Jasper County Democrat, Volume 16, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1914 — BROOKLYN TABERNACLE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BROOKLYN TABERNACLE

-BIBLE-STUDY-ON <-

SEVENTY MINISTERS ORDAINED. Luke 10:1-24—Jan. 11. “It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of vour Father which speaketh in you.”—J/atthew JO.-tO. "W JB’INISTERIAL ordination has I for centuries been a bone of I ’ M contention. Indirectly it hag / led to bloody persecutions. 'I hank God! those days are gone, so far as the majority of Christians are concerned. And yet. because the masses do not clearly understand the subject of ordination, there is always danger of a recurrence of persecution along ? this line. AU denominations have shared in persecutions based upon misconceptions of ministerial ordination. Ordination does not relate to a ceremony, or form, as many suppose. It signifies an authorization, a commission. to preach. Baptists. Presbyterians, Lutherans. Methodists, etc., so commission those who agree with their creeds. But Roman Catholics and Episcopalians claim an ordination from God—that all bishops are successors to the

Apostles and armed with Apostolic authority; hence that any hot ordained by their bishops have no right to preach, but are heretics. ' From their standpoint, all oth e r Protestants ar e preaching without authority. But the spirit of tolerance Is grow-

ing. Within the last two years Episcopalians have lifted the embargo on other Protestants to the extent that their ministers may exchange pulpits with those of other denominations.

The right thought of ordination is presented in today's Study. Jesus had already appointed twelve to be His special Apostles; and now He ordained, or appointed, seventy more, not to be Apostles, but to be missionaries. There was no ceremony connected with their appointment, or ordination, so far as the record shows. Jesus simply sent them out. telling them what to say. Strictly speaking, the Apostles bad not yet received the Holy Spirit directly. Tlie Father s Spirit had been imparted to the Soil, who shared that Spirit with those sent to preach in His name. The Father did not directly recognize, authorize, or ordain any of the Church to preach, until Pentecost. The forty years which closed the Jewish Age, ending A. D. 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem, was the Harvest period for typical Israel. It witnessed, the gathering into the Gospel garner of all the true wheat and. the setting aside of the chaff in a time of trouble, symbolically called lite. The Lord (Matthew 13) intimates that in the end of Ibis Age there WTill be ft similar Harvest. Many believe that it began in 1874 and will end in 1914. The Lord s faithful ones at the close of the Jewish Age were to recognize the great privilege of engaging in tlio Harvest; ami this must be true now. Jesus compared them to inoffensive lambs, while the selfish, unregenerate world He pictured as wolves. He would not have them beg from house to house, but Inquire for the most worthy in every village, and, if received, remain there until they had witnessed in that village. They were to depend wholly upon the Lord for their wants. Later. He sent forth His dis clples. telling them to provide to the best of their ability—implying that their- first experience had been a special one, to teach them reliance upon Power Divine.

The Master's Spirit was given them in such measure that they could heal the sick, cast out devils, etc. We are not to understand that there is such an authorization of the Lord's people today. Conditions have changed. The healing of spiritual sickness, blindness and deafness—“greater works than these”—is today the privilege of the Lord’s people. 'The disciples’ one Message was that God's Kingdom had come nigh. God’s

Kingdom bad been awaited by Israel for centuries. But when it was presented. only a s m all number were ready to recei v e it. Thereafter the Kingdom offer was taken from them, and since has been given throughout the w orl d. gathering the Elect, to be

Messiah’s Bride and Joint-heir. The Master referred to His mighty works iln Capernaum. Betbsaida and Choraziri. These cities were tigura tively said to have been exalted to Heaven in [>oint of privilege; and having rejected the Lord’s favors, they would be cast down to the grave. Ex ' amples were given of Sodom and Tyre, both of which were in ruins—brought down to fladee. Our Lofd intimates, however, that their trial, or testing, or judgment, which His preaching had given was not a finality—there would be a future judgment. According to St Paul, ths entire Millennial Age is to be a thou-sand-year Judgment Day. in Which the whole world will have a full opportunity of coming to a knowledge of God. (Acts 17:31.) Nevertheless, those who beard Jesus unmoved had hardened their hearts, and would be disadvantaged in the Judgment Day. Concluding, the Master declared that whoever despised them despised Him and the Father. This is undoubtedly true of all whom the Lord has ordained and sent forth.

Ceremonial Ordination a bone of Contention.

J esus Ordaining (Sending Forth) Disiples.