N02384:1601
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
AN EXPOSITION OF THE ASSEMBLY's SHORTER CATECHISM: IN Two Hundred a… › Sermon 59 (Question 18)
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.
The law saith, the sinner shall dye, he is now become a sinner, and therefore the law reacheth to him, and saith that he shall dye: and this is truly and really a state of guilt which he is in. (2.) THE law is positive. The threatening is without any reserve. Eve missed it when she minced it, and made it no more than an hazard. Gen. 3.3. God, who is the lawgiver, had declared it with greatest asseveration, Gen. 2.17. Yea, it was strengthened or ratified in that it came in the way of a covenant; so that there is no room left for the man to feed himself up with an hope, that he may avoid, and the sentence not be executed. And, (3.) GOD Himself stands engaged to his own l••. It is His, and He will see that it have its efficacy, and this is manifest from the fore-hinted consideration, that He put it into a covenant, wherein He no less bound Himself, than He did the creature: so that together with His holiness, and justice, which are deeply concerned in the sanctions of the law, there is His truth and unchangeableness also interested in it, and He cannot go beck with honour: and therefore we have that assurance given us, Mat. 5.18. For verily I s•y unto you, till heaven & earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (4.) HENCE, Guilt is the sinners prison which holds him fast. The word Met. 5.22. in danger, signifies one that is held in. Guilt is a strong chain that the sinner is bound withal to hold him fast unto judgment, it is that which shuts him up to judgment. Gal. 3.22, 23. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by saith of Jesus Christ might be given to t••m that believe. But before saith come, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the saith, which should afterwards be revealed. And as long as he is under it, there is no possibility for him to escape Mat. 23.33. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? 3. GUILT […] tr•sawes that the punishment is deserve […] may be under […] obligation to […] ot truly guilty, but […] not justly so, but injuri […]. Ad here three things are to be supd for this, (1.) THAT the law according to which he becomes guilty, is a righteous law. Humane laws are not always so. It was alleged by the Jews against Christ Himself,