N01685:27
The presence of Christ with the ministers of the Gospel, opened & applied in…The presence of Christ with the ministers of the Gospel, opened & applyed in…
The presence of Christ with the ministers of the Gospel, opened & applied in a sermon preached at Swampfield, January 1st. 1717[/]18. Being the day of the gathering of the church, and the ordination of the Reverend Joseph Willard their pastor. / By Solomon Stoddard, A.M. & Pastor of Northampton.The presence of Christ with the ministers of the Gospel, opened & applyed in a sermon preached at Swampfield, January 1st. 1717[/]18. Being the day of the gathering of the church, and the ordination of the Reverend Joseph Willard their pastor. / By Solomon Stoddard, A.M. & Pastor of Northampton.
printed by B. Green, 1718
Title page typeset from the transcription.
The Presence of CHRIST WITH THE Ministers of the GOSPEL. › DOCTRINE.
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.
3. When Men Pray presumptuously for them. Some err on this hand, either from a misunderstanding of the Promises, as if God were so bound to bless the labours of His Ministers, that He ⟨p. 18⟩had not left Himself at liberty, as certainly He sometimes doth in Judgment, as Isai. 6.9, 10. Go tell this People, Hear ye indeed but understand not, and seeing ye indeed but perceive not; make the heart of this People fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and convert and be healed. Some presume from ignorance of the state of the Country: They think that most of the Professors of the Country are godly Men; are not sensible that there are many foolish Virgins; many that have a Name that they live, and are dead; many that have not the Wedding Garment, a little appearance passeth with them for holiness; they are somewhat startled to consider, that there be so many Judgments in the Land; but it seems to them, that the Country is full of good People, and that there be a great number of Converted Men and Women in the Land; and so they presume that Ministers still will have a great deal of Success, and that Religion will flourish in the Land. Some presume upon their Prayers, as if they did Merit to be heard; as if their earnest Prayers must needs engage God, and it would not be fair for God to deny them; whereas if their Prayers be answered it is from free Grace.
USE, II. Faithful Ministers ought to take Encouragement that they shall have Christs Presence. Ministers are in danger to be discouraged; their work is heavy, and attended with a great deal of difficulty, and their Spirits are ready to faint, sometimes under a sense of their own weakness, want of Understanding, and Grace for their work, sometimes upon Experience of Unsuccessfulness; they have taken a great deal of pains, and little comes on it; Sins that they reprove are not reformed; Sinners are not Converted; many remain senseless, and hard-hearted, as if no Means had been used with them: but their hearts should not sink under their burden.