An Earnest Ministry

The Want of the Times

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Weight 0.82 lbs
Dimensions 7.7 × 5.25 × 0.9 in
ISBN 9780851516578
Binding

Cloth-bound

Format

Book

Original Pub Date

1847

Banner Pub Date

Dec 1, 1993

Topic

Pastoral Theology/Pastoral Helps

Page Count

296

Book Description

John Angell James’ book, An Earnest Ministry, is a classic on the Christian ministry. The reason lies largely in the manner in which he presents one simple idea: he argues that the effect of preaching is directly related to the heart-condition of the preacher, ‘it is feeling which gives power to words and thoughts’. To command attention for the truth, its spokesmen must first be earnest, that is to say, be possessed by one single aim and by a devotion which leads them to surrender all that would hinder its attainment.

Born in 1785, at a time when the preaching of the leaders of the evangelical revival was still remembered, James served Carrs Lane Congregational Church, Birmingham for fifty-five years. In later life he believed that the pulpit generally had become less effective, even though there was an increase in the availability of men, talent and training. He saw an evident loss of the power which Whitefield ‘studied, discovered, and applied’; preaching was no longer ‘adapted to produce conviction and conversion’.

Employing Scripture and the lessons of outstanding preaching, drawn from both sides of the Atlantic, James’ Earnest Ministry renewed the same call as Baxter’s Reformed Pastor of two centuries earlier and it proved to be a book of no lesser value.

At a time when many false explanations are offered for the decline in preaching, and when many have even ceased to pray, ‘Send us preachers’, this volume goes back to fundamentals and is itself a proof of the power of true earnestness.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

AN EARNEST MINISTRY THE WANT OF THE TIMES.
Preface xi
Preface to the Third Edition xix
The Apostolic Ministry 21
The Nature of Earnestness 29
The Nature of Earnestness (Continued) 66
Earnestness in Preaching 86
Illustrations of Earnestness collected from various Authors 99
Earnestness of Manner in the delivery of Sermons 120
Earnestness in the Pastorate 149
Examples of Earnestness in the Ministry 168
Motives to Earnestness in the Ministry 182
The means of obtaining an Earnest Ministry 245
The necessity of Divine influence to make the Ministry efficient 282

 

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