When Christ, our Paraclete with the Father, entered upon his ministry on high, we are told more than a score of times that he "sat down at the right hand of God." Henceforth heaven is his official seat, until he returns in power and great glory. {131} When he sent down another Paraclete to abide with us for the age, he took his seat in the church, the temple of God, there to rule and to administer till the Lord returns. There is but one "Holy See" upon earth: that is, the seat of the Holy One in the church, which only the Spirit of God can occupy without the most daring blasphemy. It becomes all true believers to look well to that picture of one "sitting in the temple of God," and to read the lesson which it teaches. We may have no temptation toward the papacy, which thrusts a man into the seat of the Holy Ghost,[1] or toward clerisy which obtrudes an order of ecclesiastics—archbishops, cardinals, and archdeacons into that sacred place; but let us remember that a democracy may be guilty of the same sin as a hierarchy, in settling solemn issues by a "show of hands," instead of prayerfully waiting for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in substituting the voice of a {132} majority for the voice of the Spirit. Of course, in speaking thus we concede that the Holy Spirit makes known his will in the voice of believers, as also in the voice of Scripture. Only there must be such prayerful sanctifying of the one and such prayerful search of the other, that in reaching decisions in the church there may be the same declaration as in the first Christian council: "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us" (Acts 15: 28).
In some very profound teaching in 2 Cor. 3 we seem to have a hint as to how we hear the voice of the Lord in guiding the affairs of the church. There, the administration (diachonia) of the Spirit is distinctly spoken of in contrast with the administration of the law. Its deliverances are written "not with ink, not in tables of stone, but in the tables that are the hearts of flesh, with the Spirit of the living God" (R. V.). There must be a sensitive heart wherein this handwriting may be inscribed; an unhindering will through which he may act. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," it is written in the same passage; liberty for God to speak and act as he will through us, which begets loyalty; not liberty for us to act as we will, which begets lawlessness.
To us there is something exceedingly suggestive in the teaching of the Lord's post-ascension gospel, the Revelation, on this point. The epistles to the {133} seven churches we hold, with many of the best commentators, to be a prophetic setting forth of the successive stages of the church's history—its declines and its recoveries, its failures and its repentances, from ascension to advent. And because the bride of Christ is perpetually betrayed into listening to false teachers and surrendering to the guidance of evil counsellors, the Lord is constantly admonishing her to heed the voice of her true Teacher and Guide, the Holy Ghost. How forcibly this admonition is introduced into the great Apocalyptic drama! As in the opening of the successive seals, representing the judgments of God upon apostate Christendom, the cry is repeated, "Come"! "Come"! "Come"! "Come"! (Rev. 6)—as though the church under chastisement would repeatedly relearn the advent prayer which her Lord put into her mouth in the beginning: "Even so, come, Lord Jesus," so at each stage of the church's backsliding a voice is heard from heaven saying: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." It is the admonition "of him that hath the seven spirits of God," seven times addressed to his church throughout her earthly history, calling her to return from her false guides and misleading teachers, and to listen to the voice of her true Counsellor.
From this general statement of the administration of the Holy Spirit let us now descend to the {134} particular acts and offices in which this authority is exercised.
1. The Holy Spirit in the ministry and government of the church. In speaking to the elders of Ephesus Paul says: "Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock in the which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops, to feed the church of God" (Acts 20: 28, R. V.). Clearly in the beginning bishops or pastors were given by the Spirit of God, not by the suffrages of the people. The office and its incumbent were alike by direct divine appointment. We find this distinctly set forth in the Epistle to the Ephesians: "When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. . . And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4: 8-12, R. V.). The ascent of the Lord and the descent of the Spirit are here exhibited in their necessary relation. In the one event Christ took his seat in heaven as "Head over all things to his church"; in the other the Holy Ghost came down to begin the work of "building up the body of Christ." Of course it is the Head who directs the construction of the body, as being "fitly framed together it groweth into a holy temple in the Lord"; and it is the Holy Ghost who superintends this construction since "we are {135} builded together for an habitation of God in the Spirit." Therefore all the offices through which this work is to be carried on were appointed by Christ and instituted through the Spirit whom he sent down. Suppose now that men invent offices which are not named in the inspired list, and set up in the church an order of popes and cardinals, archbishops and archdeacons? Is it not a presumption, the worst fruit of which is not alone that it introduces confusion into the body of Christ, but that it begets insubordination to the rule of the Holy Ghost? But suppose, on the other hand, that we sacredly maintain those offices of the ministry which have been established for permanent continuance in the church, and yet take it upon us to fill these according to our own preference and will; is this any less an affront to the Spirit?
Doubtless the mistakes of God's servants, as given in Scripture are as truly designed for our instruction and admonition as their obedient examples. We think we do not err in finding such a recorded warning in the opening chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. A vacancy had occurred in the apostolate. Standing up in the upper room, amidst the hundred and twenty, Peter boldly affirmed that this vacancy must be filled, and of the men who had companied with them during the Lord's earthly ministry, "one must be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection." But the {136} disciples had hitherto had no voice in choosing apostles. The Lord had done this of his own sovereign will: "Have I not chosen you twelve?" Now he had gone away into heaven, and his Administrator had not yet arrived to enter upon his office-work. Surely if the divine order was to be, that having "ascended on high" he was "to give some apostles," it were better to await the coming of the Paraclete with his gifts. Not only so, but we are persuaded that, with Christ departed and the Holy Spirit not yet come, a valid election of an apostle were impossible. But in spite of this, a nomination was made; prayer was offered in which the Lord was asked to indicate which of the candidates he had chosen; and then a vote having been taken, Matthias was declared elected. Is there any indication that this choice was ever ratified by the Lord? On the contrary, Matthias passes into obscurity from this time, his name never again being mentioned. Some two years subsequent, the Lord calls Saul of Tarsus; he is sealed with his Spirit, and certified by such evident credentials of the Divine appointment that he boldly signs himself "Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father" (Gal. 1: 1).
We believe that the apostolic office has passed away, the qualification therefor, that of having been a witness of the Lord's resurrection, being now impossible. But the office of pastor, elder, bishop, or {137} teacher of the flock still remains. And the divine plan is that this office should be filled, just as in the beginning, by the appointment of the Holy Ghost. Nor can we doubt that if there is a prayerful waiting upon him for guidance, and a sanctified submission to his will when it is made known, he will now choose pastors and set them over their appointed flocks just as manifestly as he did in the beginning. Very beautiful is the picture in Revelation of the glorified Lord, moving among the candlesticks. There are "seven golden candlesticks" now, not one only as in the Jewish temple. The Church of God is manifold, not a unit.[2] He who "walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks" "holdeth the seven stars in his right hand." These stars are "the angels of the seven churches"—their ministers or bishops as generally understood. The Lord holds them in his right hand. Does he not require us to ask of him alone for their bestowal? Yes. "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest" (Luke 10: 2). There is no intimation in Scripture that we are to apply anywhere but to him for the ministry of his church. Does he not give {138} such ministry, and he alone? Yes. "When he ascended on high . . . he gave some . . . pastors and teachers." And now, speaking to the church in Ephesus, the elders of which, chosen by the Holy Ghost, Paul had so affectionately exhorted, he is seen in the attitude of Chief-shepherd and Bishop—giving pastors with his own hand; placing them with his own right hand, and warning the church that though they have tried and rejected false apostles, they have nevertheless left their "first love." Significant word! On this love our Lord conditioned the indwelling of the Father and of the Son through the Holy Spirit (John 14: 23). Losing this the peril becomes imminent that the candlestick may be removed out of its place; and so the warning is solemnly announced: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." Without the Spirit the candlestick can shed forth no light, and loses its place of testimony.
Dead churches, whose witness has been silenced, whose place has been vacated, even though the lifeless form remains, have we not seen such? And what is the safeguard against them, if not that found in the apostle's warning: "Quench not the Spirit?" The voice of the Lord must be heard in his church, and to the Holy Ghost alone has been committed the prerogative of communicating that voice. Is there any likelihood that that voice will be heard when the king or prime minister of a civil {139} government holds the sole function of appointing the bishops, as in the case of State churches? Is there any certainty of it when an archbishop or bishop puts pastors over flocks by the action of his single will? We may congratulate ourselves that we are neither in a State church nor under an episcopal bishop; but there are methods of ignoring or repressing the voice of the Holy Ghost, which though simpler and far less apparent than those just indicated, are no less violent. The humble and godly membership of the little church may turn to some pastor, after much prayer and waiting on God for the Spirit's guidance, and the signs of the divine choice may be clearly manifest; when some pulpit committee, or some conclave of "leading brethren," vetoes their action on the ground, perchance, that the candidate is not popular and will not draw. Alas! for the little flock so lorded over that the voice of the Holy Ghost cannot be heard.
And majorities are no more to be depended upon than minorities, if there is in both cases a neglect of patient and prolonged waiting upon the Lord to know his will. Of what value is a "show of hands" unless his are stretched out "who holdeth the seven stars in his right hand?" Of what use is a viva voce choice, except the living voice of Christ be heard speaking by his Spirit? One may object that we are holding up an ideal which is impossible to be realized. It is a difficult ideal we admit, as {140} the highest attainments are always difficult; but it is not an impossible one. It is easier to recite our prayers from a book than to read them from the tables of a prepared heart, where the finger of the Spirit has silently written them; but the more difficult way is the more acceptable way to him who seeks for worshipers who "worship in Spirit and in truth." It is easier to get "the sense of the meeting" in choosing a pastor than to learn "the mind of the Spirit" by patient tarrying and humble surrender to God; but the more laborious way will certainly prove the more profitable way. The failure to take this way is, we are persuaded, the cause of more decay and spiritual death in the churches than we have yet imagined. From the watch-tower where we write we can look out on half a score of churches on which "Ichabod" has been evidently written, and the glory of which has long since departed. They were founded in prayer and consecration, "to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven." Why has their light been extinguished, though the lampstand which once bore it still remains, adorned and beautified with all that the highest art and architecture can suggest? Their history is known to him who walks among the golden candlesticks. What violence may have been done, by headstrong self-will, to him who is called "the Spirit of counsel and might"? What rejection of the truth which he, "the Spirit {141} of truth," has appointed for the faith of God's church till at last the word has been spoken: "Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye." Is it only Jewish worshipers to whom these words apply? Is it only a Jewish temple of which this sentence is true: "Behold your house is left unto you desolate"? The Spirit will not be entirely withdrawn from the body of Christ indeed, but there is the Church, and there are churches. A man may yet live and breathe when cell after cell has been closed by congestion till at last he only inhales and exhales with a little portion of one lung. Let him that readeth understand.
The Spirit is the breath of God in the body of his church. While that divine body survives and must, multitudes of churches have so shut out the Spirit from rule and authority and supremacy in the midst of them that the ascended Lord can only say to them: "Thou hast a name to live and art dead." In a word, so vital and indispensable is the ministry of the Spirit, that without it nothing else will avail. Some trust in creeds, and some in ordinances; some suppose that the church's security lies in a sound theology, and others locate it in a primitive simplicity of government and worship; but it lies in none of these, desirable as they are. The body may be as to its organs perfect and entire, wanting nothing; but simply because the Spirit has been {142} withdrawn from it, it has passed from a church into a corpse. As one has powerfully stated it: "When the Holy Spirit withdraws, . . . he sometimes allows the forms which he has created to remain. The oil is exhausted, but the lamp is still there; prayer is offered and the Bible read; church-going is not given up, and to a certain degree the service is enjoyed; in a word religious habits are preserved, and like the corpses found at Pompeii, which were in a perfect state of preservation and in the very position in which death had surprised them, but which were reduced to ashes by contact with the air, so the blast of trial, of temptation, or of final judgment will destroy these spiritual corpses."[3]