The Christian Ministry

by Charles Bridges

This exquisite Master of Theology proceeds in the same strain to remark the importance of the Student giving himself up to the inward teaching of the Holy Spirit, as the only mean of obtaining a spiritual and saving acquaintance with the rule of faith;

The student's conscious need of wisdom, humility and faith, to ascertain the pure simplicity of his purpose, his necessary qualifications, and his Divine call to the holy office—will bring him a daily suppliant to the throne of grace.

The greatest and hardest preparation is within.

The Christian Ministry is a work of faith; and, that it may be a work of faith, it must be a work of prayer. Prayer obtains faith, while faith in its reaction quickens to increasing earnestness of prayer.

A man of special prayer will be a man of special faith

study, prayer, and exercise, may be said to form the minister.

The visitation of the sick also, in the exercise of Christian sympathy, is of the highest importance to the probationer for the Ministry.

The Ministry is not (like some branches of natural science,) a work of contemplation, but of active, anxious, devoted, employment.

It would probably be wise to act as much as possible upon system grounded upon a deep sense of personal neglect, strengthened by incessant prayer, and maintained by a course of persevering effort.

The opportunities of learning would form the best preparation for teaching.

Study furnishes the materials—Prayer sanctifies them—Exercise makes a suitable distributive application of them to the several cases brought before us.

The power of Satan, the current of sin, and the course of this world—all combine to impress our work with the character of a special conflict.

the warrant of Ministerial success is sure.

we have the same warrant of success—the sure foundation of " the word of the Lord," which "endureth for ever."

We must not therefore place his sovereignty in opposition to his faithfulness.

visible success is various.

Success is not limited to the work of conversion. Where therefore the Ministry fails to convert, we may still be assured, that it convinces, reproves, exhorts, enlightens, or consoles, some one in some measure at all times.

present success is not always visible.

the seed that produces the heaviest grain, lies the longest in the earth.

Under all our trials therefore, we must be careful, that no present apparent failure weaken our assurance of the ultimate success of faithful and diligent perseverance.

It is no small advantage in the storm to know where to seek for safe anchorage; and who can tell how many have found such a refuge in distress from the recollections of the Gospel hitherto neglected, but now applied with sovereign power to their hearts?

To seek for the real harvest produced by spiritual labours only in their immediate and visible results, would be not less absurd, than to take our measure of infinite space from that limited prospect, which the mortal eye can reach;

It often happens, that God withholds his blessing for a time, in order that, when the net is cast in "on the right side," it may be clearly seen, that "the multitude of fishes" inclosed are of the Lord's giving; lest men should attribute their success to a wrong cause,

Our plain and cheering duty is therefore to go forward—to scatter the seed—to believe and wait.

Ours is the care of service—His is the care of success.

In vain therefore do we plough and sow, if the Lord "command the clouds, that they rain no rain " upon the field of the spiritual husbandry.

Our Lord insists upon the necessity of Divine influence in order to come to him, and to abide in him.

No man ever yet imagined, that the strewing a dead body with flowers would raise it to life; no more can the urging a man spiritually dead with eloquent motives ever make him to open his eyes, and to stand upon his feet.

Whenever therefore the gospel successfully influences the heart, it is " not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts."

This, then, is the main source of Ministerial success. " Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high," the wilderness, notwithstanding the most diligent cultivation, must remain a wilderness still.

Having freely promised, he will faithfully perform. Let all means be used in diligence, but in dependence—in

Where is the Lord God of Elijah?"'—who can accomplish more by one feeble sentence from the feeblest instrument, than we can do without him by the most powerful preaching.

By the terms of the commission, it is " preached to every creature;" but the disproportionate effect reminds us of the solemn and sententious declaration—" Many be called, but few chosen."

our whole course is a struggle against the mighty current of sin—flowing out of that restless bias of the natural heart, which upon the highest authority is declared to be " enmity against God."

This hindrance therefore to the reception of the Gospel must not be placed to the Minister's account.

What could be conceived more attractive than the combination of dignity, humility, patience, and love, that marked the Ministry of the Son of God? Yet was it universally despised and rejected.

The innate opposition, existing between the substance and the objects of our Ministry, offers therefore a material impediment to our success.

The truth therefore never comes into contact with a sincere and honest heart.

THE active power and unsearchable subtlety of Satan are always directed against the Christian Ministry,

In the Church he " transforms himself into an angel of light" s— exhibiting either the attractive idol of self-righteousness—or that most inveterate form of antichrist—the dependence on the profession of a pure doctrine.

The serpent, that beguiled Eve though his subtlety" still " corrupts" the minds of the weak " from the simplicity that is in Christ."

Where the call is manifest, the promise is assured. But if we run unsent, our labours must prove unblest.

Our great Head himself appeared with delegated, not with self-commissioned authority.

No one can be an ambassador, except he be charged expressly with instructions from his Sovereign

the will of God is the sole rule of any man's call, and the only gate by which he can enter into the Ministry.

every Christian is not ordained to be a Minister.

The desire of the work was a prominent feature in the Ministerial character and qualifications of Christ.

So often as he, who is engaged in preaching the word, shall feel his inward man to be excited with Divine affections, so often let him assure himself, that God is there, and that he is invited by him to seek the good of souls.'

One of the most certain marks of the Divine call is, where it is the purpose of a man's heart to live, to labour, and to possess nothing, but for Jesus Christ and his Church.

A man of ordinary natural gifts, and under Divine teaching, may be able to pray, to preach the Gospel, to administer the sacraments, and to save immortal souls. And such a one has a far better claim to the title of a Minister of Christ, than an erudite scholar or accomplished theologian, destitute of spiritual qualifications.