N05154:29
Christ the great example of Gospel ministers. A sermon preached at Portsmouth, at the…Christ the great example of Gospel ministers. A sermon preach'd at Portsmouth, at the…
Christ the great example of Gospel ministers. A sermon preached at Portsmouth, at the ordination of the Reverend Mr. Job Strong, to the pastoral office over the South Church in that place, June 28. 1749, / By Jonathan Edwards, A.M. Pastor of the First Church in Northampton.Christ the great example of Gospel ministers. A sermon preach'd at Portsmouth, at the ordination of the Reverend Mr. Job Strong, to the pastoral office over the South Church in that place, June 28. 1749, / By Jonathan Edwards, A.M. Pastor of the First Church in Northampton.
Boston: printed by T. Fleet, 1750
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.
2. More particularly should Ministers of the Gospel follow the Example of their great Master, in the Manner in which they seek the Salvation and Happiness of the ⟨p. 11⟩Souls of Men. They should follow his Example of Love to Souls: Tho' it be impossible that they should love them to so great a Degree, yet they should have the same Spirit of Love to them, and Concern for their Salvation, according to their Capacity. Love to Men's Souls in Christ was far above any Regard he had to his temporal Interest, his Ease, his Honour, his Meat and Drink; and so it should be with his Ministers. They should have the same Spirit of Compassion to Men under their spiritual Calamities and Miseries, that he had of whom we read Mark vi. 34. That when he came out and saw much People, he was moved with Compassion towards them, because they were as Sheep not having a Shepherd; and he began to teach them many Things. The Word translated moved with Compassion, signifies, that he was most sensibly affected, and had his inmost Bowels moved with Pity. And again we read Luke xix. That when Christ was riding to Jerusalem, that wicked City, but a few Days before his Crucifixion, and was come to the Descent of the Mount of Olives, where he had a fair View of the City, when he beheld it, he wept over it, on account of the Misery and Ruin they had brought themselves into Danger of by their Sin; although' the Sin by which especially they had made themselves thus miserable, was their vile Treatment of him; (for Jerusalem was a City that had been peculiarly injurious to him) and tho' Christ knew how cruelly he should be treated in that City before that Week was past, how he there should be set at nought, and with great malignity bound, falsely accused and condemned, reviled, spit upon, scourged and crucified: Yet all don't prevent his most affectionate Tears of Compassion towards them. When he was come near, he beheld the City, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, (thou as wicked as thou art, and as vile as thou hast been in thy Treatment ⟨p. 12⟩of me; even thou) the Things which belong unto thy Peace! but now they are hid from thine Eyes. (Compare