N04195:65
The great concern of a watchman for souls, appearing in the duty he has…
The great concern of a watchman for souls, appearing in the duty he has to do, and the account he has to give, represented & improved, in a sermon preached at the ordination of the Reverend Mr. Jonathan Judd, to the pastoral office over the Church of Christ, in the new precinct at Northampton, June 8. 1743. / By Jonathan Edwards, M.A. Pastor of the First Church of Christ in Northampton. ; [Four lines from Ezra]The great concern of a watchman for souls, appearing in the duty he has to do, and the account he has to give, represented & improved, in a sermon preach'd at the ordination of the Reverend Mr. Jonathan Judd, to the pastoral office over the Church of Christ, in the new precinct at Northampton, June 8. 1743. / By Jonathan Edwards, M.A. Pastor of the First Church of Christ in Northampton. ; [Four lines from Ezra]
Boston: printed by Green for N. Procter, 1743
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.
You see what great Care Christ has taken in this Matter, and how full and abundant the Scripture is in Commands and Directions concerning the Support of Ministers.
I know you are small, and in your new Beginnings in this Place, and not so able as many other Congregations: But if we may give Credit to the Word of God, for you […] and comfortably to support your ⟨p. 35⟩Pastor, is not the Way to be poorer. Prov. 3. 9, 10. Honour the Lord with thy Substance, and with the first Fruits of all thine Increase; so shall thy Barns be filled with Plenty, and thy Presses shall burst out with new Wine. To give to the Lord is not the Way to be poor, but the Way to be supplied by the Lord. Christ now is not personally, and in his human Nature, here upon Earth, to be supported by temporal good Things from his Disciples, as once he was: But tho' he be now gone from hence into a far Country, yet he has not left his Disciples without Opportunity, in this Way of showing their Love to him; for there are two Sorts of Persons that he has appointed to be his Receivers, viz. his indigent Members, and his Ministers: As of old God appointed the Poor and the Levite to receive the Tithes and other Offerings that were made to the Lord, Deut. 16. 11, 14. and Chap. 14. 28, 29. and 26. 10, 11, 12. What is given to Ministers is a Sacrifice to God; so the Apostle represents what was sent to him for his Supply from the Philippians, Phil. 4. 18. Having received of Epaphroditus the Things which were sent from you, an Odour of a sweet Smell, a Sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. And Christ when he sent forth his Disciples to preach, and had directed that they should take no Provision for themselves, because the Labourer is worthy of his Reward, he says Matth. 10. 40. He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me