John Gill: “churches have a right to choose and ordain their own officers, and which are ordained, for them, and for them only; that is, for each particular church, and not another.”

      John Gill taught that he “must be a member to whom he is to be ordained as a pastor.” He adds, “His qualifications, such as has been observed, must be known by the members of the church, and must be proved and approved of by them; yea they must be satisfied that he has the gifts for their edification; for a man may have gifts for the edification of one church, which are not for the edification of another…”
            [From R.L. Vaughn: http://baptistsearch.blogspot.com/ ]

      John Gill on Officers of the Church:
      The ordinary officers of the church are pastors and deacons, and these only; though antichrist has introduced a rabble of other officers, the scripture knows nothing of.

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[From John Gill, Body of Practical Divinity, portion of chapter 3. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]

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