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TRUE CHARACTER AND LIMITS OF
MINISTERIAL AUTHORITY.

A 8ERMON,
PREACHED AT THE ORDINATION AT FARNHAM,
JULY 13, 1845.

By J. W. CUNNINGHAM, M.A.
•a-
VICAR OF HARROW.

LONDON :
J. HATCHARD AND SON, 187 PICCADILLY.
M.DCCC XLV.
Price One Shilling.

LONDON :
PRINTED BY C. i». HODGSON, 1 GOUGH SQUARE, FLEET STREET.

TO THE RIGHT REV. THE

LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER,

THE CLERGY, AND THE CANDIDATES FOR ORDINATION,

ASSEMBLED AT FARNHAM, ON SUNDAY, JULY 13, 1845,

THIS SERMON,

PREACHED IN THEIR PRESENCE,

AND PRINTED AT THEIR UNANIMOUS REQUEST,

IS RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.

THE

TRUE OFFICE OF THE CHRISTIAN
MINISTER.

2 cor. i. 24.
" Not for that we have dominion over your faith ; but are helpers
of your joy."
The real position of the minister of religion with
regard to the charge committed to him, involves a
question of the highest importance to the interest
and happiness of mankind. In some other cases, the
relative position of one human being with another is
of little consequence. One man may assume too much,
and another may yield too little, without any momen
tous results to the parties concerned. But where
the authority of one man over another is of a spiritual
character; where it professes to be derived altoge
ther from Divine appointment ; and where it is ex
ercised with regard to the highest destinies of the
human soul, it is obvious that even the smallest error
may be followed by the most momentous conse
quences. The rivulet which creeps through the
valley may be turned from its course, and no great
evils ensue; but where the broad river, which has
its source in the mountains, and which pours down
a mighty and impetuous tide of waters, is thus

misdirected, a whole region may suffer, either by
the want of its accustomed nourishment, or by the
new flood which is let loose upon its surface.
With such a view of the importance of a just
estimate of the boundaries of ministerial authority
and influence, I have thought that I should be fulfil-
ing a duty suited to the solemn occasion which has
brought us together, if I attempted to offer such
observations on the subject as the words of the text
appeared to suggest. And may the * God of peace '
and ' great Shepherd ' of the flock be pleased to
direct Us to right conclusions upon a point in which
every one who is present appears to have a special
interest. It is my wish to consider what I may call both
the negative and positive propositions contained in
the text.
I. And, first, to notice the '¦negative' truth laid
down in those words, "Not that we have dominion
over your faith."
Consider, then, for a moment, the circumstances
in which St. Paul judged it expedient to make this
declaration. Great, disorders had found their way into the
Church at Corinth ; and the Apostle, naturally much
distressed by them, felt a strong desire to visit the
Corinthians, and to put down, by the hand of au
thority, all such gross violations of discipline and
duty. A feeling of tenderness, however, to a people
among whom he had long resided, and for many of
whom he obviously entertained feelings of love and

approbation, had hitherto checked him iu his course
to them; — "I call God to witness, that, to spare you,
I came not as yet unto Corinth." But, had he come,
what would have been the object of his visit? To
tyrannize over the Church— to issue mandates con
ceived or framed by himself —to assume powers not
delegated to him by the great Head ofthe Church
— to eke out the supposed deficiencies of Scripture
by canons or interpretations of his own ? Is there a
single passage in his writings, or incident in his his
tory, which discovers the slightest tendency in his
mind to any such invasion of the rights of private
judgment legitimately exercised; and, thus, to abridge
the essential liberties of the creatures of God ? On
the contrary, he wholly disclaims, both for himself
and his brother Apostles, any such intentions. Both
he and they, indeed, as far as they were the appoint
ed channels of inspired communications to the
Church of God, were entitled to the profoundest
submission from those to whom they addressed them
selves. But, in this case, the submission claimed
was, evidently, not to themselves, but to their Di
vine Teacher. God was the Author of the truths
which they thus communicated, and they had little
more to do with them than to serve as the conductor
which carries the electric fluid from heaven to earth.
In such a case therefore, deference to them was de
ference to Him, whose dominion over the faith and
practice of his creatures is absolute. How anxiously
does the Apostle himself distinguish, on more than
one occasion, between Paul speaking by inspiration,
and speaking the mere dictates of his own mind.

- — But if he, an inspired apostle — a man invested
with miraculous powers — the chosen instructor of
the world — the frequent medium of Divine commu
nication — if he who had been lifted up into the
third heaven, and had seen and heard unutterable
things — if he thus disclaimed for himself, and for
the whole college of apostles, all such authority to
dictate to the Church— to add to the simple letter of
Scripture, or to take away from it — what becomes
of the authority of Popes, Councils, Churches, Fa
thers, and Traditions, when called in to control the
faith and consciences of mankind ? How would the
Apostle seem to have raised prophetically such bul
warks as the text, and other corresponding passages,
against the encroachments of Spiritual authority in
after ages ? And how does the language of the text
prove him to have drunk deep of the spirit of those
injunctions of his master, so often and fearfully for
gotten — " Be not ye (these very apostles) called
Rabbi : for one is your Master, even Christ; and all
ye are brethren. And call no man your father " — that
is, in this peculiar sense — " upon the earth : for one is
your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called
masters (/ca07ry>?rai) : for one is your Master, even
Christ." But it may be asked, — what is that exer
cise of ministerial dominion which appears to be
condemned by the language ofthe text ?
1. In the first place, then, it must be supposed to
condemn the propounding any one article of faith,
as necessary to salvation, which is not found in the
sacred Scriptures. — It might have been thought that
man, conscious of his own inability to reach the

9
depths and heights of those topics which relate to the
world of spirits, would have shrunk from any attempt
to pass the limits which the hand of the mighty
Lawgiver had laid down as to the truths and precepts
of religion. But the pride of man is not so easily
satisfied ; and his constant temptation appears to be
to usurp to himself, in this respect, the attributes of
the Most High, and to speak not merely in accord
ance with the oracles of God, but as though he him
self were the appointed oracle of truth or falsehood
to his fellow men. Cut down the canons and dogmas
of some of the professed Christian Churches to their
mere Scriptural dimensions, and how little of them
would remain ?
That God himself rejects all such interference with
his word, may be collected from the strong lan
guage with which the canon of inspired truth almost
closes — " I testify unto every man that heareth the
words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall
add unto these things, God shall add unto him the
plagues that are written in this book : And if any
man shall take away from the words of the book of
this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of
the book of life." And what is true of a portion of
the sacred volume must be true ofthe whole.
And how entirely the Scriptural Church of our
own land concurs with these views, may be deter
mined by a consideration of those Articles or Homi
lies with which all of you are familiar.
And how could it be reasonably doubted whether
the great Lawgiver, who has said, " He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved ; and he who believeth

10
not shall be damned," would leave it to any one man,
or any number of men, to lay down any portion of
the truth by the belief or rejection of which our
everlasting destiny was to be determined ?
2. But, again, this prohibition ofthe text must be
conceived to extend to the authoritative interpreta
tion of the word of God. — For, can it be questioned
that the very instant you admit an infallible inter
pretation, this interpretation becomes your Bible;
and the judgment of the interpreters, the real " rule
of faith." Such, it may be observed, was the very
course pursued by the Scribes and Pharisees of old,
in their maintenance of error and resistance to the
Gospel. They did not at once reject, or even call in
question, the authority of the word of God. On the
contrary, they pretended the most scrupulous regard
to its authority — " This people, who knoweth not
the Law, are accursed " — " Search and look, for out
of Galilee ariseth no prophet." But, by coupling
tradition with Scripture — by binding up with the
inspired volume their own various interpretations —
by trusting no man to look at the one except through
the veil ofthe other — they, as we are again and again
told, " made the law of God of no effect" — they per
verted it to all their own unrighteous purposes ; and
that blessed book which was designed to be the
guardian of truth, became the patron and advocate of
error. If contempt of Scripture is one evil, perver
sion of Scripture is another, and perhaps not a less
serious evil; because it cheats while itmistates; and
tempts ns to confound the corrupt image of the truth
with its glorious reality. This example of the Jew-

11
ish nation appears to be full of instruction. It surely
teaches with a power scarcely to be resisted, that the
assertion of the right of private judgment in the
interpretation of Scripture — supposing that right to
be humbly and devoutly exercised — is of the same
moment with the assertion of the right to read the
Scriptures. Not to press the consideration, weighty
and important as it is, in the argument, that, at some
period or other, or by some men or other, this right
must have been exercised ; or how could men have
arrived at the conclusions that Christianity was a
religion from God — that the Scriptures were genuine
— that there is such a thing as the Church ; I will
only repeat, what it is impossible, I think, for any
reasonable man to deny — that the " interpretation"
becomes your " Bible" the moment you are bound to
admit it as infallible — or, to speak more plainly,
your Interpreter becomes your God.
Can it be doubted what is the doctrine of our own
Church as to human interpretations ? If an infal
lible interpretation is to be found any where, it must
be in what are called the oecumenical councils — sup
posing it to be determined what these councils are.
And what does our Church say of them ? " General
Councils, forasmuch as they be an assembly of men
whereof all are not governed with the Spirit and
word of God, may err, and sometimes have erred,
even in things pertaining to God." But, if councils
are not infallible — then, not colleges — and, still less,
teachers, doctors, or any man, or any body of men. So
that the Christian student, in his search after truth,
is brought back to the simple and devout — the per
sonal and individual, examination of the word of

12
God — assisted, in the first instance, by those Divine
influences which are promised to all who "seek
them," and next, and as far as it may be, by all the
lights which the wisdom and piety of the first, the
middle, and the last ages of the Church have shed
over the sacred page.
But it is necessary that I should now turn away from
the consideration of the first, or what I have called the
negative proposition of the text. The field to which it
invites us is immeasurably too wide for such an oc
casion as this; and although it was impossible wholly to
pass it over, I am anxious to escape from it into the
region to which the second, or positive proposition of
the Apostle conducts us — and which is, I trust, more
congenial to our own feelings than any which echoes
even with the remotest sounds of controversy.
II. Let us then proceed, secondly, toconsider, as was
proposed, the positive truth laid down in the text —
we "are helpers of your joy." — The true province,
then, of the minister of God, we are here taught, is
not indeed to dictate or dogmatize in the things of
religion — not to " lord it over God's heritage" — but,
it is to endeavour to deepen and multiply the true
joys of the people of God.
It is possible that, in the former part of this dis
course, I may have appeared to some to disparage
the ministry ofthe Gospel. And yet, nothing could
be more opposed, than such an act, to all my own
feelings and convictions. How could I thus offend,
when I remember the solemn dignity and value
with which the ministerial office is invested in the
word of God itself? Is not God said to have

13
" made known, by the Church, his own manifold
wisdom ?" Are not its ministers the appointed
ambassadors from heaven to earth ? Are they not
His representatives in a guilty and miserable world,
"beseeching you, in Christ's stead," tobe "reconciled
to God?" Is not the appointment of the ministry
traced by St. Paul himself, in his Epistle to the Ephe
sians, to the "descent" and " ascent" of the Son of
God himself? And is it not He who has given to
the world "some, apostles ; and some prophets, and
evangelists, and pastors and teachers ; for the per
fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
and for the edifying of the body of Christ?" Can
any other body of fallen creatures pretend to so high
an origin, and to so glorious an occupation ? The
ministry of the " everlasting Gospel," at once,
springs from heaven, and terminates in it.
But, in the text, the Apostle has confined our at
tention to one, though to a most prominent, part of
the duty of the ministers of religion — to be " helpers
of the joy" of their people. Let us then endeavour
to see in what way they will best, under God, fulfil
this high and delightful calling.
1. In the first place, then, they will be "helpers
of the joy" of their people, by endeavouring to lead
them, by their ministry, to a sound knowledge of
Scriptural truth — or, in other words, to an accurate
and experimental acquaintance with the principles of
the Gospel of Christ.
Real "joy" — such as is to satisfy, and to endure
through eternity — cannot be erected upon the basis of
mere conjecture, ignorance, or fancy, — of rash and

14
unadvised individual decision — of internal emotion,
or of popular opinion. But it has for its foundation
real and enlightened knowledge of the word of God.
One of our primary duties therefore, in promoting the
happiness of our people, must be, in humble imitation
the only Infallible Teacher, to endeavour to " guide
them into all truth." Our language to them will
be, " Buy the truth, and sell it not" — "Prove all things;
hold fast that which is good" — " Search the Scrip-
tures,forinthem ye. ...have the words of eternal life."
And how vast and glorious is the field which the
search after truth opens to us, may be judged from
the works of the prince of English philosophers.
" I do not know," he says, " what I may seem to the
world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a
boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself
in now and then finding a smoother stone or pret
tier shell than ordinary — whilst the great ocean of
truth (of religious truth, as I cannot doubt he means)
lies undiscovered before me. And, yet, except with
the map of Scripture in our hand, and an eye en
lightened of God, how impossible is the acquisition
of religious knowledge."
Now, it is to this inquiry after truth, and espe
cially the " truth as it is in Jesus," and as it respects
all the highest interests of man, you will endeavour
to lead your people. And in the prosecution of this
object you will, no doubt, as this high authority
prescribes, first lead them to the •• map" of Scrip
tures, that they may examine for themselves the great
outlines and boundaries which have been traced by
the hand of God. But, as in coming to your own

15
conclusion on the meaning of holy writ, you, if a
wise and devout student ofthe word of God, have
first sought for yourself the aid ofthe only infallible
Interpreter of the only infallible Book, and have
thus endeavoured to profit from the funds of theo
logical wisdom which the piety and learning of all
ages have laid up for our instruction, so you will
endeavour to lead your people to the knowledge of
the truth by the very same road. You will put the
Bible into their hands, and tell them that the patient,
humble, and devout study of that Book is the first
privilege, duty, and happiness of man. But you
will next proceed to teach them that this Book is a
dead letter to the man who approaches it in a light,
flippant, and presumptuous spirit. You will more
over instruct them that ignorance is not to usurp the
chair of learning — or pride and prejudice the seat of
right reason, humility, reverence and caution — that,
in religion, what is new is, in a large number of
instances, wrong — that he who stands alone in the
path of theology will be found commonly to have
wandered outof the way — thatfirst impressions are, in
a great many instances, false impressions — and that
one of the primary duties, especially ofthe young and
ignorant, is to be " swift to hear, and slow to
speak. ''
Such will be the general character of your minis
terial endeavours to bring your people to the
"knowledge ofthe truth." And if the toil of such
instructions be great, and the progress slow, you
must always gather patience and courage from the
consideration that in proportion as we are instructor

16
ofthe consciences of men, we are the real "helpers
of their joy."
2. But, secondly, the true minister of religion will
be a " helper ofthe joy " of his people, by earnestly
striving to illustrate and commend to them, by his
own life and example, the truths in the knowledge of
which he instructs them.
Man is so constituted as to be powerfully acted
upon by example. In our first estate, this property
of our nature was, no doubt, designed to accomplish
the noblest purposes — to communicate to all the
graces of each — to send the laws of God and of man,
as the spark of an electric chain, through every
limb of the Christian body. And the power of
sympathy and example, however perverted from its
original object, is still almost immeasurably great
upon the human mind. The voice of a single man
has been found sufficient to rouse the energies of a
nation ; and one saint or martyr has been the father
of many. It is conceivable that our gracious Lord
had regard to this principle of our nature, when he
prolonged his own stay upon earth. A moment
might have sufficed for the great act of atonement ;
but years were requisite to yield the full benefit of
his example — to enable him to say, " Learn of me,
for I am meek and lowly of heart." Thus also his
Apostle, " Walk so as ye have us for an example."
But, if this be true, of what imperative necessity
is the living example of the minister of religion in
forming the tempers and habits of his people, if he
would be really " the helper of their joy !"
And how favourable is the constitution of our

17
National Church to the accomplishment of this ob
ject! It is not satisfied to send forth a roving minis
try, touching at a variety of points, but settling no
where. On the contrary, by the ' Parochial ' sys
tem, it supplies a minister to every particular dis
trict, and designs that there shall be, in every parish,
at least one man who shall, by his education and
rank, have a natural influence over all around him.
And in this respect, how congenial is the Spirit of the
Church with that of the Holy Scriptures. " Be thou
an example of the flock," says St. Paul to Timothy ;
" Give thyself wholly to these things, that thy pro
fiting may appear unto all." And thus also the
language of that Ordination Service to which your
attention has been so carefully called. — Nor have the
great body of ministers in all ages and countries,
failed to bear witness to the necessity of every true
minister of God thus embodying his lessons in this
life, and teaching to the eye as well as to the ear.
The voices of one and all instruct us, that our people
justly look to us as the living expositors of our prin
ciples — that our virtues supply new motives for
doing better ; and our sins and follies, fresh apolo
gies for doing ill. "We are either," saysMassillon,
" like the serpent of brass in the wilderness," draw
ing all men to ourselves and to our Master — or we
are like the dragon in the Apocalypse, dragging
down into the abyss of perdition all the stars by
which it is surrounded ; or in other words, the souls
which are intrusted to our care."
Forgive me if, standing as I do comparatively on
the edge of another world, I urge with heartfelt
B

18
anxiety on every one whom I address, the para
mount duty of thus entering on your ministry with
a solemn and settled resolution that your life, God
helping you, shall at all points and in all circum
stances illustrate and adorn the doctrines you teach.
Resolve to give to your people a practical exhibition
of what is meant by the faith, hope, and charity of
the Bible — by confidence in God — by devotedness of
heart — by honesty of purpose — by non-conformity
to the world — by self-denial and crucifixion of the
flesh — by humility, patience, meekness, sympathy,
contentment — by family religion — by the commu
nion of saints — by love to Christ, and by love to one
another. Strive to save yourselves also from the heart
breaking reflection which often haunts like a spectre
the bed of a dying minister — that his life and tem
per have dishonoured his principles — that the web
of truth or holiness woven at church, have been
unravelled by the life at home. Endeavour, on the
other hand, to secure to yourself the unspeakable
blessing of having been the " helpers of your people's
joy," by commending to them the Gospel in the
"rhetoric of a good life" — by that which, says St. Au-
gustin, "speaketh even louder than miracles."
3. But, thirdly, a minister is a "helper of his
people's joy" by the influence of his private and
personal intercourse with them. His ministry
may, under the Divine blessing, do much — his ex
ample may do more; but he has also in his hand,
like the rod ofthe Prophet, an instrument of almost
incredible power — I mean the privilege of knock
ing at their door, lifting its latch, and entering into

19
close and affectionate communication with them. The
seed indeed is cast into the ground in the public
ministrations of the Church — but it must be watched
and watered in the house and in the cottage. The
variety of cases which present themselves — the pecu
liarities of each man's temptations — the tendency of
every mind to let go good impressions — the subtle and
malignant influences of the great enemy of souls —
and, on the other hand, the power of private and affec
tionate expostulations— the advantage of mingling
prayer with prayer, and heart with heart — all these,
and a thousand other considerations commend to us
such intercourse. Nor is our blessed Lord's example
inconsiderable as to this point. He was so often a visi
tor in the houses even of the guilty, as to incur the
reproach of some of his calumnious observers. And,
in like manner, his apostles. The author of our text
especially, " ceased not, publicly, and from house to
house, to warn every one night and day with
tears." And here again also we have the concur
ring testimony of the ministers of God in all ages
and places — ofthe first Father ofthe Christian com
monwealth — of the saints and martyrs of our Church
— of holy men in all the various sections of Chris
tianity. Were I again, says Archbishop Leighton,
"to be a parish minister, I must follow sinners to their
homes, even to their houses." " Is he a pastor or a
savage," asks the mild and holy Massillon, in one
of those "Discours Synodaux," (which I cannot
but earnestly commend to the reading of my brother
ministers,) " who beholds his sheep weak and perhaps
dying, and will not draw nigh to give them help?"

20
But, I dare not proceed to multiply quotations,
with which it might be easy to fill a volume. Who
can question the power of such intimate and personal
communion in " helping of joy," because promoting
the holiness of our people. How many doubts, with
the Bible in your hand, and the Holy Spirit as your
guide, will you be able to settle ! How many thorns
will you be permitted to draw from an aching heart !
How many wounded spirits may you lead to the Great
Comforter ! On how many eyes suffused by a more
fatal dimness than that of bodily sickness — I mean
the dimness which shuts out from the sick or the
dying, the clear discovery of the doctrines of grace
— of the sanctifying and converting influences of the
Holy Ghost — of a free and full justification by faith
in the atonement and righteousness of Christ — of the
glories of Redeeming love — will you be permitted
to pour the pure light of the Gospel ! How will you
be strengthened to guide the faltering heart to the
cross of the Saviour — and lead the contrite offender
to lay his confiding hand on the garment dyed with
blood, and rich in " virtue," to " heal " all our
"infirmities!" And how shall you thus be enabled
to draw the " sting," and destroy the victory of
death — to lift the soul out of the vale of tears, into
the world of joy — and give the trembling heart a
prelibation of heaven long before it touches on the
confines of rest and glory !
And now, having endeavoured to offer such ob
servations on the two divisions of the text as our time
and my own deficiency would allow, I will detain
you no longer than briefly to advert to your own
peculiar circumstances to-day.

21
I need not expatiate, nor would it become me to do
so, upon your own peculiar privileges during the
past week. I would rather express an ardent desire
that no one of these privileges may be wasted upon
you; but that every lesson, caution, exhortation, and
affectionate entreaty may be fixed in your consciences
and heart, as a "nail in a sure place." May no one
have heard in vain the injunctions to " regard his
crucified Lord and Saviour as the ' All and in all ' of
the soul — to look to him in public and in private —
in the labours of the ministry, in the intercourse of
the cottage, in the aspirations of the secret chamber."
May that blessed Lord and Saviour be the strength,
the stay, the joy of all your hearts. — But I desire
especially for a moment to contrast your present
with your future and your every day circumstances.
— To-day, you are brought within what I may,
without impropriety, call a hallowed circle. To-day
the offices of religion — solemn services most so
lemnly and affectionately administered — the prayers
of the Church, the labours of the minister, and,
I doubt not, the presence of the most blessed Spirit
of God — all conspire to rouse the conscience, stimu
late the affections, fix the resolutions, and give the
heart a spiritual and heavenly direction. Every thing-
around you points upwards. But, to-morrow, you
will pass from this inner circle into the wide domains
of folly, temptation, and sin. To-day, you are com
paratively in the port. To-morrow, you will be
launched into the sea of rocks and tides, of human
errors, and conflicts, and passions. You might now
be tempted to say, " It is good to be here" — and

22
here let us " build our tabernacles." But, it may
not be. Neither can any earthly friend, however
earnest his vigilance, and deep his yearnings over
your souls, go forth with you to the struggle of life.
But what then ? Is this a cause of despondency ?
No I for there is a " Friend that sticketh closer than
a brother" — and his promise is, that he " will not
leave you orphans, but will come unto you," and
will be " with you even unto the end ofthe world."
Dear and Christian brethren, as the Church is de
scribed " coming up from the wilderness," " lean
ing on the beloved" — you must, in every step of
your earthly pilgrimage, lean on the arm of your
Divine Deliverer; and seek in Him the power to
speak, to feel, and to act as becomes the appointed
champions of truth and love in a corrupt world.
Rest on that arm, first, and last, and altogether ; ancl
then shall you not only be the " helpers" of your
people's "joy," but, when the conflict of life is over,
you shall drink with them at the same fountain of
happiness, and rejoice in the presence of your com
mon Father and Redeemer through a glorious
Eternity.

C. F. Hodgson, Printer, l Gough Square, Fleet Street, London.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIB

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