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BY THE SAME.

1. TWO SERMONS on the DUTY of NATIONAL

HUMILIATION. 1s.

2. The IMPRECATORY PASSAGES in the PSALMS, and the ATHANASIAN CREED. 4d.

3. CHRISTIAN JOY. 1d.

4. CHRIST the ONLY MEDIATOR.

1s 6d.

5. PERFECT PEACE. 2d.

6. The PROPHET JONAH. 1d.

1d., or 25 for

7. The OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD. 1d.

8. "WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST?" 1d.

Wertheim and Macintosh, 24, Paternoster-row, London.

MINISTERIAL COUNSEL:

OR,

The Duties of a Minister and his People.

BY THE

REV. BEAVER H. BLACKER, M. A.,

ST. MARY'S, DONNYBROOK, DUBLIN.

"May the grace of Christ our Saviour,
And the Father's boundless love,
With the Holy Spirit's favour,

Rest upon us from above!

Thus may we abide in union

With each other and the Lord,

And possess, in sweet communion,
Joys that earth cannot afford."

Second Edition.

LONDON:

WERTHEIM AND MACINTOSH,
24, PATERNOSTER-ROW.

DUBLIN: W. CURRY AND CO., UPPER SACKVILLE-STREET.

1851.

Price One Penny.

BY THE SAME.

1. TWO SERMONS on the DUTY of NATIONAL

HUMILIATION. 1s.

2. The IMPRECATORY PASSAGES in the PSALMS, and the ATHANASIAN CREED. 4d.

3. CHRISTIAN JOY. 1d.

4. CHRIST the ONLY MEDIATOR.

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1d., or 25 for

7. The OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD. 1d.

8. "WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST?" 1d.

9. SOLOMON'S BRIDE a TYPE of the TRUE

BELIEVER. 2d.

MINISTERIAL COUNSEL, ETC.

As the groundwork of my present Address I have selected a portion of Jethro's counsel to his son-inlaw Moses: "Hearken now unto my voice: I will give thee counsel; and God shall be with thee." (Exod. xviii. 19.) May success attend my words of ministerial counsel such as the speaker then experienced; for we find it stated (ver. 24) that " Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said!" May God, "who has caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience, and comfort of His holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which He has given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ!"

If you examine Jethro's words, and apply them to yourselves, you will see that three subjects are plainly suggested for consideration: the first, the nature of the counsel which it is my bounden duty to give; the second, the duty which you are ex

pected to discharge, namely, "to hearken unto my voice;" and the third, the blessed effect which shall surely follow, if you and I are faithful in our respective services, namely, that "God shall then be with us." To each of these subjects I shall endeavour, with God's help, to direct your attention.

I. And, in the first place, respecting the counsel which I must deliver, for your sakes and my own. I must speak the truth, and give the message honestly; for (as St. Paul said in reference to himself as a minister of the Word) "necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel." (1 Cor. ix. 16.) The counsel, therefore, which I must give, is none other than that which we have received, and which has always, I trust, been clearly preached before you "how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." (1 Cor. xv. 3.) I cannot indeed describe it better than in one brief sentence in 1 Cor. ii. 2, where the Apostle declares that he "determined not to know anything among them, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." Yes, "Christ crucified" is the chief corner-stone of the whole fabric of our hope as Christians; "for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. iii. 11.) On this fundamental doctrine rests the whole counsel of God, which we are not to shun to proclaim in season and out of season, whether you will hear or whether you will forbear. Like the same Apostle when at Ephesus (as written in Acts xx.) we must keep back nothing

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