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(Ordination charge): —

I. THE NATURE OF OUR OFFICE. We are "the ministers of God." This implies —

1. That we are sent by God.

2. That you are to labour for God. If for God, then not surely for yourself. Some serve themselves by entering upon it merely with a view to temporal support; others, by entering it chiefly with a view to literary leisure and scientific pursuits. Draw by all means the waters of the Castalian fountain, cull the flowers of Parnassus, explore the world of mind with Locke, and the laws of matter with Newton; but not as the end of your entering the ministry. Not a few make the ministerial office tributary to the acquisition of mere popular applause. They ascend the pulpit with the same object which conducts the actor to the stage.

3. That you are responsible to God.

II. IN WHAT WAY THE DUTIES OF OUR OFFICE SHOULD BE DISCHARGED. Approve yourself the minister of God —

1. By faithfully preaching His Word. The pulpit is the chair neither of philosophy nor of literature, and therefore never act there the pedant. Nor is it merely the seat of the moralist, but it is the oracle of heaven.

(1) As to the matter of your preaching, take care that it is truly and faithfully the word of God. Beware of substituting the inventions of ignorance for the doctrines of inspiration. Pray to be led into all truth. Preach the whole counsel of God. Elucidate its histories; explain its prophecies, etc. As a steward of the mysteries of the kingdom you have access to exhaustless stores. Still, as a minister of the New Testament, remember that Christ's Cross is the centre of the whole system, around which all the doctrines and the duties of revelation revolve; from which the former borrow their light, and the latter their energy.

(2) Now as to the manner of your preaching. It should be characterised by —

(a)  Deep seriousness.

(b)  A holy and moral tendency. The truth as it is in Jesus is "according to godliness."

(c)  Instructiveness. The preaching of some men reminds us of the breaking open of the cave of AEolus, and letting loose the winds. To a thinking mind, nothing is more ridiculous than to see a man blustering about in a perfect vacuity of ideas.

(d)  Plainness. "Use great plainness of speech."

2. By the manner in which you preside over the Church.

3. By the character of your visits to the houses of your flock. As an under shepherd of Jesus labour to say, "I know my sheep, and am known of mine." Let all your visits be —

(1) Appropriate. Go as the minister of God, and go to approve yourself such.

(2) Brief. Avoid the character of a lounger and a gossip. You are to teach the value of time, and will do this best, practically.

(3) Impartial. Especially remember the sick and the poor.

(4) Seasonable; and certainly not late in the evening.

4. By your general conduct, spirit, and habits.

(1) By the unsullied purity of your outward conduct.

(2) By the prosperous state of your personal piety. Seek to have all your intellectual attainments consecrated by a proportionate growth in grace.

(3) By exemplary diligence.

(4) By prudence.

(5) By a kind, affectionate disposition.

(6) By a habit of importunate prayer.

(J. Angell James.)

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KJV: Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:

WEB: We give no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our service may not be blamed,