It  is  quite  common  to  hear  it  enquired
whether  a  minister  was  much  blessed;  by
which  question  is  meant,  whether  he  attracted
a  crowd  of  hearers,  and  whether  he  gained
many  persons  to  assent  to  his  doctrines. If
the  minister  has  been  honestly  stating  all  that
he  knew  and  believed  to  be  truth,  without
holding  back  any  portion  of  it  from  a  false
suggestion  of  Satan  that  he  would  thereby
better  serve  God,  he  ought  not  to  doubt  but
that  God  has  effected,  by  his  ministry,  what-
ever it  was  his  purpose  to  effect. The  Church
has  ever  held  that  the  character  of  the  minister
or  person  who  administers  an  ordinance,  did
not  in  anywise  affect  the  validity  of  the  rite
itself ;  as  is  well  expressed  in  the  twenty-sixth
Article  of  the  Church  of  England : —

"  Although  in  the  visible  Church  the  evil
be  ever  mingled  with  the  good,  and  sometimes
the  evil  have  chief  authority  in  the  ministra-


150  SOCIAL    DUTIES    ON

tion  of  the  Word  and  Sacraments,  yet  foras-
much as  they  do  not  the  same  hi  their  own
name,  but  in  Chrisf  s,  and  do  minister  by  his
commission  and  authority,  we  may  use  their
ministry,  both  in  hearing  the  Word  of  God^
and  in  receiving  of  the  Sacraments. Neither
is  the  effect  of  Christ's  ordinance  taken  away
by  their  wickedness,  nor  the  grace  of  God's
gifts  diminished  from  such  as  by  faith  and
rightly  do  receive  the  Sacraments  ministered
unto  them ;  which  be  effectual,  because  of
Christ's  institution  and  promise,  although
they  be  ministered  by  evil  men."

Something  analogous  to  this  takes  place
among  men. The  value  of  a  gift  does  not
depend  upon  the  quality  of  the  material  by
which  it  is  conveyed. The  private  character
of  an  ambassador  has  no  connexion  with  the
purport  of  the  message  with  which  he  is
charged. If  a  person  arrives  in  a  foreign
country,  alleging  that  he  is  appointed  to  bear
a  message  from  his  royal  master,  the  sove-
reign of  that  country  has  simply  to  be  satis-
fied of  the  validity  of  his  credentials ;  that  is,
of  his  having   been  truly  sent  by  him   on


CHRISTIAN    PRINCIPLES. 151

whose  business  he  pretends  to  have  come ;
but  the  personal  character  of  the  messenger  is
no  concern  of  him  to  whom  the  messenger  is
sent. 