Gospel Workers’ Department by A. G. Daniells

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 15, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 33.

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Gospel Workers’ Department

By A. G. Daniells

Their divine calling, qualification, and preparation. Methods of labor, plans, etc.

Conducted by A. G. DANIELLS

The Call to the Gospel Ministry

Some Valuable Quotations

“And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” Heb. 5:4.

“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.” Luke 10:2.

“God has repeatedly shown that persons should not be encouraged into the field without unmistakable evidence that he has called them. The Lord will not entrust the burden for his flock to unqualified individuals. Those whom God calls must be men of deep experience, tried and proved, men of sound judgment, men who will dare to reprove sin in the spirit of meekness, men who understand how to feed the flock. God knows the heart, and he knows whom to select.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. I, page 209.

“While Christ is the minister in the sanctuary above, he is also, through his delegates, the minister of his church on earth. He speaks to the people through chosen men, and carries forward his work through them, as when, in the days of his humiliation, he moved visibly upon the earth. Although centuries have passed, the lapse of time has not changed his parting promise to his disciples, ‘Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.’ From Christ’s ascension to the present day, men ordained of God, deriving their authority from him, have become teachers of the faith. Christ, the true Shepherd, superintends his work through the instrumentality of these under-shepherds. Thus the position of those who labor in word and doctrine becomes very important. In Christ’s stead they beseech the people to be reconciled to God.”—Id., Vol. IV, page 393.

“We must be called of God. A call to a ministry which is exercised in the name of God, can emanate only from him. . . . Whether external or internal, the call ought to be divine.”—“Finet, of the French Protestant Church, quoted in “The Ideal Ministry,” page 112.

“Why do we insist on this necessity of a divine call? Scripture is full of it. Old Testament prophets were all called of God, as we see from the stories of Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and others. The New Testament apostles were similarly called of God; the twelve, St. Paul (Gal. 1:1), and Timothy. Of the ministry we may say what is recorded of the Aaronic priesthood: ‘And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God.’ Heb. 5:4. The very nature of the case suggests the same thing. The minister is called an ‘ambassador.’ He is said to have ‘received’ his ministry, and to have it ‘committed to him.’”—“The Work of the Ministry,” by W. H. Griffith Thomas, D. D., page 112.

“Is there a special call to the gospel ministry? How is this call certified to the individual? Very much more depends upon the answer to these questions than may at first appear.”

“What is the call to the ministry? It is of God, immediate, internal, effectual. “It is of God, not of man; divine, not human. “It is immediate, not through a church or bishop. “It is internal, the direct agency of the Holy Spirit on the heart; not external, as in providential circumstances. “It is effectual. The called of God to the ministry get into the ministry.”—“The Ideal Ministry,” by Herrick Johnson, D. D., pages 103, 104.

“We have, then, established by Scripture these points: (a) That the call to sacred office, under the Old Testament dispensation, was God’s exclusive prerogative; (b) that Christ made it equally his exclusive prerogative while on earth; (c) that in every recorded case the call was immediate, personal, and effectual; (d) that the church is to pray that he will continue to call; (e) that having ascended on high, he answers this prayer and continues to give the church pastors and teachers; (f) the Scripture record, after Christ’s ascension, shows that the call is now by the Holy Spirit, but still immediate, personal, and effective. The mode of the divine call has changed. The fact of the divine call remains. The call is no longer audible, for this is the dispensation of the Spirit. God, the Spirit, does not speak to the outward ear. His call is inner and silent, to the ear of the soul, but as immediate, personal, and effectual as was Christ’s when on earth.”—Id., pages 107, 108.