# Ministers: Do Not Despair



## Poimen (Jul 30, 2008)

Calvin writes, in his commentary on Matthew 13:14 (taken from his _Harmony of the Gospels_, Volume 2): 



> the ministers of the word ought to seek consolation from this passage, if the success of their labors does not always correspond to their wish. Many are so far from profiting by their instruction, that they are rendered worse by it. What has befallen them was experienced by a Prophet, to whom they are not superior. It were, indeed, to be wished, that they should bring all under subjection to God; and they ought to labor and strive for that end. But let them not wonder if that judgment, which God anciently displayed through the ministration of the Prophet, is likewise fulfilled at the present day.


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