SERMON DLIII.

BY REV. EDWIN F. HATFIELD, D. D.

PASTOR OF THE SEVENTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEW YORK.

THE MINISTRY OF THE GOSPEL.

"For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?"-2 COR. 2: 15, 16.

It is related of an old Puritan divine, to whom it pleased God to grant abundant success in his holy vocation, that on the day of his ordination he made this record of the transaction: "I did this day receive as much honor and work as ever I shall be able to know what to do with." Greater honor no man need, no man can, desire than is connected with the faithful discharge of the work of the ministry. Nor can a human being engage in any work more fitted to task the energies of his whole man, and fill up his whole probation. It affords as much honor and work as ever he shall be "able to know what to do with."

Of the truth of these statements, the Apostle to the Gentiles appears to have had a most vivid and abiding sense. It was honor enough to him, whatever men might think of it, or whatever trials might come upon him in consequence, to be put in trust with the gospel as a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. A greater honor he neither sought nor desired. He knew no greater. He conceived of none so great. The work, too, he loved no less than the honor. It was all his desire to fulfil it to the glory of his Lord. He engaged in it because he loved it. And the more he labored, the more he loved to labor, and the more God honored him. His work was one continued scene of glorious triumphs-not of human prowess, but of grace divine; not of the servant, but of his Master. Wherever he went,-and he went no where but to make known the glorious gospel of the Son of God,-his Lord went with him, smiled upon his exertions, and crowned them with his blessings, so that he could mark his journeyings by the lights which he had kindled in his progress, burning on, and burning ever, from living altars, and sending forth a sweet perfume, not less fragrant than the clouds of incense that ascended from the great altar of the sanctuary on Mount Zion. It was this that gladdened him in his toils,-this evidence of the Divine approbation of his work, so many testimonials of which had been given him,-and that prompted his

bursting heart to pour forth its gratitude in this glowing language, verse 14: "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place."

If Paul had not himself witnessed, he was yet not unacquainted with the pomp and the splendor of the triumphal processions accorded to the returning conqueror, on his entrance into the imperial city. It was customary on such occasions to scatter in the path of the victorious general the most fragrant flowers, covering the street as with a bed of roses. The fires of numer ous altars that lined the way were fed with frankincense and sweet-smelling herbs, that sent forth clouds of the most grateful odor. Following in the train of the conqueror was a numerous band, bearing sweet perfumes, the savor of which was diffused through all the surrounding air. Such was the triumph from which the apostle borrows the beautiful imagery of the textverses 14-16. His language is peculiar. The word expressive of triumph is the very same that Plutarch and others use in reference to the military triumph of victorious generals.

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Among the Gentiles, the smoking incense of the altar was thought to be peculiarly agreeable to the gods whom they worshipped, and the sacrifice was called evoola, a good savor. These views appear to have been derived from the usages and opinions of the Hebrews. As early as the days of Noah, it is said of an offering made unto God by the grateful patriarch, "And the Lord smelled a sweet savor." The burnt sacrifice under the law is often spoken of as "a sweet savor unto the Lord." Lev. i 3. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering, and my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet savor unto me, shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season: . continual burnt-offering, which was ordained in Mount Sinai for a sweet savor, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord." Num. 28 1, 2, 6. In conformity with this usage, the apostle speaks, (Eph. 5: 2) of Christ as having "given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-swelling savor." So also (Phil. 2: 18), he speaks of the token of remembrance sent him from the Philippians, as "an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice, acceptable, well-pleasing to God." In the same manner, here in the text, he speaks of himself and of the brethren who labored with him in the ministry, as Christ's evwoia to God, an offering made by Christ, sending forth a sweet savor, acceptable, well-pleasing to God; or, to drop the figure, he spoke of the ministry as instituted by Christ, with the Father's approbation, to spread the knowledge of the gospel through the world.

The theme suggested by the text, and to which I propose now to call your attention, is

THE MINISTRY OF THE GOSPEL-ITS WARRANT-WORK-RESULTS

AND RESPONSIBILITIES.

1. Its Warrant. Whence is it? From heaven, or of man? Divine or human? Does the ministry derive its authority from the election and appointment of man. or from the calling and ordination of God? It is of great importance, both to the ministry and to those to whom they minister, rightly to determine this point. If we come to you in our own name alone, or in the name of the church alone, you may hear us or not, receive us or not, at your pleasure. But if we come to you in the name of the great Head of the Church; if we are appointed of God to the ministry of the gospel; if it is God who sends us to you with His message, then the case is vastly altered; then it is no light thing to make light of God's institution.

If, now, we refer to the epistles of Paul, we find a direct an swer to these questions. As far as concerned his own ministry, he claimed for it the most ample Divine warrant. It was not a work into which he had thrust himself uncalled, of his own accord. It was not a work devised by man, to which he had devoted himself in obedience to the will of man, and in which he labored at the pleasure or bidding of any man or body of men whatever. Hear him, speaking to the Galatians (1: 1), and calling himself "an apostle, not of men, neither by men, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead." He claims of the Philippians (1 : 1), and of the Colossians (1: 2,) to be regarded as "an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." He introduces himself to Timothy (2 Tim. 1: 1) in the same manner, on one occasion; and on another (1 Tim. 1: 1) as "an apostle of Jesus Christ, by commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ our hope." In 1 Tim. 1: 12, he affirms. that it was Christ who put him into the ministry: "I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry." In Gal. 1: 15, he claims to have been set apart to this work by the God who gave him birth: "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood."

And what he claimed for himself, he also claimed for his brethren. He refers the work of the ministry to the will or pleasure of God. 1 Cor. 1: 21: "For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God; it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." So (1 Cor. 5: 18) he affirms the divine origin of this institu tion: "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of re

conciliation." On this ground he claims for the ministry the distinguished rank of Christ's embassadors and coadjutors: "Now then (verse 20) we are embassadors for Christ, as though God did beseach you by us." "We then (6: 1), as workers together [as his coadjutors]. beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." "We, in all things, approving ourselves as the ministers of God."

But this claim he still more clearly and fully sets forth in Eph. 4:7-16, where he teaches that when the Lord Jesus Christ had accomplished the work which brought him down from heaven, and had ascended up where he was before, he was pleased to bestow on his followers the gifts and graces of the ministry; constituting" some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect nan, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." He affirms in this passage, of the ministry, that it is an arrangement devised, appointed, and directed by the Lord of heaven and earth, as the medium through which to communicate to the world the grace of salvation, and to fit the believer for a holy heaven.

The necessity of such an institution is exhibited by the apostle in Rom. 10: 14-16: "How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent ? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things." And still more strikingly by our Saviour himself, Matt. 9: 36-38: "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd [no pastor]. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest." Great honor is here put upon the pastoral office by the Lord Jesus, who encourages his disciples to seek from God himself, whose province it is to raise them up and fit them for their work, a large increase of such laborers. It was immediately upon this that the Saviour separated the twelve, and sent them forth, and not long afterwards, seventy others, with the glad tidings of the kingdom. Having fulfilled his course, he gave commission to the twelve to "go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." And this he did by virtue of his supreme authority as Lord of heaven and earth. "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, &c. And, lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

Thus sent forth, the disciples sought every where to raise up a flock of humble followers of Christ, and from among themselves to appoint over them such pastors as the people chose, by divine direction, to watch over them in the Lord. To the labors of these humble ministers, thus selected by and from among their brethren, and recognized by the apostles, or neighboring ministers and churches, either with or without the laying on of hands, God was pleased to set his seal, owning their ministry, giving them his Spirit, rewarding them with souls for their hire, and thus advancing his kingdom in the hearts of men. Such a seal he has ever put upon the labors of those whom he has counted faithful and enabled, putting them into the ministry.

I need not add that such also was the Divine pleasure, under the old dispensation. A distinct order or tribe of men was, by the direction of Him who spake in Horeb, set apart to the service of God in the Levitical ministry. It was by the ministrations and through the medium of men like themselves, that God was then pleased to convey to his people the blessings of his grace. The same principle of Divine procedure runs also through the new dispensation. They whom God calls are not, indeed, made known by their genealogy or descent from any one individual by ordinary generation, or by any ecclesiastical genealogy or descent from the twelve, of which notion we find no mention in Scripture. It is not at all by the will of man, not at all by human designation, that they are called and appointed. "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation," It is the rconciling and regenerating Spirit that first calls them into the kingdom of Christ, and then separates them to the work of the ministry. Without this call-of the reality of which an existent ministry and the Church may judge, but which they cannot give-no forms or rights whatever, however consecrated by usage remote and antique, can make a man a minister. With it, and with the seal of God that accompanies it, no human power can unmake a minister of God.

Such, then, is the ministry as respects its warrant. "No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron." The office is divine, and he whom the great Head of the Church has put into it, is sent of God.

"The legate of the skies-his theme divine,

His office sacred, his credentials clear."

To him are to be applied the words of the Redeemer-the tremendous sanction of the Son of God: "He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me: and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me."

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pass to consider,