regularly appointed to the work. St. Paul himself de- clares that this was the case with our Lord, in the matter of the priestly office : " No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron." (Heb. v. 4.) And even now, when the office of the sac- rificing priest no longer exists, the words of the twenty- third Article of the Church of England are wise and scriptural : " It is not lawful for any man to take upon him the office of public preaching, or ministering the sacraments in the congregation, before he be lawfully called and sent to execute the same." But it is one thing to maintain the lawfulness of an outward call to minister in sacred things, and quite another to assert that it is the one thing needful, without which no work for God can be done. This is the point on which the Jews evidently erred in the time of our Lord's earthly ministry, and on which many have unhappily followed them down to the present day.
Let us beware of this narrow spirit, and specially in these last ages of the world. Unquestionably we must not undervalue order and discipline in the church. It is just as valuable there as it is in an army. But we must not suppose that God is absolutely tied to the use of ordained men. We must not forget that there may be an inward call of the Holy Ghost without any out- ward call of man, no less than an outward call of man without any inward call of the Holy Ghost. The first question after all is this : " Is a man for Christ, or against Him ? What does he teach ? How does he live ? Is he doing good ?" If questions like these can be answered satisfactorily, let us thank God and be content. We
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must remember that a physician is useless, however high his degree and diploma, if he cannot cure diseases, and a soldier useless, however well dressed and drilled, if he will not face the enemy in the day of battle. The best doctor is the man who can cure, and the best soldier the man who can fight.
Let us observe, in the last place, ivhat dishonesty and equivocation unbelievers may be led into by prejudice against the truth. The chief priests and elders dared not answer our Lord's question about John's Baptism. They dared not say, it was " of men," because they feared the people. They dared not confess that it was " of heaven," because they saw our Lord would say, " Why did ye not believe him ? He testified plainly of me." What then did they do ? They told a direct lie. They said, " We cannot tell."
It is a melancholy fact, that dishonesty like this is far from being uncommon among unconverted people. There are thousands who evade appeals to their conscience by answers which are not true. When pressed to attend to their souls, they say things which they know are not correct. They love the world and their own way, and like our Lord's enemies are determined not to give them up, but like them also are ashamed to say the truth. And so they answer exhortations to repentance and decision by false excuses. One man pretends that he "cannot understand" the doctrines of the Gospel. Another assures us that he really " tries" to serve God, but makes no progress. A third declares that he has every wish to serve Christ, but " has no time." All these are often nothing better than miserable equivocations. As a general
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