Gibson on Article XXIII: Of Ministering in the Congregation

There has been no change in the substance of this Article since it was first published in 1553. In that edition, however, and also in that of 1563, the title ran: “Nemo in ecclesia ministret nisi vocatus” (“No man may minister in the congregation except he be called ”). The present title was substituted for this at the final revision in 1571.

The ultimate source of this Article is the fourteenth, ” De ordine ecclesiastico,” of the Confession of Augsburg : ” De ordine ecclesiastico decent quod nemo debeat in ecclesia publice docere aut sacramenta administrare, nisi rite vocatus.” Its debt to this Confession is, however, only indirect; for there can be little doubt that its immediate origin was the corresponding Article in the unfinished series of 1538, agreed upon by a joint-

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committee of Anglican and Lutheran divines.^ This document adopts the language of the Augsburg Confession, but adds additional matter to it, which suggested the latter part of our own Article : ” De rainistris ecclesiae docemus, quod nemo debeat publice docere, aut sacramenta ministrare, nisi rite vocatus, et quidem ab his, penes quos in ecclesia, juxta verbum Dei, et leges ac consuetudines uniuscujusque regionis, jus est vocandi et admittendi.” 2 Since the Lutherans were lacking in episcopal government, it is obvious that in any common formula to be agreeable to both parties refuge must be taken in language of a vague and general character. Hence the reference to ” the laws and customs of each country,” which was omitted when the Article was remodelled for the use of the Anglican Church alone.

The object of the Article is to condemn the theory held by many of the Anabaptists of the sixteenth century, that ” anyone believing himself to be called to the ministry, was bound to exercise his functions as a preacher in defiance of all Church authority.”^ The same error is condemned in the Befcn’matio Legum JEcclesiasticamcm, in which, after the mention of various Anabaptist errors, we come to the following passage : —

” Similis est eorum amentia qui institutionem ministrorum ab ecclesia disjungunt, negantes in certis locis certos doctores, pastores atque ministros collocari debere ; nee admit tun t legitimos vocationes, nee solemnem manuum impositionem, sed per omnes publice docendi potestatem divulgant, qui sacris Uteris uteunque sunt aspersi, et Spiritum sibi vendicant; nee illos solum adhibent ad docendum, sed etiam ad moderandam ecclesiam, et distribuenda sacramenta ; quae sane uni versa cum Scriptis Apostolorum manifesto pugnant.’**

”* lUf. Leg. Eecles.f De Hcn’ex. c. xvi.

So in Hermann’s Consultation it is said of some of the Anabaptists, that they ” dispise the outwarde minis terie and doctrine of the Church, they denie that God worketh by the same. They teache that we muste loke for private illuminations and visions. Wherefore thei avoyed the common sermons of the Church, and holye assembles of the people of Christe, they wythdrawe from the sacraments,” etc.^

Such a view as that here condemned can only lead to confusion and disorder, for according to it anyone who claims for himself the Spirit may set himself up as a minister of the word and sacraments, with no commission whatever from any external authority. In opposition to this the statement of the Article is clear and decisive. It falls into two parts, each of which requires some little consideration —

1. The need of an external call and mission.

2. The description of those through whom the call comes.

I. 57^ Need of an external Call and Mission.

It is not lawful ^ for any man to take upon him the office of public preaching or ministering the sacraments in the congregation (in ecclesia),^ before he be lawfully called and sent to execute the same. ” Called and sent.”

The two words (which are repeated in the second part of the Article) should be carefully noticed. They refer to distinct things: the call, to the original

^ English translation of 1548, fol. cxlii.

• Evidently, though this is not stated, hy the law of God.

’ It is not clear why throughout this Article, in the heading as well as in the body of the Article, ecclesia is rendered by congregation and not by Church.

summons to enter the ministry: the mission to the commission to execute it in a particular sphere. Unless the need of each of these is recognised there can only arise confusion, as if only the call were necessary different ministers properly ordained might assert rival claims to execute their office in the same place, and the whole principle of Church order would be destroyed. To obviate this they must be ” sent to execute the same,” as well as ” called ” to the office. Thus the requirement of ” mission ” follows from the general principle that ” God is not a God of confusion, but of peace ” ; and from the necessity that ” all things ” should ” be done decently and in order.” With regard to the ” call ” to the ministry, all Christians are agreed that a call from God is necessary before a man can presume to teach and minister in His name. ” No man taketh the honour unto himself, but when he is called of God, even as was Aaron,” and ” how shall they preach except they be sent […] So much is admitted by alL The question really is whether the “inward call” requires to be supplemented by an external one. And here all the evidence from Scripture and antiquity is in favour of insisting upon one from properly constituted authorities. While it cannot be doubted that under the Old Covenant in addition to the regularly constituted priesthood and Levitical ministry, God did from time to time raise up the prophets as His messengers, and send them forth with no commission from men, as he did afterward at the beginning of the gospel in the case of S. Paul, who always claimed to hold his apostolate ” not from airo) men, neither through hid) men, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father,” yet in these cases the call was authenticated by signs which could be recognised and

^ 1 Cor. xiv. 33, 40. ^ Gal. i. 1.

• Heb. V. 4 ; Rom. x. 15.

known by men. The gift of prophecy and the power of working miracles no longer remaining with the Church, it can easily be seen that unless the necessity of an external call were insisted on, the Church would be at the mercy of any religious fanatic who might be pleased to claim to be taught by the Spirit of God. And so we find that, as a matter of fact, from the very first men were set apart by the properly constituted authorities of the Church, and did not take upon themselves the ministerial office without such a call. Thus the seven were ” appointed ” obs KaTaaTi]ao)fjL€p) to the ministry by the Apostles, after they had been ” chosen ” (efeXefai/ro) by the whole multitude. Paul and Barnabas ” appointed ” elders in every church (eipoTovrjaavTe Se avrol irpeavripov Kar iKKKrjciav) Timothy received the gift ” through (Sta) the laying on of ” S. Paul’s hands, or, as it is elsewhere said, ” through (8ta) prophecy, with fieTo) the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.” Titus is commissioned to ” appoint elders in every city,” and Timothy receives full instructions as to the character and qualifications of those who are to be admitted into the ministry. These facts seem quite decisive, and it is a simple fact of history that from the Apostles’ day to the present time the Church has always required an

• See Deut. xviii. 20-22.

• It will be remembered that the Church of England is equally emphatic in insisting on the need of an ” inward ” call, the first question addressed to candidates for the ministry being this — ’* Do you tnist that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this office and ministration to serve God for the promoting of His glory and the edifying of His jieople ? ” Not till this has been satisfactorily answered is the further question put concerning the external call — “Do you think that you are truly called, according to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the due order of this realm, to the ministry of the Church ? ”

• Acts vi. 1-6. ^ Acts xiv. 23. ^ Cf. 2 Tim. i. 6 with 1 Tim. iv. 14.

« Titus i. 5. M Tim. iii.

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external call in the case of all those whom she has recognised as Christian ministers. There is no necessity to prove this at length ; but a single passage may be quoted from the first of the Christian Fathers to indicate how the matter was regarded in the very early times, and the principle of succession laid down —

” Our apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife over the name of the bishop’s office. For this cause therefore, having received complete foreknowledge, they appointed the aforesaid persons, and afterwards they provided a continuance, that if these should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed to their ministration. Those, therefore, who were appointed by them, or afterward by other men of repute with the consent of the whole Church, and have ministered unblanieably to the flock of Christ … these men we consider to be unjustly thrust out from their ministration.” 1

II. The Description of tlwse through ivJixnn the Call comes.

While the Article is perfectly clear in asserting the need of an external call, it cannot be maintained that it

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is equally clear in its description of those who are empowered to give this call. Those we OUght tO

judge lawfully called and sent, which be chosen and called to this work by men who have public authority giYen unto them in the congregation to call and send ministers into the Lord’s vineyard. Who are these men “who have public authority given them in the congregation ” (ecclesm) ? The Article fails to tell us, and its silence on this point is to some extent explained (as we have seen) by the source to which it can be traced. But though an Article on the subject of the ministry, designed to be subscribed by Lutherans and Anglicans, must needs be vague and indefinite, the question may fairly be asked, Why, when the Article was to be signed by Anglicans alone, was not the indefiniteness removed, and a plain statement describing the proper authorities inserted ? To this it may be answered that Article XXXV. of 1553 referred definitely to the ” book of ordering ministers of the Church ” as ” godly and in no point repugnant to the wholesome doctrine of the gospel, but agreeable thereto,” while the corresponding Article (XXXVI.) of the Elizabethan revision supported the claims of the Ordinal more definitely, asserting that it ” doth contain all things necessary to such consecration and ordering: neither hath it anything that of itself is superstitious or ungodly. And, therefore, whosoever are consecrated or ordered according to the rites of that book, since the second year of the afore-named King Edward unto this time, or shall be consecrated or ordered according to the same rites, we decree all such to be rightly, orderly, and lawfully consecrated and ordered.” These citations show that the omission in the Article before us is made up elsewhere, and that the words under consideration are intended to refer to

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the bishops, to whom alone is given in the Church of England this ” public authority to call and send ministers into the Lord’s vineyard.” And, since the reference of the terms was thus rendered unmistakable, it was probably considered unnecessary to introduce a more formal mention of the Episcopate here.^ It will therefore be more convenient that in this Commentary upon the Articles the discussion of the questions connected with the Episcopate and the threefold ministry should be reserved until they can be treated of in connection with that Article in which they are distinctly mentioned.

1 It must be remembered that the Articles were not designed to be a complete system of theology. Originally they were merely intended to be a practical test, called forth by the exigencies of the times. At the time when they were first drawn up in 1553 there was no practical question at issue in this country between Episcopal orders and Presbyterian ; and all that was really necessary was to assert against the Anabaptists the need of an external call.

Notes

• See vol. i. p. 6. ’ Hard wick, p. 102.
• See Hardwick, p. 270.