“And how shall they preach except they be sent?” (Romans, x. 15). On this portion of truth, Matthew Hendry, the Commentator, makes the following wise and pertinent observations :
… “They cannot preach except they be sent, except they be both commissioned and in some measure qualified for their preaching work. How shall a man act as an ambassador, unless he have both his credentials and his instructions from the prince that sends him? This proves that to the regular ministry there must be a regular mission and ordination.
“It is God’s prerogative to send ministers; he is the Lord of the harvest, and therefore to Him we must pray that he would send forth labourers (Matt. ix. 38). He only can qualify men for, and incline them to, the work of the ministry.
“But the competency of that qualification, and the sincerity of that inclination, must not be left to the judgment of every man for himself; the nature of the thing will by no means admit this. But for the preservation of due order in the Church, this must need be referred and submitted to the judgment of a competent number of those who are themselves in that office and of approved wisdom and experience in it who, as in all other callings, are presumed the most able judges, and who are empowered to set apart such as they find so qualified and inclined to this work of the ministry, that by this preservation of the succession the name of Christ may endure for ever and His throne as the days of heaven. And those that are thus set apart, not only may, but must preach, as those that are sent.”