“At the end of the seven days, the Lord gave me a message. He said, “Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel. Whenever you receive a message from Me, pass it on to the people immediately. If I warn the wicked, saying, ‘You will surely die,’ but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins. And I will hold you responsible, demanding your blood for theirs.” Ezekiel 3:16-18
(J. R. Anderson, “A Warning to Ministers” 1851)
“Where are the ministers who will rouse this sleeping generation to . . .
the solemn realities of the eternal world,
the shortness of time, and
the certainties of judgment?
Where are the preachers who are weighed down with . . .
the interests of immortal souls,
the difficulties of dealing faithfully with them, and
the solemn account that is to be rendered for them?
Where, O where?”
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(From Spurgeon’s, “The Two Effects of the Gospel”)
“The ministry has been very often degraded into a ‘trade’.
They are ’selected by man’, they are crammed with literature; they are educated up to a certain point; they are turned out
ready dressed; and persons call them ‘ministers’.
I wish them all God-speed, every one of them; for as good Joseph Irons used to say, “God be with many of them, if it be only to make them hold their tongues.”
Man-made ministers are of no use in this world, and the sooner we get rid of them the better.”
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(the following was written by Martin Luther)
“I desire above all things that my name should be concealed, and that none be called by the name of Lutheran; but of Christian. What is Luther? My doctrine is not mine, but Christ’s. I was not crucified for any. How comes it to pass, that I, who am but a filthy, stinking bag of worms; that any of the sons of God should be denominated from my name? Away with these schismatical names! Let us be denominated from Christ, from whom alone we have our doctrine.”
