Ministerium is a term applied to an ecclesiastical body within the pale of the Lutheran Church. It is composed only of ordained ministers, and transacts busi- ness pertaining only to the interests of the ministry, such as the examimition, licensure, and ordination of candi- dates for the ministry. " This is the specific and chief business of the ministerium. It also, when necessary, examines and decides charges of heresy against any of its own members, and may, by appeal, act in the cause of a layman charged with heresy— Init oidy by appeal 'from the ilccision of a Churcli Council.'" It will tluis be seen tliat the business transacted by the ministerium is of a special and definite character; and to preclude any attempt to go beyond this, it is expressly provided that "all business not specifically ifitrusted to the ministeri- um . . . shall belong to the synod." Of late efforts have been made, especially in this country, to abolish the ministerium, and to transfer its power to the synod, in order that the lay members of the Church may have a voice in the management of the affairs now within the jurisdiction of tiic ministerium; and tliis demand has been made ujion tlie ground that the Lutheran Church has suffered more from heresy and immoralily in her ministry than other churches, because the minis-
ter is amenable only to his clerical brethren. See an able discussion on this subject in the Quarterly Review of the Kvanyelical Luth. Church, January, 1873, art. v.
ISAiiiistration (ctaKoria, XtiTovpyia, both usually rendered "ministry"), the period during which an office is administered (Luke i, 23). The law of Moses is called the " ministration of death" and " condemnation." It convinces men of sin, the penalty for which is eternal death; and to this they are already condemned. Tlie Gospel is the "ministration of the Spirit" that "givcth life ;" it proceeds from the Holy Ghost ; is confirmed and applied by him ; and by means of it he conveys life, and all spiritual graces and benefits, to the souls of men (2 Cor. iii, 7, 8). The term is also used for the distribution of alms (Acts vi, 1 ; 2 Cor. ix, 13).
Ministry (iTlisr;, work; r\yv, attendance; ^ti- rovpyia, wuitiny upon ; ctaKov'ia, service). Besides the ordinary applications of this term to the common affairs of life, it i> ^p( ci.illy used in the Scriptures, chiefly those of the New I ( -i.niK lit. to denote a devotion to the in- terests of < IijiIn i;iii>c. and, in a technical sense, the work of advancing the Kedeemer's kingdom. It is in tliis sense, namely, of the Christian Ministry, that we proimsc jiere to treat of some features of this office, leaving io special titles (iilur parts, such as the literary qualification for it [>((• -MiM>i i.i;iAi> EniCATios], and a more general view lil its n hitionsto the article Pastohai, Theology. The essential functions of evangelical ministry are the following :
I. Preachiny.— The duty of disseminating the Gospel is not confined to the miuistrA*. A comparison of all the narratives relative to the event in the Ne»v Testa- ment renders it clear that the great commission in Matt, xxviii, 19, 20 was not delivered to the eleven apostles merely, but to the general body of the disciples then as- sembled (1 Cor. XV, 0). It is the great character of evangelization. In like manner it appears that, al- though the twelve apostles were originally sent out on a preaching tour of (ialilee (Matt, x), subsequently seventy others were despatched on a similar mission (Luke x). So on the day of Pentecost the whole mass of believers at Jerusalem seem to have been inspired with preaching powers, and they actually exercised them (Acts ii, 4). Nor was this an occasional though ex- traordinary instance; on the contrary, a similar jiract ice is implied in all tlie later exhibitions of the then uni- versal gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts x, 44-47 ; xix, 6. 7 ; 1 Cor. xii, xiv). Indeed, the technical distinction be- tween clergy and laity in this particular is almost ig- nored in the New Testament, and we find members of the Church, whether official or private, male or female, freely exercising their liberty in proclaiming Jesus ev- erywhere (Acts vi, 8; viii, 1,4-8; ix, 20; xviii, 24-28; xxi, 9). This is in accordance with the universal im- pulse of the newly-converted soul to communicate the glad tidings of his own salvation to others, without waiting for any formal license or authorization. Such evangelization is the very essence of preaching, by whatever name it may be called, or by whatever con- ventionalities it may be surrounded. \\'c may add that whoever loses tliis spirit of his early zeal, has lost, lie his success or attainments in other respects what they may, the great divine seal of his call to preach. See Lay Pkeaciiinc;.
The call, as aliove defined, to preach the Gospel to the best of our ability and opportunity, is one that every Christian should recognise and obey. It is, however, a duty entirely disliiut from.altliough in some cases close- ly related to. the general i|iiesii()n of our vocation in life. It is precisely at this point that the thought of the min- istry has probai>ly occurred, sooner or later, to every considerate young man of the Church. If earnest and devoted, he is apt to infer the farther duty of giving himself exclusively as an avocation to the work of preaching. The idea having once been vividly ])re- scntcd to his imagination, is likely, in proportion to his