MIN'ISTRY, noun [Latin ministerium.] The office, duties or functions of a subordinate agent of any kind. 1. Agency; service; aid; interposition; instrumentality. He directs the affairs of this world by the ordinary ministry of second causes. 2. Ecclesiastical function; agency or service of a minister of the gospel or clergyman in the modern church, or of priests, apostles and evangelists in the ancient. Acts 1:17. Romans 12:7. 2 Timothy 4:5. Numbers 4:12. 3. Time of ministration; duration of the office of a minister, civil or ecclesiastical. The war with France was during the ministry of Pitt. 4. Persons who compose the executive government or the council of a supreme magistrate; the body of ministers of state. 5. Business; employment. He abhorred the wicked ministry of arms.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI