In the first pince the written Word, and in the next the spoken. Of the latter, only the prayerful and studious soul can be the vehicle. We have to be Rilent that _God may ~peak. The Word of God already revealed will be respectfully and faithfully ol:>served. Consecration and quietness are marks of waiting upon God. And the message delivered will be faithful to the original that was seen or heard, and agrecabl e to wbat is already known of the will of God. The careless arrogance of the false prophet is soon corrected by what God has already revealed of himself. It is the devout "hearer" who alone has right to speak in God's Name, and his testimony will be approved by the spiritual sense of believers and "signs following." The spiritual character of the messenger of God-how much of his message does it represent ?-M. Ver. 21.-Unauthorized ministry. The credentials or the ministers of God are ever a matter of consequence. Exceptional service in the Church demands exceptional qualifications, and amongst these a direct Divine call is imperative. The wickedness of those who usurp sncred office is. that they ignore the necessity for such a call, and, adding deliberate falsehood to impiety, they speak in the Name of God without having heard his voice. I. THE CONDITIONS OF LEGITJJd.A.TE SERVICE IN Goo's Nnra. 1. Those who minister in his Name must be appointed by himself. "I hnve not sent them." For the sake of order an outward and conventional human recognition of office may be requisite. But that is not the essential thing. The minister of God-prophet, priest, Christian minister-must be sent and set apart in the first instance by God. '!'his is an imme- diate spiritual, Divine act. It may be performed variously, as we find in Scripture it actually was; but the original impulse and impression of obligation are from the Spirit of God. It may be impossible to define the mode, yet the fact and the nature of it cannot be mistaken. So as to the degree of intensity with which the" call" should be attended difference of opinion may exist; but the greatest ministers of God have been those who waited until the Divine ordination was certain and confirmed. A feeble impulse at the outset is less likely to result in a grand consecrate<i ministry. And yet there is a sense in which the "calling" canno(be made sure until after it bas been acte,l upon. So little is it a mechanical act that sinks into historical background,-the individual must ever have it present to his consciousness and crescent through active fulfilment of it. And the "call" is ever a differentiated one, having regard to special service. It is not enough for one to assume the minister's office merely because he is fired with the general spirit of Christian enthusiasm. 2. Only as he reveals it to men can they declare his truth. "I have not spoken to them." '!'he prophecies of the Old 'festament were the outcome of sp1>cial o.nd particular inspirations, as a reference to the descriptions of prophets themselves will prove. With some the period of active inspired utterance was comparatively brief; others were visited by the inspirations of God all through life. But even the (generally) inspired prophet might be destitute of inspira- tion on particular occasions, or might outlive it. In such cases silence is highest duty and truest wisdom. "The Word of God" on special occasions, o.s generally, is a finely organized spiritual emanation, a delicate creation or outbirth of the infinite Spirit, and may be misrepresented by unsympathetic, unenthusiastic reception. He must first be a reverent, believing "hearer" who would worthily prophesy or preach (the n1odern phase of the same essential work). It is only as the Spirit takes the "things of Christ" and shows them to us that we can un,lerstand, appreciate, nnd livingly present them to others. This necessary experience is finely expressed in the old phrase, "It was laid upon me,'' or, as Jeremiah has it, "But his wonl was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones" (eh. :x:xv. 9). II. liE WHO USURPS THE SACRED OFFICE IS GUILTY OF THE GRAVEST SIN. It is instructive to observe that that which, when worthily fulfilled, is pleasing to God, is altogether otherwise if illegitimately performed. Because : 1. 7'rue prophets are thenby discredited. 2. Divine truth is misrepresented. By bald unsympathetic literalism, etc. 3. Divine truth is actual,ly contradicted. III. Goo WILL REPUDIATE AND DISCREDIT ALL SUCH. Through genuine revelations. In the event. By the results attendant upon faithful preaching. In the grt1at day of account.-M. 13'.'.!G THE BOOK 01" THE PilOPlll~T JEREMIAH. [en. xxm. 1-40,
Y,,rs. 23, 24.-The omnipresence of Goel, I. A PEI\SOXAL ATTRIBUTE, 1. Infinitely near to aU his creatu.res. 2. .All-seeing. 3. Filling all in all. II. A MORAL INFLUENCE. '""l'he question is asked. Every conscience confesses it. The dispensation of the Spirit which convinces the world" of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment" is the latest expression of this. I. Deterrent. 2. Intensifying. 3; E11co11raging.-M.