The office of the Christian ministry, rightly understood, is the most honourable, and most important, that any man in the whole world can ever sustain; and it will be one of the wonders and employments of eternity to consider the reasons why the wisdom and goodness of God assigned this office to imperfect and guilty man!…the Great design and intention of the office of a Christian preacher are to restore the throne and dominion of God in the souls of men; to display in the most lively colours, and proclaim in the clearest language, the wonderful perfections, offices and grace of the Son of God; and to attract the souls of men into a state of everlasting friendship with him…It is a work which an angel might wish for, as an honour to his character.
– Cotton Mather, Student and Preacher as quoted in John Stott, Between Two Worlds.
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