Unwarrantable, Unattainable, and Delusive

Here above is a single page from a book I am about to publish on-line. On our sister site. One authored by Thomas Smyth of Charleston, South Carolina. According to this forgotten, genius author, the traditional "call to preach" is: Unwarrantable, unattainable, and delusive.

"What?" you say.

In other words, the Scripture alone is sufficient in order for a qualified person of any gender to confidently enter Christian ministry or to engage in preaching. Preaching is merely proclaiming.

Granted, there is a spiritual aspect to these things but NOT to the degree of complexity and mysticism currently being practiced. Granted, God is Sovereign and can directly enter human affairs at any moment with regard to sending certain people out as his message-bearers.

This material above concerns not the extraordinary but the ordinary means. And remember, in Scripture one's calling had to do with their particular place in life - not necessarily a direct intervention from the Almighty.

I inquire. Where would the Church of Christ be today if the (spurious) standard of an "inward call" had not been in place, now for hundreds of years among even the so-called Reformed churches?

With such an open and enlarged view of ministry and missions, it is only natural that Smyth would author another book: "The Duty of Interesting Children in the Missionary Cause.” The keyword is DUTY.