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sideration and with a view of establishing a permanent custom in the church.* This is implied also in this

section.

OF LICENSING

CHAPTER XIV.

CANDIDATES OR PROBATIONERS ΤΟ
PREACH THE GOSPEL.

I. Who are Candidates ?

They are male communicants applying for admission into the ministry, and who are in course of preparation for it. They receive the title as soon as they make formal application and are taken under care of Presbytery. They are called Probationers, because they are under trial, “that the churches may have an opportunity to form a better judgment respecting the talents of those by whom they are to be instructed and governed." "The Holy Scriptures require that some trial be previously had of them who are to be ordained to the ministry of the gospel, that this sacred office may not be degraded by being committed to weak and unworthy men." They continue Candidates or Probationers until they be ordained as Ministers or be regarded by the Presbytery as uncalled to the sacred office. None should be received as Candidates unless they be convinced that they have been called of God to the ministry, and satisfy the Presbytery as to "the motives which influence them to desire the sacred office."†

Who are Probationers ?

The O. S. Assembly made a distinction between Candidates and Probationers, regarding students under care Presbyterian Digest, p. 341.

*

† See p. 195.

of Presbytery in their preparatory course as Probationers, and as Candidates after they enter upon their theological studies. But our "Form of Government" uses the term Candidates to include all who, under the care of Presbytery, are preparing for the ministry, and Probationers to describe those who are licensed to preach. †

What is a call to the ministry?

"The Protestant doctrine, as we understand it, on this subject is this: First, that the call of the ministry is by the Holy Ghost. . . . The Holy Ghost confers the gifts for the ministry; and by thus conferring them, and exciting the desire to exercise them for the glory of God and the service of Christ, thereby manifests his will that those thus favored should consecrate themselves to the preaching of the gospel. This is the true divine call to the ministry. Second, the evidence of this call to him. who receives it, is the consciousness of the inward gift and drawing of the Spirit, confirmed by those external workings of Providence which indicate the will of God as to his vocation. The evidence of the Church is everything which tends to prove that the Candidate has the qualifications for the office of the ministry, and that he is led to seek it from motives due to the operation of the Holy Ghost. Third, ordination is the solemn expression of the judgment of the Church, by those appointed to deliver such judgment, that the Candidate is truly called of God to take part in this ministry, thereby authenticating to the people the divine call. This authentication or ordination is, under all ordinary circumstances, the necessary condition for the exercise of the ministry in the Church." The Assembly has frequently urged parents to consecrate * Assembly's Digest, p. 403. † See chs. xiv. and xv.

Church Polity, p. 348.

their infant sons to the ministry, as was Samuel (1 Sam. 1: 11), praying that God would call them to this high office, and instructing them as to the honor of being thus chosen of God and the Church's need for more Ministers. When one is considering the question he should seek the advice of his Pastor and the Elders of the church.*

May a woman be a Candidate?

In 1872 the Assembly reiterated the deliverance of the Assembly of 1832: "Meetings of pious women by themselves for conversation and prayer, whenever they can conveniently be held, we entirely approve. But let not the inspired prohibitions of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, as found in his Epistles to the Corinthians and to Timothy, be violated. To teach and exhort or lead in prayer, in public and promiscuous assemblies, is clearly forbidden to women in the holy oracles."† In 1874 the Assembly, in response to an overture, "expresses no opinion as to the scriptural view of woman's right to speak and pray in the social prayer-meeting, but commits the whole subject to the discretion of the Pastors and Elders of the churches." This does not authorize any woman to apply as a Candidate for the ministry. In 1878 the Assembly refused to sustain an appeal against the decision of the Presbytery and Synod condemning a Pastor for introducing into his pulpit a woman, permitting and encouraging her to preach and teach. The Synod held "that the passages of Scripture referred to in the action of the Presbytery (1 Cor. 14: 33-37 and 1 Tim. 2: 11-13) do prohibit the fulfilling by women of the offices of public preachers in the reg

* Assembly's Digest, p. 184; Presbyterian Digest, p. 361. † Presbyterian Digest, p. 353. Minutes G. A. 1874, p. 66.

ular assemblies of the Church;" "and the Assembly reaffirmed the language above quoted from the decision of the Synod as expressing their own opinion."*

How are Candidates to be tested?

"For this purpose Presbyteries shall license Probationers to preach the gospel, that after a competent trial of their talents, and receiving from the churches a good report, they may in due time ordain them to the sacred office." Licensure is therefore a part of their trial for the ministry. II. To what Presbytery should the Candidate apply? "Every Candidate for licensure shall be taken on trial by that Presbytery to which he most naturally belongs, and he shall be considered as most naturally belonging to that Presbytery within the bounds of which he has ordinarily resided." In 1856 the N. S. Assembly, and in 1857 the O. S. Assembly, recommended that Candidates should be required to put themselves under the care of Presbytery as soon as possible, that they may receive careful supervision during their entire course. This was reiterated in 1872, when Candidates were required "to connect themselves with Presbyteries to which they naturally belong, unless for extraordinary reasons, of which the Presbyteries must be the judges." "But in case any Candidate should find it more convenient to put himself under the care of a Presbytery at a distance from that to which he most naturally belongs, he may be received by the said Presbytery on his producing testimonials, either from the Presbytery within the bounds of which he has commonly resided, or from any two Ministers of that Presbytery in good standing, of his exemplary piety and other requisite qualifications."

*Minutes G. A. 1878, p. 102. See pp. 74, 81.
+ Presbyterian Digest, pp. 365, 366.

The time when a Candidate should be received must be determined by circumstances. This section and the decisions of the Assembly above quoted require that he. should be under the care of Presbytery during the whole of his theological course. Sometimes, however, a Candidate needs aid from the Church in his academical and collegiate course, in which case he must be received under the care of Presbytery before he is recommended to the Board of Education.* In 1872 the Assembly decided that no Candidate should be recommended to the Board for aid "until he has been a member of the Church at least one year, and has also passed his classical studies for an academic year, except in extraordinary cases to be determined by the Board."+

III. How is a Candidate to be received under the care of Presbytery?

"The application for his reception ought usually to be made by his Pastor or a member of the Presbyterial Committee on Education."* "It is proper and requisite that Candidates applying to Presbytery to be licensed to preach the gospel produce satisfactory testimonials of their good moral character, and of their being regular members of some particular church." This is usually done by the Pastor, or in his absence by the applicants presenting a certificate from the Session, testifying to their standing in the church, and the recommendation of them as giving good promise of usefulness in the ministry. It is not uncommon for the Presbytery to appoint a committee to converse in private with the applicants and to report concerning the impression made upon them of their fitness. "It is the duty of the Presbytery, for their satisfaction in regard to the real piety of such Candidates, to examine * Presbyterian Digest, p. 361. † Ibid., p. 366.

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