The True Test of an Apostolical Ministry [pp. 292-306]

True Test of an Apostolical Ministry.
must be treated as evasions of a solemn obligation. In vain
did they object, perhaps, that they were not qualified for such
an office, that their judgment was fallible, their knowledge
limited, etc. A sufficient answer to all such objections was
afforded by the facts, that no one else could do it, and that God
required it; to which it may be added, that the allegation involved in the objection is untrue. If they were able to receive
and understand the doctrines of their teachers, they were able
to determine for themselves, whether the doctrines of their different teachers were identical or opposite, whether the gospel
preached by Paul's successors was "another gospel," or the
same which they had heard from him. What was essential to
conformity of doctrine, and how far diversities of judgment
upon certain points might be consistent with it, these are questions not affecting the main principle contended for. In this
case, Paul assumes two facts as undeniable; that the Galatians
had embraced another gospel; and that they knew, or might
have known it, and were therefore chargeable with having fallen
wilfully from grace. If Paul is laying down a test at all, he
surely must be laying down a test which they were able to
apply; and if that test is uniformity of doctrine, it is necessarily implied that they were capable of judging whether what
they heard was the same gospel or "another." Observe too,
that the standard of comparison, by which they were to measure the instructions of their public teachers, is assumed by the
Apostle to be something not only within their reach, accessible,
intelligible, and a proper subject of personal inquiry and of private judgment, but also something already fixed, determined,
and notorious. This is a circumstance of vast importance in
relation to the practical employment of the test, one upon
which its efficacy in a great degree depends. Had he said, "if
I or an angel from heaven preach any other doctrine than THE
TRUTH, let him be accursed, all would have been vague and
indeterminate. The very problem to be solved was the true
method of discriminating truth from falsehood; and the sin of
the Galatians, as denounced by Paul, consisted in embracing
error when they were already in possession of a touchstone or
criterion, accessible, notorious, enduring, and immutable. The
proof of their moral delinquency would have failed, if the test
302
[APRIL