discipline and knowledge which are essential to meet the continuous and exhaustive draft of the pulpit. 5. _Aptness to teach._ God's Word is to be committed only "to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Tim. ii. 2)--men "apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves" (2 Tim. ii. 24, 25). Great abilities and learning do not suffice; there must also be the special gift of teaching, the power to gather and interest and hold the people. The ablest sermon fails unless the people are awake and attentive. Paul and Barnabas not only preached the Gospel, but they "_so_ spake that a great multitude, both of the Jews and also of the Greeks, believed" (Acts xiv. 1). 6. _Practical wisdom and executive ability._ Nowhere are these qualities more important than in a pastor, whose good sense, tact, judgment, power to organize and set at work all the moral forces of his church, are in constant requisition. A large part of the pastor's power depends on the possession of certain practical qualities; in the absence of these, men of great mental abilities and spiritual worth have failed in the pastorate. 7. _Finally, a good report of them which are without._ A minister cannot escape opposition. If faithful to Christ, he may experience, as thousands have experienced, bitter persecution; but in purity and integrity of personal character he is to "have a good report" (1 Tim. iii. 7), "giving none offence, that the ministry be not blamed" (2 Cor. vi. 3), but "commending" himself "to every man's conscience in the sight of God" (2 Cor. iv. 2). Without this acknowledged purity of spirit and life, his work as a minister is necessarily a failure, for otherwise he cannot keep the consciences of men on his side. Now, the call of the church is founded on evidence in the candidate of these qualifications, either in their germ and promise where the character is immature, or in their fully-developed form where age and experience have matured the man. This conviction in the mind of the church is ordinarily an essential evidence of a Divine call; for plainly, since the individual himself is not the proper judge as to his possession of these qualifications, the church is the natural medium of the call, and its decision ought ordinarily to be accepted as final.