and evangelists professedly were. ”

“ The country full of a zealous and independent ministry of the Gospel, independent in the highest sense, which includes dependence on Christ; each 80community working out in entire freedom its conception of what a Church ought to be and what a Church ought to do, and under the guidance of one whom it recognises as Christ's minister, ordained for its service by the manifest unction of the Spirit: diversities of gifts, diversities of methods, diversities of operations, diversities of results ”

“ In some quarters it seems to be supposed that the Holy Spirit himself is the solution of the perplexities of our time. Now what we may witness in some coming age we know not, but in this it is clear that God in the person of Christ is the one only and divine answer. Here is God's yea and amen, the Alpha and Omega, sight for the blind, healing for the paralyzed, cleansing for the polluted, life for the dead, the gospel for the poor and sad and comfortless. ”

“ We wish to see a great orator in the pulpit, forgetting that the least expounder of the word, when filled with the Holy Ghost, is greater than he. We want the gospel, forsooth; but in the strenuous demand that it be set forth according to the "spirit of the age" we ignore the supremacy of the "Spirit of God." And the method of discourse soon tells upon the matter. We cannot very long have the truth in the pulpit after we have lost "the Spirit of truth" therefrom. "When one possesses not the whole of life," says Vinet, "he possesses not the whole of truth." ”

“ That God has created all men does not constitute them his sons in the evangelical sense of that word. The sonship on which the New Testament dwells so constantly is based absolutely and solely on the experience of the new birth, while the doctrine of universal sonship rests either upon a daring denial or a daring assumption—the denial of the universal fall of man through sin, or the assumption of the universal regeneration of man through the Spirit. In either case the teaching belongs to "another gospel," the recompense of whose preaching is not a beatitude but an anathema. ”

“ For our reproof the Holy Ghost presents another side of the same fact, calling us to repentance, not for having taken part in crucifying Christ, but for having refused to take part in Christ crucified; not for having been guilty of delivering him up to death, but for having refused to believe in him who was "delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification." Wherever, by the preaching of the gospel, the fact of Christ having died for the sins of the world is made known, this guilt becomes possible. ”

“ First, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of Hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost.
We believe that a man must be called of God, by "prophecy, and by the laying on of hands," by those who are in authority, to preach the gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, namely: apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc. ”

“ In allusion to this, gospel ministers are to show people the way to Christ, and to assist and direct them in flying by faith to him for refuge. They must be ready to remove their prejudices, and help them over their difficulties. And, blessed be God, the way of holiness, to all that seek it faithfully, is a highway so plain that the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. ”

“ CHAPTER XIX. The orders of Ministers in Christ's Church established by the Apostles, according to Christ's command, 7 after the example of Moses. 16 Therefore they who have been duly placed in the ministry according to their order, cannot without great sin be put out of it.
THE Apostles have preached to us from the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus Christ from God. ”

“ Wherefore, good children, you shall give due reverence and honour to the Ministers of the Church, and shall not meanly or lightly esteem them in the execution of their office, but you shall take them for God’s Ministers, and the Messengers of our Lord Jesus Christ. For Christ Himself saith in the Gospel, “He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me.” Wherefore, good children, you shall steadfastly believe all those things, which such Ministers shall speak unto you from the mouth and by the commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ. ”

“ We believe that the ministry is of God as much as the Bible is—one of the most precious gifts obtained for the Church by the risen Saviour; and that now, as ever, the preaching of the Word by ministers duly prepared and regularly called and ordained by the Christian Church, is the grand means for converting sinners; that this power never grows old or loses its adaptation to the wants of man amidst the constant changes of society, any more than a lens does in transmitting the rays of the sun from age to age. ”

“ Each missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is endowed with the Holy Priesthood of God, and is sent forth as a minister of the restored Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is believed to be morally clean and upright, and should keep himself pure, sweet, and unspotted from the sins of the world. He should avoid and resist the very appearance of evil, and after performing an honorable mission, should return to his home with clean hands and a pure heart. ”