ministry, according to Hüffell, Christianity would not last two centuries.

This is, perhaps, too positive and too absolute; but it can not be said that it would, in general, be doubting the truth and power of a work to make its duration depend on certain means. Nothing is done without means; and when it is the institution itself which creates its own means, when it draws them from itself, and chooses them conformably to its nature, we can not say that it must be precarious because it employs means. We should rather think it precarious if it did not employ them. If it employed in the ministry its own best elements, the best part of its substance, to propagate itself, would it not grow?

No one doubts but that the life of the Church supposes and requires a perpetual testimony, an uninterrupted tradition; and it is necessary that this testimony, this tradition, should A Church would be wanting to itself if it did not make sure not only the perpetuity, but the just perfection of this testimony, this tradition.-Rom., x., 14, 15.

be sure.

Herder* defends the institution, but thinks it may not be always necessary. We shall not pursue this inquiry; let us keep it as long as it shall be necessary, and not abandon it until it shall be no longer needed. We are convinced that this time will never come.

§ 3. Institution of the Evangelical Ministry.

Besides the necessity resulting from the nature of things, is there not a necessity of another kind, a positive duty; in other words, is not the ministry a divine, or a canonical institution?

Did Jesus Christ himself, or the apostles in his name, ordain that the Church should, in all ages, have special men

* HERDER: Provincialblætter, iii., tome x., des Œuvres Théologiques, p. 334-341.

charged with the administration of worship and the conduct

of souls? Strictly speaking, no. little; he inspired much more.

Jesus Christ instituted but

It is his cross, and not his

institutions, which separates the Old World from the New. What remained he left to the Holy Spirit, who was to come after him. He abolished virtually, rather than formally. He preferred the insensible but infallible action of the Spirit to the less sure and less delicate action of the letter. His reign is a spiritual reign. His disciples understood this, and were in no haste to abolish or to overthrow. And it was not always given them to see at once what in the old economy was consistent with the new. God did not impart to them at once all they were to know, but gave them a light which was gradually to chase away the darkness. The entire development of Christianity has been thus made, and we have yet to hope for a new world of discoveries. This progressive march, however, relates only to secondary points in the Gospel; for, as to doctrine, the apostles, from the beginning, were of the same mind, and they have told us every thing. It is not the same with institutions; these have been provided, little by little, as the want of them has been felt.

Jesus Christ called around him a few men from among his followers, and intrusted them with a message, and with functions resembling his own, and said to them (to them, and not to others), "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." -John, xx., 21.

St. Paul says that Jesus Christ gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists and teachers.*_Eph., iv., 11. Here Jesus Christ appears as the guide of the Church, of its first messengers; the organization and government of the Church are ascribed to Him; and it was evident, according to St. Paul, that it was his will that the Church

* Bridges remarks how the form of these words shows grandeur in the institution (The Christian Ministry, p.5). See CALVIN, commentary on this place, t. vi., p. 129, Berlin edition, 1834.

should have ministers. The apostles, as they had been sent, sent in their turn; the ministry continues of itself, without having been formally instituted-once for all.

But as Jesus Christ said to his apostles, "Go and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark, xvi., 15); and since those to whom he directly spoke could only begin the execu tion of a command, for the entire fulfillment of which centuries were necessary, he addressed himself also, in their person, to their successors: He has thus implicitly instituted the ministry, unless it may be said that the continuation of the work did not require special men, such as had been needed at the beginning.

This leads us to our second reflection, which is, that, unless the circumstances in which Jesus Christ conferred the apostolate have essentially changed, his order stands for all ages, and is equivalent to an institution. For not to renew, in similar circumstances, that which he himself founded, would be, in some sort, to condemn the first foundation, which never would have been made if it had not been intended to be continued forever.

It has been objected that ministers should be interpreters of the Holy Spirit, that consequently the Spirit, which has been given to all the faithful, would set apart for each want the ministers that would be required, and move them to speak at the given moment. This is the opinion of the Society of Friends. From a true principle they have drawn a false consequence. For a special ministry does not bind the Spirit, does not prevent the Heavenly wind from blowing where it listeth.

We must, by all human means, endeavor to have ministers through whom the Spirit speaks. If, notwithstanding this, unworthy men are found among them, while we deplore the evil, we must confess that the same thing might happen in those churches where all have a right to speak, and all wait for the Spirit to inspire them. Might they not deceive them

selves? and those who have the gift of speech, might they not speak in order to gain power? The danger would be greater than with us; for these preachers, not being prepared by special study, would have less security against it.

It has been said that there can not exist a ministry, because there is no Church; that a Church is not possible in this world. This is true, if one speaks of the ideal of a Church. This ideal has never been realized, not even in the time of the apostles; but now, as then, Christians meet to hear the word preached; to be consoled, to be confirmed; they need to pray together, to give thanks together; and for this a minister is necessary, a servant of God who puts the word within their reach, and who, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, comes to the aid of their weakness.

At least missionaries will be needed: For in our day we may say with St. Paul, How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, unless they be sent?"-Rom., x., 14, 15.

But all the ministers Jesus Christ gave to the primitive Church were not missionaries, in the special sense we attach to the word. Many were pastors, and provided as such for wants that exist to-day, and always will exist: And, after all, are not all pastors half missionaries? Are there not in the bosom of their churches, and all around them, souls which must be sought after, as one seeks after pagans and idolaters a thousand leagues distant? Does the work of conversion ever cease? Must we not always throw the net far and near? The circumstances, then, which in the beginning led to the institution of the ministry, are they not the same today, and do they not require the same measures? And would it not be disavowing Jesus Christ himself, not to do in his name to-day what he himself would do if he were in the midst of us?

Let us also observe, that whatever may be said to-day in favor of the abolition of the ministry might have been said at that time against its institution. One might have said then that every faithful person is a minister, which is true; that no believer should be exempt from the duty of “showing forth the praises of Him who called him out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter, ii., 9), which is also true; that the Christian life is a system of preaching; that faith begets faith, etc. All these things are true; but with them there are others not less true, which make the ministry as necessary to-day as it ever has been.

Let us observe, finally, that the apostles have never spoken of the ministry as an accidental, transitory thing, or as a temporary institution. In short, on this subject we think, that to strike out the word institution would scarcely be more than taking away a word; since, if Jesus Christ has not formally, and in some way by letters patent, instituted the ministry, we can not doubt as to His will in respect to it? It is no departure from truth-no exaggeration to say that the ministry is a divine institution.

§ 4. Does the Ministry constitute an Order in the

Church?

A discussion has been raised on the question, Is the ministry an order?*

This may appear idle, after the solution of the former question, from which it can hardly be distinguished. Theologians, however, who agree as to the divine institution of the ministry, are divided on this point. It is, then, worth while to examine it.

If the ministry, that is to say, the consecration of certain special men to the management of the Church, has been instituted, these men, distinguished among all others, form nec* In German, Stand.