The Essay on the Signs of Conversion and Unconversion in Ministers of the Church: To which the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and Church Union in the Diocese of St. David's Adjudged Their Premium for the Year 1811J. Hatchard, 1817 - 121 pages |
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acquainted anxious Apostles appear argument become Bible cause Christ Christian Ministers Church Church of England Clergy conceives conduct consequence consider conversion converted Minister course degree dences desire difference diligent discover disposition divine doctrines duty ecclesiastical effect employed endeavour engaged Essay eternal evidence evince exem faith feeling forgets frequently Gospel habits heart heaven Holy Spirit honour human ideas importance indifference indispensable individual influence inquirer interest irreligious Jesus labours language ledge lence manner means of grace ments merely mind Minister's ministerial character moral motives nature necessarily necessary necessity neglect ness nister obedience object parish Pastor peculiar perhaps piety pious Minister pleasures practical preaching prejudice present principle profession professional prove racter religion religious religious habit renovation reproach sacred salvation Scrip Scripture sentiments sincere sion society souls surely things tical tion topics trines true Christian truth tural unconverted verted Minister vidual wholly worldly zeal
Popular passages
Page 42 - God, from Whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed ; Give unto Thy servants that peace which the world cannot give ; that both our hearts may be set to obey Thy commandments, and also that by Thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness ; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Page 73 - He neither forbade them, nor turned them back : it was his meat and his drink to do the will of his Father...
Page 52 - without faith it is impossible to please." He conceives, therefore, that the doctrinal parts of Christianity are essentially necessary in his preaching. Whether he argues from the practice of the inspired writers, or from the nature of the thing itself, he arrives at the same conclusion, that an exhibition of the moral precepts of the Gospel, .without the doctrines on which they depend, is as contrary to the intention of its Author, as the opposite error of inculcating its doctrines and forgetting...
Page 60 - ... him. It is impossible that he who has imbibed even the smallest portion of that Christian spirit which actuated the apostles, confessors, and martyrs, can remain an unconcerned spectator of the religious wants of those whose souls are entrusted to his care. His preaching will be cordial and affectionate ; his private labours conscientious and unremitted ; and in his whole conduct, he will appear to value his bodily strength, and his mental attainments, only as they promote the cause of the Redeemer....
Page 52 - ... pious minister proposes to himself. His preaching is founded on the supposition, that a man, though outwardly moral, may fail of being a true Christian, and in consequence, fail of the rewards of Christianity. Internal religion, a religion of motives and intentions, a religion corresponding to that which our Saviour taught in his sermon on the Mount, he esteems necessary to make the most brilliant or useful action acceptable to that Being, whom ' without faith it is impossible to please.
Page 119 - ... individuals. It is essential to the interest' of the people at large, and also of individual ministers themselves, that ' the precious be separated from the vile.
Page 41 - ... the Sacred Spirit's influence ; and that, not as a vague dogma, or a mere article of peace, but as a practical truth, and as the very bias that incited him to become a Christian pastor. This spiritual agency, a pious man will not be content to forget with the day of his ordination. He will of course assiduously guard it against the misconceptions of fanaticism, distinguish it from the more evident and miraculous effusions of the primitive ages, and teach his hearers to hope for it only in the...
Page 37 - This fact, and the consequence deduced frem it, form the hypothesis on which the preaching of every converted minister, and, indeed, the whole scheme of Christianity, is founded ; and which being denied, Christianity and preaching become inappropriate and useless. A minister who admits these truths fully and unequivocally, must, in consequence, admit the necessity of the atonement ; and who, that admits its necessity, can be unconscious of its importance ? Or who, that allows its importance, can...
Page 81 - His spirit not being secular, his amusements will not be such. There are atmospheres which he knows he cannot breathe without contamination. Besides, he has a definite object of pursuit, and is conscious that the souls of his people will be required at his hand. A man who is thus impressed, will not devote his mornings to the chase, or his evenings to the cardtable ; he will not feel ambitious of being the steward of a raceground, or the litigious guardian of the game laws ; he will neither appear...