A65285:2614
A Body of Practical Divinity
A body of practical divinity consisting of above one hundred seventy six sermons on the lesser catechism composed by the reverend assembly of divines at Westminster : with a supplement of some sermons on several texts of Scripture / by Thomas Watson ...
London: printed for Thomas Parkurst, 1692
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Use I. Is matter of Humiliation for our Fall in Adam. In the State of Innocency we were perfectly holy; our Minds were crowned with Knowledge, and our Wills as a Queen did sway the Sceptre of Liberty: But now we may say as Lam. 5.16. The Crown is fallen from our Head. We have lost that Power which was Inherent in us. When we look back to our Primitive Glory, when we s•ined as Earthly Angels, we may take up Job's Words, Chap. 29.2. O that it were as in Months past! O that it were with us as at first, when there was no Stain upon our Virgin-Nature, when there was a perfect Harmony between God's Law, and Man's Will. But alas! Now the Scene is altered, our Strength is gone from us, we tread awry every Step; we come below every Precept; our Dwarfishness will not reach the Sublimity of God's Law; we fail in our Obedience; and while we fail, we forfeit. This may put us in close Mourning, and spring a Leak of Sorrow in all our Souls.
Vse I. Is matter of Humiliation for our Fall in Adam. In the State of Innocency we were perfectly holy; our Minds were crowned with Knowledge, and our Wills as a Queen did sway the Scepter of Liberty: But now we may say as Lam. 5.16. The Crown is fallen from our Head. We have lost that Power which was Inherent in us. When we look back to our Primitive Glory, when we s•ined as Earthly Angels, we may take up Iob's Words, Chap. 29.2. O that it were as in Months past! O that it were with us as at first, when there was no Stain upon our Virgin-Nature, when there was a perfect Harmony between God's Law, and Man's Will. But alas! Now the Scene is alter'd, our Strength is gone from us, we tread awry every Step; we come below every Precept; our Dwarfishness will not reach the Sublimity of God's Law; we fail in our Obedience; and while we fail, we forfeit. This may put us in close Mourning, and spring a Leak of Sorrow in all our Souls.
Use II. 1st. Br. Confutation. It confutes the Arminians, who cry up the Power of the Will: They hold they have a Will to save themselves. But, by Nature we not only want Strength,