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ON THE DISCOURAGEMENTS AND SUPPORTS OF THE

CHRISTIAN MINISTER:

A DISCOURSE,

DELIVERED TO

THE REV. JAMES ROBERTSON,

AT HIS ORDINATION OVER THE INDEPENDENT CHURCH AT STRETTON,

WARWICKSHIRE.

[PUBLISHED IN 1812.]

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PREFACE.

THE following discourse would sooner have made its appearance, but for circumstances in which the public are too little interested to render it necessary or proper for me to explain: nor should I have adverted to the time of its publication, did it not seem strange that, having been preached on a public occasion, it should be committed to the press more than a twelvemonth after the delivery.

With respect to the sermon itself, the author begs leave to bespeak the indulgence of his readers for introducing sentiments with which they must be perfectly familiar, requesting them to recollect that, on practical subjects, the most common thoughts are usually the most important, and that originality is the last quality we seek for in advice. If it have any tendency to do good beyond the occasion of its delivery, by reminding my highly-esteemed brethren in the ministry of the duties and obligation attached to their sacred function, the end proposed will be answered. The worthy person to whom it was addressed gave a specimen of his liberality, in engaging me to take so leading a part in his ordination, when our difference of sentiment on the subject of baptism was well known; a subject which has, unhappily, been a frequent occasion of alienating the minds of Christians from each other. How much is it to be lamented, that the Christian world should be so violently agitated by disputes, and divided into factions, on points which, it is allowed, in whatever way they are decided, do not enter into the essentials of Christianity! When will the time arrive when the disciples of Christ shall cordially join hand and heart with all who hold the head, and no other terms of communion be insisted upon in any church but what are necessary to constitute a real Christian? The departure from a principle so directly resulting from the genius of Christianity, and so evidently inculcated and implied in the sacred Scriptures, has, in my apprehension, been productive of infinite mischief; nor is there room to anticipate the period of the universal diffusion and triumph of the Christian religion, but in consequence of its being completely renounced and abandoned.

What can be more repugnant to the beautiful idea which our Saviour gives us of his church, as one fold under one shepherd, than the present aspect of Christendom, split into separate and hostile communions frowning defiance on each other, where each erects itself upon party principles, and selects its respective watchword of contention, as

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