The Gospel, the Ministry, and the Holy
Spirit
An exhortation to those who are
elders, or who are seeking eldership in a church.
The
Gospel, the Ministry and the Holy Spirit
By Rev. B. P. Aydelott, D. D.
[Extracts from a manuscript Lecture upon
1 Tim. iii:10, "Believed on in the world”' ]
(Originally Published in the mid-1800's)
THE
Gospel is not only written in a book, and clearly embodied in two simple
ordinances, but it is committed also to a LIVING MINISTRY—such a
Ministry as the world never saw before.
Not
a particular family or tribe was chosen to give religious instruction
and perform religious rites to one nation, or portion of the human
family. Such is not the Christian Ministry. But a succession of men has
been raised up and qualified, and called, individually and specially,
\>y the Holy Ghost, out of the Church itself, the company of
regenerated people, God's faithful family, wherever found. And these
men, themselves regenerated and sanctified, and called by the Holy
Spirit to the office and work of the Gospel Ministry, are commanded and
commissioned to " go into all the WORLD, and preach the Gospel to
every creature"—with the promise that Christ will always be with
them, to own and bless their faithful endeavors.
They
are not, then, merely man-instructed scholars, and man-instructed
theologians; but they are a divinely enlightened, converted, holy
Ministry—God-taught and God-sent—to give, what only such a Ministry
could give, a living, experimental, hearty testimony for the Gospel, and
to call their dying fellow-men to the knowledge of that Saviour whom
they themselves profess to have found so precious to their own souls.
""WE
BELIEVE, AND THEREFORE WE SPEAK." This has ever been the assured
language of Christ's faithful ministers. We have experienced the
salvation of the Gospel ourselves, and therefore we preach it to others.
We are, through grace, holy and happy ourselves, and therefore we wish
to see all others holy and happy. We are saved ourselves, and therefore
earnestly do we desire to see all around us saved—the whole world
brought back to God and His glorious kingdom—by the power of the
Cross.
In
a word, the Gospel is not like the systems of heathen philosophy,
confined to the schools and to a select number of rare intellects.
Neither is it like Judaism, nearly altogether restricted to one people,
and taught to them by an hereditary, and, for the most part, an
unconverted priesthood.
But
it is to be carried to the whole world, and published to all nations and
classes of men, by the Heaven-sent, Divinely-enlightened, regenerated,
holy, faithful Ministry; expressing, too, and confirming by their own
example, the Gospel and the salvation they preach to others.
But
this is not all—indeed, were it so, it is to be feared, nay, it is
certain, that even the Gospel, so conveyed and so recommended to the
world, would, like all previous dispensations, have left the great mass
of men to perish in darkness and sin.
Be
it then observed, that the grand dement of flower in the Gospel, its
crowning blessing, is the Holy Spirit.
The
influences of the Spirit are promised in the Gospel, in richest variety
and abundance.-Paul might, indeed, plant, and Apollos water, all in
vain, and certainly would, if left to themselves; yet God will, by the
mighty energies of the Holy Ghost, sent down from Heaven, give a
wondrous increase.
And
thus was it to be continually and most clearly demonstrated every-where,
and in all ages, that it is not by human might or by man's power, but by
the Spirit of God, that men are awakened, converted, sanctified, and
saved.
But
the operations of the Spirit are diverse. Sometimes one, here and there,
is seriously impressed, and brought to the Saviour under the preaching
of the Gospel. Then, again, a great increase of the power of religion is
witnessed in a whole Church, or in many of its members, and this revival
among God's people is, sooner or later, by their faithful endeavors,
extended through the mass of worldly-minded hearers. Hence this latter
work is usually and justly called a revival, because it begins by an
increased work of grace in Christians themselves, and is, by their
instrumentality, spread through the community of unconverted persons.
But in every case— both in the revival of the graces of God's people,
and the conversion of sinners—it is all the work of the Holy Spirit.
Nothing has been more clearly proved than the fact that the use of the
most abundant means without the influences of the Spirit, is utterly
powerless for the conversion of sinners and the sanctification of the
Church; but that, with these influences, the weakest means and
instrumentalities will prove the power of God unto salvation to
multitudes. "We are
not to think, indeed, that the Holy Spirit did not operate under former
dispensations —for it is only through His agency that any sinner was
ever converted and saved—but this we do say, that the distinguishing
excellence of the Gospel dispensation is its larger promises of the HOLY
SPIRIT. To this fact all the Prophets bare testimony, declares Peter, as
they looked forward with hope and joy to Gospel times. And the New
Testament itself is full of promises of the Spirit and glorious
exhibitions of His power.
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