Preaching and Preachers

Preaching and Preachersof the Acts of the Apostles certain qualifications are laid down withrespect to deacons. The Church selects these men in terms of givenprinciples; she is taught what to look for, and she looks for suchqualities. You find the same in the Pastoral Epistles where instructionsare given with regard to the qualifications of elders and deacons. Sobefore you can be quite sure that a man is called to be a preacher, hispersonal call must be confirmed by the Church, it must be attested bythe Church.Once more I must qualify this by saying that the history of theChurch, and of preachers, shows quite plainly that sometime~ theChurch can make a mistake. She has done so many times, and hasrejected men who have proved by their records as preachers that theywere obviously called of God. For instance, Dr. G. Campbell Morganwas rejected by the Methodist Church in England. But that is theexception, the exception which proves the rule; and you do not legislatefor exceptions and hard cases. I am speaking generally. Whenthere is an exceptional and outstanding man God will make himknown somehow, and in spite of men; but that does not happen veryoften.The more common occurrence is that men feel called who are notcalled; and it is the business of the Church to see to this and to handlethe situation. I could give many examples and illustrations of this. Ihave always felt when someone has come to me and told me that hehas been called to be a preacher, that my main business is to put everyconceivable obstacle that I can think of in hisway. In addition to thatI exercise what judgment I have in assessing his personality, intelligence,and ability to speak. The correspondence of what the man feelsand what the Churchmust feel is most important. A well-known storyabout Spurgeon illustrates this well. A man came to himat the close ofa service on a Sunday night and said, 'Mr Spurgeon, the Spirit tellsme that I am to preach here, in this Tabernacle, next Thursday night.''Well, it is a very curious thing,' said Spurgeon, 'that the Spirit hasnot told me that.' So of course the man did not preach on the Thursdayin the Tabernacle! That was very sound logic. H the Spirit had108