5. These principles were illustrated in the experience and ordination of Paid. On no subject did the great apostle speak more emphatically and repeatedly than that of his divine call, in the absence of which he would have regarded himself no true minister or apostle, what- ever ceremonies might have been enacted over him : " Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God" (Rom. i, 1) ; " Paul, an apostle (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead)" (Gal. i, 1). Such were the terms in which the apostle to the Gentiles expressed his personal conscious- ness of the divine call, and yet he submitted himself to ordination on the part of the Church, and that in com- pany with a brother of lower degree, and at the hands of prophets (preachers) and teachers who were not num- bered among the apostles.
6. Ordination of Barnahas and Saul. — The full in- spired account of this transaction is worthy of special attention : " And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark. Now there were in the Church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers ; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said. Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus" (Acts xii, 25 ; xiii, 1-4). The events above narrated occurred some ten years after the commission of Saul of Tarsus, following which "straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues" (Acts ix, 20). Becoming associated with Barnabas, he also " spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus" at Jerusalem. Both these men seem to have labored as evangelists whenever they had opportunity, and their ministry having been given of God, was honored by his blessing. They were now called to higher responsi- bilities. They were to go forth "under the sanction of the Church, and not only to proclaim the truth, but also to baptize converts, to organize Christian congre- gations, and to ordain Christian ministers. It was therefore proper that, on this occasion, thcj' should be regularly invested with the ecclesiastical commission. In the circumstantial record of this proceeding, in the Acts of the Apostles, we have a proof of the wisdom of
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the Author of Revelation. He foresaw that the rite of ' tlie laying on of liands' would be sadly abused ; that it would be represented as possessing sometlung like a magie jiotency; and that it would at length be con- verted, by a small class of ministers, into an ecclesiasti- cal monopoly. He has therefore supplied us with an antidote against delusion by permitting us, in this sim[)le narrative, to scan its exact import. And what was the virtue of the ordination here described? Did it furnish Paul and Barnabas with a title to the minis- try? Not at all. God himself had already called them to the work, and they could receive no higher authorization. Did it necessarily add anything to the eloquence, or the prudence, or the knowledge, or the piety of the missionaries ? No results of the kind could be produced by any such ceremony. What, then, was its meaning? The evangelist himself furnishes an answer. The Holy Ghost required that Barnabas and Saul should be separated to the work to which the Lord had called them, and the laying on of hands was the 7node or form in which they were set apart or designat- ed to the office. This rite, to an Israelite, suggested grave and hallowed associations. When a Jewish father invoked a benediction on any of his family, he laid his hand upon the head of the cliild ; when a Jew- ish priest devoted an animal in sacrifice, he laid his hand upon the head of the victim ; and when a Jewish ruler invested another with office, he laid his hand upon the head of the new functionary. The ordination of these brethren possessed all this signiticance. By the laying on of hands the ministers of Antioch implored a blessing upon Barnabas and Said, and announced their separation or dedication to the work of the Gospel, and intimated their investiture with ecclesiastical authority" (Killen, Ancient Church, p. 71 sq.).
It is sometimes asserted that this ordination was a special one to the missionary work. Nevertheless it is the only one recorded as having been received by either of the apostles named, and it illustrates the conditions observed in the ordination of the deacons, viz.: (1) The candidates were men called of the Holy Ghost; (2) They were separated unto the work of the Lord by prayer, accompanied with fasting ; (3) Hands were laid upon them by representative men of the Church, doubtless the elders, among whom no apostle was present, and as yet the office of bishop had not been instituted.