ry, not an occasional, but a constant
exercise of that ministry; so that whether they be paid pastors, or
itinerant preachers, they are not to entangle themselves with the
affairs of this life, but must be devoted wholly to the work of the
gospel, 1 Tim. iv. 13-16; 2 Tim. ii. 4, and iv. 2. And because they must
thus devote their time and attention to this work, the word of God also
enjoins that a maintenance be given them by those to whom they exercise
their ministry, 1 Cor. ix. 7-14; Gal. vi. 6; 1 Tim. v. 17. This is a
farther evidence that the ministry of the word is restricted to persons
in office, and that they are to devote their time and attention to it,
not entangling themselves in the prosecution of a secular business.

III. Those only can be warrantably employed in a ministry of the
ordinances of Christ, and particularly in preaching the gospel, who are
thereunto called by him, and admitted according to the rule laid down in
the word. And none can be warrantably acknowledged and received as
office-bearers, to whom that ministry is committed without some proper
evidence of their being called and sent by Christ. "How shall they
preach except they be sent?" Rom. x. 15. How, without this, can they do
it warrantably or profitably? And, without some evidence of this, what
ground have we to expect a blessing in waiting upon their ministry? It
is not a mere providential sending that is here meant, as if there were
no more necessity than abilities, and an opportunity of exercising them;
for so the ministers of Satan may be sent, and a lying spirit was thus
sent among the prophets of Ahab. But this sending means the call of
Christ, intimated in such a way as to warrant the preacher, and with
such evidence as may satisfy the conscience of the hearers, in receiving
his ministry as the ordinance of Christ. A zeal for God, a strong desire
of being useful to souls, and even a persuasion of having the call of
Christ, cannot be sufficient warrant to the preacher; far less can the
hearers, in receiving him, proceed upon grounds so uncertain.

The apostles, and some other ministers in the beginning of the Christian
dispensation, had an extraordinary call and immediate mission by Christ,
and this was evidenced to all by the miraculous powers bestowed on them.
These powers are now ceased, and it is vain to plead any such immediate
call. The ordinary call of Christ to the work of the ministry is
intimated by or through the church, j