2. The Christian ministry has, in the course of history, ful- filled itself in many ways. The methods of one age have not been the methods of another. The clergy have been variously organized ; the Christian Society has run a parallel course to the State. There has been continuity of government in and through changes of system ; for the standing necessities which government exists to meet never change, though the actual forms in which they must be met are never long the same. Every generation comes fresh to its problems, and has to learn the lesson of duty, and submit itself to the yoke of discipline. The proper and inalienable services of the Christian ministry will never be super jQuous. The
2o6 AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST
unseen world is too closely pressed by the world of sight and sense to vindicate its claim to human regard. There is need for Christ's testimony being taken up, uttered in intelligible terms of the age, applied in actual life, pressed home by authoritative voices, illustrated by consecrated characters.
^ As an ambassador for Christ, I regard a preacher of the gospel as filling the most responsible office any mortal can occupy His pulpit is, in my eyes, loftier than a throne ; and of all pro- fessions, learned or unlearned, his, though usually in point of wealth the poorest, I esteem the most honourable. That office is one angels themselves might covet.^
I.
An Ambassador is a Commissioner.
The word " Ambassador " is one of great dignity. It is common among the ancient writers. In Luke xiv. 32, Jesus tells of one king who, " while the other is yet a great way off, sendeth an am- bassage, and asketh conditions of peace." St. Paul is fully conscious of the great commission which he bears from God on behalf of Christ. In a word, St. Paul, as all ministers are, is God's spokesman to men. He comes with authoritative word as the ambassador from the Court of Heaven to plead the cause of Christ with men whom God so loved that He gave His Son to die for them.
1. The commission is from God, and the ambassador owes his standing to Divine authority. What is it that makes a man an ambassador of the king ? It is not that he chooses or wishes to be so, or that he is clothed in a certain robe, or is a member of a certain family ; but it is solely and exclusively that he has the commission of his sovereign. What is it that makes a man a minister of Christ? Not any form or ceremonial, however beautiful and good ; not ordination by presbyter or bishop, however useful and proper in its place ; but the commission of the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, the minister of the gospel is here said to sustain to Christ, the heavenly King, pre-
* Thomas Guthrie, in Memoir, i. 272.
2 COR. V. 20 207
cisely the relationship which an earthly ambassador sustains to an earthly monarch ; and if none can make an ambassador but the sovereign, so none can constitute a man a minister of Christ but He who rules by His power, inspires by His wisdom, and creates faith by His grace. Whatever rites of ordination are proper for the public declaration and consecration of those who are the ministers of Christ, the minister is assumed to have been first called by the Holy Spirit. He is ordained, not that he may be made a minister, but because he has been set apart for that great office. An ambassador of the king, when he goes to a foreign court to reside, does not there make law, but simply executes the commission entrusted to him ; he does not declare and define the terms of communion between his own kingdom and another, but simply declares what is the will of his sovereign, or his govern- ment, in reference to that other country. So a minister of the gospel is not to make law, but to preach law already made ; he is not to make a sacrifice, but to proclaim a sacrifice already furnished ; he is not to set up a rule of faith, but to call attention to a rule of faith already complete. That ambassador best dis- charges the duties entrusted to him by his sovereign who expresses least of his own mind, and most clearly the sovereign's mind ; and that minister best discharges the duties which he owes to God who gives the least of human conjectures, and who declares most plainly and distinctly the will and word of the Lord Jesus Christ.
^ There is one condition before any man can deliver such a message as this ; it is, first, that he should have had it delivered to his own soul. Unless the message has within it that reality which only comes from its being a real part of your own life, a great deal of what you are saying must inevitably be words, and nothing else. If there be any truth that you are setting forth of which it is possible for you to say, " Had it been untrue I should have been just the same as I am," then depend upon it such a belief as that is not a belief that would enable you to impress the truth upon your people — it is not a belief that will enable you to be a real ambassador of Christ to deliver that message. Spiritual teaching must be backed up by truth of life, or else it loses its power.^