The following is an excerpt from James M. Mathes’ book A Record of Christian Union and Truth, in which he discussed a misconception about how one is “called” to preach.
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I have known some enthusiasts who had but little to entitle them to public notice, except their fiery zeal, ignorance, and supportive impudence, who at the same time looked upon themselves as a kind of second edition of the Apostles! Such fanatical spirits frequently tell their hearers, when they get up to preach, that they are going to speak just as God gives it to them—that God has called them by name, qualified, and sent them forth as his ambassadors to a rebellious world—that God had revealed his mind and will to them by direct revelation.
But it frequently happens, that such men cannot join two simple sentences together, or deliver one clear intelligible idea in a discourse of an hour long, and that too under the immediate control of the Holy Spirit, if we take their word for it! Now I cannot believe that God even called any man to preach who had not the ability to do it, neither do I believe that God ever sent any man who could not tell his message.
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Mathes went on to say:
If a member of the church has the ability to teach or exhort, he is called of God to do so; not by a voice directly from heaven, a dream, or a vague impression; but by the voice of God in his word, which is far more certain, definite and satisfactory.