out of the congregation, which
ill befits the divine origin of the ministry." "In it the main accent is
placed on the vocation, of which ordination is the attestation."
(Gerberding, _l.c._, 77.) Ordination, Dr. Haas declares, is "the
prerogative of the whole Church." It includes "the separation for the
ministry with invocation of blessing and consecration under divine
approval." For this reason "ordination is not repeated." (112.) "This
realism of a divine gift [in ordination] was apparently not held by
Luther.... He declares the right of all believers to the office, because
of the spiritual priesthood, and sees the consecration (_Weihe_) in the
call. 'Ordo est ministerium et vocatio ministrorum ecclesiae.'" (116.)

134. Gerberding and Fry on the Ministry.--In his _Lutheran Pastor_ Dr.
G.H. Gerberding, professor at the seminary of the General Council at
Maywood (Chicago), declares: It is clear "that this transference theory
is not held by our older theologians. Neither have we been able to find
any ground for it in Holy Scripture. Where is there a single proof that
the congregation, made up of believing priests, does on that account
possess the right to exercise the ordinary functions of the ministry?
Where is the proof that the ministry is created by the congregation?
Where is it written that the minister is amenable to the congregation?
If the congregation of laymen alone makes the minister, then it can also
unmake, or depose, him from his office. The whole theory is unscriptural
and unhistoric. Only the fanatical sects, which have a low view of the
means of grace, can, with any consistency, hold such a view." (82.)
Again: "This [the outward call] does not come from the ministry alone.
Neither does it come from the laity alone. It must come from the Church.
But the Church is neither the ministry without the people nor the
people without the ministry.... Christ, then, exercises His power to
call men into the ministry through the Church [ministers and laymen].
The Church may exist either in the congregation or in the representative
Church [synod], made up of ministers and lay representatives of
congregations. Either the congregation, as defined above, not without a
pastor, or the representative body, made up also of pastors and people,
has a right to extend the outward call." (86.) "The transference theory
is unscriptural and not consistent with the Lutheran doctrine of the
means of grace." (110.) "It is unscriptural an