The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-01-09
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Seventy Ministers Ordained

Ministerial ordination has for centuries
eeen a bone of contention. Indirectly 1t
has led to bloody prosecutions. Thank
God, those days are gone. so far as the
majority of Christian people are con-
.cerned. And yet. because the masses do
not clearly understand the subject of
ordination, there is always danger of a
recurrence of persecution along this line.
Presby yterians, Baptists. MethOdists, Luth-
ernns, Episcopalaus, in time past have
prosecuted each other along these lines.
The claim was that none could be Il
preached or teacher unless he had a spe-
cial ordination: that Tor the unordaiEed
TO preach or teach was a rebellion against
divine Arrangement: and that all who fol-
lowed his teaching or gave him support
weie leretics. deserving OF 40 sympathy
but of persecution.
Ordination does not relate to cere-
mcny, or form as many suppose. 1t sig
nnes an authorization. a commission, to
preach The Baptists commission those
who agree with their creed 10 preach 1t.
The Presbyterians commission their dis
ciples, as do the Lutherans, Methodists,
etc. Roman Catholics and spiscopalians
claim an ordination from God-that an
bishops are successors to the apostles and
armed with apostolic authority; hence
that any not commissioned, or ordained.
by their bishops have no right to rPeach,
but are heretics From their standpoint,
all other Protestants are heretics, preach.
ing without authority.
But the spirit of tolerance is growing;
and within the last two years Episcopa-
lians have lifted the embargo on other
Protestants to the extent that an Episco-
pal minister may preach in the pulpit of
another denomination, or a minister not
ordained by the Episcopallans may preach
In their pulpits. But this is a very mod
Elm concession.
The right thought of ordination Is pre-
sented in the study for today Jesus had
already appointed IL to be His special
apostles, and now He ordained, or APP
pointed, 20 more, not to be apostles.
but to be general ministers, or mission
aries. There was no ceremony connected
with their appointments or ordination, so
far the record shows. Jesus simply
sent them out, telling themlwhat to say.
Our golden text explains the matter say
ing, 1T is not ye that speak, but the
Spirit of your Father that speaketh IN
YOU"
Strictly speaking, the apostles had not
yet received the Holy Spirit directly. The
Fathers Spirit had been impaired to .he
Son who shared that Spirit with those
He sent out to preach In His name. The
Father did not directly recognize. author
ize or ordain any TO preach the gospel
message, untll fenlecOSl 81. Peter thefe
explains that the Holy Spirit shed forth
upon the disciples was from the Father
and by the Son-Acts 2;32, 80,
Only those whom God has ordained IN
the sense of giving them the Holy Spirit
of sonship are in any wise commissioned
or authorized, to preach In His name. All
the ceremonies on earth, and all the hands
of all the bishops. cannot give authority
to anybody to speak In the name of God.
naas nAI I..k..s
try until He had received such an ordina-
tion. AT the time of His conservation and
baptism the Holy Spirit came upon Him.
ancinting Him, eonsecrating Him. author
izing Him, to preach the good tidings to
the meek, to bind up the broken hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the oaptves t.
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
to comfort those that mourn-Isaiah.
GIL. 2.
The 40 years which closed the Jewish
age, erding "A. d. 10 with tho destruction
of Jerusalem. was the harvest period for
lyrical Israel 1t witnessed the gather-
ing into the gospel garner Of all the true
wheat and the entire setting aside Of the
remainder, the chaff, in a great time of
trouble, symbolically called fire. The
Lord, in Matthew 13, intimates that in the
end or this Gospel Age there will be a
similar harvest. Many believe that 1t be-
gan ir 1874 and will end In 1915.
Harvest Work Great Privilege
All of the Lords faithful ones at the
close of the Jewish age were to recognize
the great privilege of being engaged In the
harvest work, and the same must be true
Tow. The Lords followers are compared
to gentle, inoffensiye lambs and sheep
while the selfish. unregenerate world lie
pictures as wolves. In the Jewish harvest
He would not have them beg their way
from house to house, but inquire for the
most worthy people In every village. and
II received. remain there until they had
given their witness In that village. They
We're to depend wholly upon the Lord, and
TO make 10 attempt to provide for their
needs. This was to be for them a lesson
for their future benefit. Later, Jesus sent
forth His disciples, telling them to pro-
vide for their wants to the best of their
ability-implying that the nrss experience
had been special one, to give them con-
fde nee and reliance in divine power.
The Masters Spirit was given unto them
in such measure that they we're enabled
to do as He did-to heal the sick, cast
out devils etc. We arc not to understand
that there is such an authorization of
the Lords people today Conditions haves
changed The healing of spiritual sick
ness and blindness and deafness, greater
works than those, is the privilege Of the
Lcrd's people today.
The one message of the disciples was
that the kingdom of God had come nigh
Gods Kingdom had been waited for by
the 1sraelites for many centuries. But
alas, when 1t was presented. only a col,-
paratively small number were ready to
receive 1t! Thereafter the kingdom offer
was taken away from them, and has since
been given throughout the whole world,
gathering the elect class from every ma
ton to be Messiahs bride and Joint heir,
through whom shortly the kingdom will
be established in the earth.
The Master referred to His mighty
works in Capernaum, Betlsaida and Cho-
rszin. These cities were fguratively said
to have been exalted to heaven in priv
ilege; and having rejected the Lords fa-
vors they would be cast down To the
grave. Examples were given OF Sodom
and Tyre, both of which had been brought
down to Hades, to the dust.
Our Lord intimates. however. that 't,e
trial, or testing. judgment. which His
preaching had given was not a tinalty--
there would be a future judgment or
trial. According to ST. Paul. the entire
mi'lennial age is to be thousand-y year
judgment day. in which the whole world
Is to be given a full opportunity OF com
ing to a knowledge OF God. (Acts 17:3I)
Nevertheless, those who heard Jesus un-
moved hardened their hearts and will be
correspondingly disadvantaged in the
judgment day. Jesus put the matter very
strongly when He implied that 1t would
be tolerable for those people, but more
tclerable for Sodom. because It's sin had
been against less light and privilege.
Concluding. the Master assured His
messengers that whoever heard them and