office-bearers of the church, is equally necessary in the case of all that are employed in it, whether they have a fixed charge or not.  Timothy, who had no fixed charge, and though pointed out by prophecy as designed for the ministry, was ordained and admitted to it by the presbytery.  And though Paul and Barnabas had an extraordinary call, yet the prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch are directed to separate and send them out, according to the call of the Holy Ghost, to preach the gospel unto the Gentiles, Acts xiii.  A principal design of this seems to have been, to set an example of procedure to the church in after times.

It appears, then, that the preaching of the gospel is an ordinance or institution of Christ—­that the ministry of that and other ordinances belongs only to those office-bearers whom he hath appointed and commissioned for that end—­and that in ordinary cases, none can be acknowledged as sent by him, but such as are admitted to the ministry in the way above mentioned.  These observations would have admitted a much larger illustration; but as they are, they may assist an attentive reader to consult his Bible for further satisfaction.  It is necessary, however, to take some notice of the arguments urged in support of the opposite sentiment, and of the attempt to prove that every man who is qualified has a right to preach the gospel, without any regular call and admission by the church.  And,

1st.  It is pretended that this is enjoined upon all that are qualified for it, because Christians are called to teach, exhort, and admonish one another.  But even supposing that this were to be understood of preaching, or a public ministry of the word, such directions, though expressed generally, would not apply to all, but to those only who are called to the ministry, according to the limitation and restriction that is laid down in other places of Scripture.  There is, however, no necessity of understanding these directions in that sense.  The Scripture evidently distinguishes the preaching of the gospel, or that public teaching which belongs to an instituted ministry, from that private teaching which is competent to, and obligatory on, all Christians by the law of love; the latter is enjoined upon some to whom the former is absolutely prohibited:  compare 1 Tim. ii. 12, with Tit. ii. 3, 4.  Christians in a private station have abundant opportunity, and ordinarily much more than they improve, to exercise their talents in teaching their families, friends, and neighbors, without interfering with that public ministry of the word which is committed to those who are especially called thereto.