N02384:103
A complete body of divinity in two hundred and fifty expository lectures on the…A compleat body of divinity in two hundred and fifty expository lectures on the…
A complete body of divinity in two hundred and fifty expository lectures on the Assembly's Shorter catechism wherein the doctrines of the Christian religion are unfolded, their truth confirmed, their excellence displayed, their usefulness improved; contrary errors & vices refuted & exposed, objections answered, controversies settled, cases of conscience resolved; and a great light thereby reflected on the present age. / By the Reverend & learned Samuel Willard, M.A. late Pastor of the South Church in Boston, and vice-president of Harvard College in Cambridge, in New-England. ; Prefaced by the pastors of the same church. ; [Six lines of Scripture texts]A compleat body of divinity in two hundred and fifty expository lectures on the Assembly's Shorter catechism wherein the doctrines of the Christian religion are unfolded, their truth confirm'd, their excellence display'd, their usefulness improv'd; contrary errors & vices refuted & expos'd, objections answer'd, controversies settled, cases of conscience resolv'd; and a great light thereby reflected on the present age. / By the Reverend & learned Samuel Willard, M.A. late Pastor of the South Church in Boston, and vice-president of Harvard College in Cambridge, in New-England. ; Prefac'd by the pastors of the same church. ; [Six lines of Scripture texts]
printed by B. Green and S. Kneeland for B. Eliot and D. Henchman, 1726
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.
THERE have been various Methods observed in the compiling of these Systems; But that which hath of late more generally of […] •amed among us, is that of this Catechisms. […] Exposition whereof having once, more glancingly gone over, for the help of Young ones especially; I shall endeavour in this second Essay, more elaborately to open; adding to the clearing up of the sense of the Doctrine, as there is occasion, the removal of Objections, and satisfying Cases of Conscience depending.
THERE have been various Methods observed in the compiling of these Systems; But that which hath of late more generally of 〈…〉 •amed among us, is that of this Catechisms. 〈…〉 Exposition whereof having once, more glancingly gone over, for the help of Young ones especially; I shall endeavour in this second Essay, more elaborately to open; adding to the clearing up of the sense of the Doctrine, as there is occasion, the removal of Objections, and satisfying Cases of Conscience depending.
TOUCHING the Method of the Catechism in general, we may observe; That the Great Thing which all Rational, and Immortal Creatures have to be mostly inquisitive about, is HAPPINESS: The Substance of this Inquiry may be reduced to Two Heads, or gathered up in two Questions, viz. What is Happiness; and How may it be Obtained? So that the whole Doctrine hereto related, bares respect either to the End or to the ⟨p. 2⟩Means. Happiness properly consists in our attaining of our End, and this is reached unto by a right using of Means suitable and proper. The End, tho' it be last in execution, yet is the first in intention; and being that unto which the Means are to be fitted, is that which i• first to come into ••••••eration; because, the better that is known, the fitter we are to judge of the other. A Man cannot rationally tell what he is to do, until he first understand what it is for: hence therefore all Art: and Sciences are went to be defined by their END […] unto which, all that is delivered under them, is to be Reduced; and the dignity, worth or excellency of every Art, is thereby to be judged of.