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in the words of. life and salvation are evangelizing as , certainly as the mis sionary in th e foreign work. And there is need of a revival in th is departm ent of the church’s work. Any inattention and lack here can never otherw ise be mad,e good. This work is ordained of God. The Sunday School teacher who pub lishes the Gospel to his or. her class is. evangelizing. And so of all other or ganized work of the Church th a t makes known the Gospel of th e grace of God. While this is the chief business of the Church, and all disciples are au th orized to tell out the message of life and hope, th e re are some who are called . of God to th e office and work of an evangelist. When Jesus “ ascended on high, * * * He 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 th e work of m inistering, unto th e building up of the body of Christ,” etc. (Eph. 4:8, 11, 12). The offices and work of evan gelist and pastor are distinct. There is a sense in which the pastor may and should do evangelistic work; and there is a sense in which the evangelist may do certain pastoral work; but th e cry, “ Every pastor should be his own evan g elist!” disarranges and displaces the divine ,order. The pastor is no more an evangelist th an he is an apostle. The office and work of .the evangelist are, as certainly ordained of God to the “building up of the body of Christ” (the Church) as th a t of th e pastor. The evangelist is mentioned th ree times in the New Testament, while th e pastor is mentioned bu t once,— though th e term is used,eight times by th e prophet Je re m iah; and the same Hebrew word is rendered Shepherd 58 times elsewhere in th e Old Testament. . There appears to be a strik ing an al ogy between the office and work of th e evangelist and th a t of the Old Testa-
Him in whom they have- not believed and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how- shall they hear w ithout a p reacher?” Rom. 10:14. The:commission and com mand to “make disciples” was given to all His followers alike. “ I would have you all speak w ith tongues, but rath e r th a t ye should prophesy’.’ (1 Cor. 1 4 :5 ); and 63 years afte r H is ascen sion, Jesus confirmed the commission to His disciples when H e' said, “And he th a t h eareth, let him say, Come.” Third— The Word of God. The means —An authoritative, infallible, living,- all-sufficient message from th e . King eternal—which, when faithfully de livered, will never retu rn void. It is the only means ordained of God for the conviction of th e unsaved, and the sal vation of th e repentant, believing soul; therefore th e command, “P reach the Word,’’ .even as Jesus has given exam ple. He said, “I have not spoken from Myself,. bu t the F ath e r w ho. sent Me, gave Me commandment w hat I should say and what I should speak. I speak therefore even as the F ath e r said unto Me, even so I speak” (John 12:49, 50). “ I have given unto them th e words Thou gavest Me, and they have received th em ” (John 17 :8 ), „ “For he whom God hath sent speaketh the Words of God” (John 3 :3 4 ). F ou rth— The H oly. Spirit the Agént. He is th e : Executive of the Godhead, in all the work of God from creation to th e culm ination of the kingdom. He is th e only person of the Godhead upon earth: He is here to convict of sin, to accomplish th e regeneration for re penting and believing souls; to witness to the fact of th eir acceptance in th e Beloved; to sanctify, to guide into th e T ru th concerning Christ and “things to come,’’-¿-in fact to do all th e will of God w ithin the lim its and conditions th a t the F ath e r h ath ordained. But He alone can convict and save. P aren ts who in stru ct th eir children
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