15 July 2012

The Beauty and Brightness

We see in natural bodies, that when heat is raised in them to a high degree, at length they begin to shine. And a principle of true grace in the soul is like an inward heat, a holy ardor of a heavenly fire kindled in the soul.
This in ministers of the gospel ought to be to that degree, as to shine forth brightly in all their conversation; and there should as it were be a light about them wherever they go, exhibiting to all that behold them, the amiable, delightful image of the beauty and brightness of their glorious Master. 
--Jonathan Edwards, 'The True Excellency of a Gospel Minister,' a sermon preached at the ordination service of Robert Abercrombie in 1744, from the Yale edition of Edwards' Works, 25:94

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