Page:Kelly - The Church of God.djvu/7

 that He might fill all things;” the world can admire Christ and Christianity if altered to suit the age’s taste; Christ, only as risen, the Church’s Head; gifts in Ephesians and Corinthians compared; gifts in Corinthians became a snare, those in Ephesians are for perfecting; “apostles and prophets;” not prophets and apostles; character of ministry in the Church quite distinct from that which obtained while the Lord was on earth; the mission of the twelve to Israel; earthly glory of Messiah fades and is eclipsed by heavenly glory; who laid hands on the apostles? Saul’s call when going, not to, but from Jerusalem; Paul a sample of one whom the Lord calls to be a minister; how God has made the great apostle the witness of non-succession; the service of tables; as far as the New Testament speaks, no one was ever ordained by man to preach the gospel; Acts xiii; Archbishop Potter on Church Government; the separation of Barnabas and Saul by the Holy Ghost for special work; if Paul and Barnabas were ordained in the current sense, then the lesser ordained the greater; what this laying on of hands signified; the silence of Scripture respecting the laying of hands on presbyters; the absolute necessity of having a real commission from the Lord, in order to appoint to office; Christendom while fighting for its own order has missed God’s; qualification for eldership; an unruly house a disqualification for eldership; the word of God nowhere hints at the continuance of an ordaining power; the case of Titus; man’s ordination puts one off the ground of faith in, and deference to, the word of God; foolishness of making a bad imitation of what was written exclusively to Timothy or Titus; elders never mentioned as giving gifts; deprecation of the thought that the Holy Ghost can be conveyed by ordination; how to judge of the possession of a gift; gifts to be proved by their power, according to the word of God; gifts sooner or later, sure to be recognised; difficulties of one who has used a gift for a livelihood; dissent is religious radicalism; the value of the word of God for guidance as to ministry and Church office; persons having qualification for eldership may still be found; but no power to ordain them as such; Scripture has provided for this defective condition of the Church; exhortation to esteem those who labour; elders not mentioned in the Corinthian and Thessalonian assemblies; but those who possessed spiritual power in guiding and directing, found in both; no new invention needed to meet the difficulties of the day; fulness of blessing in Christ for the Church now as in Pentecostal times; plenty of room in an assembly for numerous gifts; gifts always sure, because Christ is the Head and source of supply; conclusion. Note on Acts xiv, 23.