N01668:35
A sermon wherein is showed, I. That the ministers of the Gospel need, and…A sermon wherein is shewed, I. That the ministers of the Gospel need, and…
A sermon wherein is showed, I. That the ministers of the Gospel need, and ought to desire the prayers of the Lord's people for them. II. That the people of God ought to pray for his ministers. : Preached at Roxbury, October 29. 1718. When Mr. Thomas Walter was ordained a pastor in that church, by his grand-father, Increase Mather. D.D. : [Seven lines of Scripture texts]A sermon wherein is shewed, I. That the ministers of the Gospel need, and ought to desire the prayers of the Lord's people for them. II. That the people of God ought to pray for his ministers. : Preached at Roxbury, October 29. 1718. When Mr. Thomas Walter was ordained a pastor in that church, by his grand-father, Increase Mather. D.D. : [Seven lines of Scripture texts]
Boston: printed by S. Kneeland for J. Edwards, 1718
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Answ. 1. THEY should Pray that the Lord will pour more abundantly of His Spirit upon them. That He will furnish them more and more with the Gifts and Graces thereof. Did not Moses make such a Prayer for the Ministers of God? Deut. 33. 8. Let thy Thummin and thy Urim be with thy holy one. The Minister that is Consecrated to God is in that respect an holy one. Thummin signifies Integrity and Piety. Urim signifies Light & Knowledge. Pray that those may be increased in His Ministers. The more sanctified knowledge a Man has, the more sensible he is of his want of more knowledge. As we see in Agur, who was a very knowing as well as a very pious Man. But what Opinion had he of his own knowledge? Prov. 30. 1. We have there the Prophecy, that is a Sermon of Agur, which he spake to Ithiel and Ucal. They seem to be two of his Scholars, who had an high opinion of their Teachers wisdom and knowledge, ⟨p. 17⟩and therefore applied themselves to him for further instruction. Alas, (says he) you come to a poor ignorant creature. I have not the understanding of a man, nor have the knowledge of the holy. There are many holy Men who far excel me in wisdom and knowledge. They that have the most, have need of a great deal more knowledge. How shall a Pastor feed his Flock with knowledge and with understanding, if he has not himself an enlarged understanding in the Mysteries of Religion, and of the Scriptures. There is Grace enough in Christ the Glorious Head of the Church, to supply all His Ministers. And the more Christ fills them, the better will it be for those that sit under their Ministry. Therefore Pray for us. Without Christ they are nothing, nor can they do any thing. Wherefore Pray,
Answ. 1. THEY should Pray that the Lord will pour more abundantly of His Spirit upon them. That He will furnish them more and more with the Gifts and Graces thereof. Did not Moses make such a Prayer for the Ministers of God? Deut. 33. 8. Let thy Thummin and thy Urim be with thy holy one. The Minister that is Consecrated to God is in that respect an holy one. Thummin signifies Integrity and Piety. Urim signifies Light & Knowledge. Pray that those may be increased in His Ministers. The more sanctified knowledge a Man has, the more sensible he is of his want of more knowledge. As we see in Agur, who was a very knowing as well as a very pious Man. But what Opinion had he of his own knowledge?