f THE KING’S BUSINESS The Prussian Minister of Agriculture speaking in the Diet is reported to have said: “F 484 Who Is Responsible? Be Ye Clean That Bear the Vessels of the Lord. very fond, .not only in Prussia but everywhere else as well, of laying off on the Almighty the responsibility for evils for which they are themselves respon sible. God is in no sense responsible for the food shortage in Germany, France, England or anywhere, else. If the rulers and subjects in these different nations had actèd as mén ought to act, there would have been no war, and if there had been no war there would have been plenty for all to eat. Of course,, if there had been a more abundant harvest there would be more than there is and harvests do in a measure come from God, but even'with a comparatively light harvest there would have been plenty for all if Gods bounties had not been squandered in the work of destroying other men, and if the means of produc tion had not been sinfully wasted. If God had given a superabundant harvest last year it would have only prolonged the war and increased the misery of men. It is blasphemous to try to put off on God the consequence of oqr own wrongdoing. _______________ _ obligation to live as clean a life as a minister lives, it is also true that if a man is not living a clean life, he should not be in the ministry. The Apostle Paul, writing to a younger brother in the ministry, has given us words that everyone who seeks to be a minister of the Gospel should deeply ponder : If; a man therefore purge himself from these (the context shows that the these ^means all iniquity) he shall be a véssel of honor, sanctified, and prepared for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.” Our hearts have been made sick time and time again the last year or two in listening to the defense of men in the fninistry who have been careless in their conduct, sometimes m matters of the gravest importance. While we have no right to demand that a minister be absolutely faultless, we have a right to demand that he live without consciously and deliberately doing anything which he knows to be contrary to the will of God ; and certainly we have a right to demand that he shall be abso lutely free from grave moral irregularities. There are certain sms which, if a minister commits, he forfeits his right to preach the Gospel, even though e repents and turns from his sin. If he commits sins of this character, he has no right to re-enter the ministry. The qüalifications for an elder, and the qualifi cations for a deacon are plainly laid down in Paul’s epistles to Timothy and Titus (e. g. 1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1 :6-9). There are certain sins which, if a min ister commits, it is an outrage to put him in a position of influence over young men and young women, even though he repents, for who knows but he may tall again. Only a man who can be trusted should be placed in a position of such responsibility and power as that occupied by a minister of the Gospçl. The moral qualifications for the ministry are far more important than the intellec tual qualifications for a minister, and no matter how gifted a man may be as a preacher, if his conduct has been of such a character a s to awaken serious dis trust of his moral reliability, he should be compelled to quit the ministry. Whatever else a Christian minister may be, he should be a clean man. His ' character should be above reproach, that is not to say, that it should not be above criticism, but that it should be above just criticism. While it is true in a sense that every saint is under
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