N01685:28
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.
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. 2 Cor. 4.1. Seeing we have this Ministry, as we have received Mercy we faint not. Christ Jesus can assist them in their work, and furnish them to do their work acceptably; and He can make their work prosperous; He can make their Ministry powerful, though Men be very blind, and dead, and have strong inclinations to continue in a course of Sin. And Christ has promised His Presence. He doth not say that He will be as much with one as with another; or in what degree He will be present; but He promiseth His Presence, this should encourage them.
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. 2 Cor. 4.1. Seeing we have this Ministry, as we have received Mercy we faint not. Christ Jesus can assist them in their work, and furnish them to do their work acceptably; and He can make their work prosperous; He can make their Ministry powerful, though Men be very blind, and dead, and have strong inclinations to continue in a course of Sin. And Christ has pomised His Presence. He doth not say that He will be as much with one as with another; or in what degree He will be present; but He promiseth His Presence, this should encourage them.