{"id":1592,"date":"2010-12-09T18:38:57","date_gmt":"2010-12-09T22:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=1592"},"modified":"2013-06-17T12:29:23","modified_gmt":"2013-06-17T16:29:23","slug":"john-newton-poem-on-pastoral-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=1592","title":{"rendered":"John Newton, Poem on Pastoral Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Ascol posted this poem<\/a> by John Newton, and I thought it was a powerful portrait of pastoral work.<\/p>\n

A Minister’s Burden<\/strong><\/p>\n

What contradictions meet
\nIn ministers’ employ!
\nIt is a bitter sweet,
\nA sorrow full of joy:
\nNo other post affords a place
\nFor equal honor or disgrace.<\/p>\n

Who can describe the pain
\nWhich faithful preachers feel,
\nConstrained to speak in vain,
\nTo hearts as hard as steel?
\nOr who can tell the pleasures felt,
\nWhen stubborn hearts begin to melt?<\/p>\n

The Savior’s dying love,
\nThe soul’s amazing worth,
\nTheir utmost efforts move,
\nAnd draw their bowels forth;
\nThey pray and strive, the rest departs,
\nTill Christ be formed in sinners’ hearts.<\/p>\n

If some small hope appears,
\nThey still are not content,
\nBut with a jealous fear,
\nThey watch for the event:
\nToo oft they find their hopes deceived.
\nThen how their inmost souls are grieved!<\/p>\n

But when their pains succeed,
\nAnd from the tender blade
\nThe ripening ears proceed,
\nTheir toils are overpaid:
\nNo harvest-joy can equal theirs,
\nTo find the fruit of all their cares.<\/p>\n

On what has now been sown,
\nThy blessing, Lord, bestow;
\nThe power is Thine alone,
\nTo make it spring and grow:
\nDo Thou the gracious harvest raise,
\nAnd Thou alone shalt have the praise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tom Ascol posted this poem by John Newton, and I thought it was a powerful portrait of pastoral work. A Minister’s Burden What contradictions meet In ministers’ employ! It is a bitter sweet, A sorrow full of joy: No other post affords a place For equal honor or disgrace. Who can describe the pain Which …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘John Newton, Poem on Pastoral Ministry’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[108,26],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1592"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2720,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592\/revisions\/2720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}