Our obstacles
  
(John Angell James, "An Earnest Ministry" 1847)

Incompetent ministers are the burden of the church.

Worldly ministers have been the dishonor of the
church, and the hindrance of the progress of the
gospel in the world.

The worldly spirit which has infiltrated the church,
threatens to eat out the very core of vital piety!

Our obstacles are . . .
  the debilitating influences of ease and prosperity;
  the insidious snares of wealth, extravagance and fashion;
  the engrossing power of business and secular ambition.