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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 7 (Question 2 cont.)
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.
(1.) THIS doth limit us in matters of Faith. If we would be informed, what are articles to be believed, we must consult this Oracle. All things that we are to entertain, as Principles in Religion, must be sought for, and taken upon God's testimony in his word: beyond or beside which we are not to fix our Credit; for which reason, it is called the word of faith: not only as by it God works faith in us, but also as it contains the articles of faith in it. Divine faith depends upon this testimony: what it speaks, commands our belief: where it is silent, our Credit is justly suspended. Hence the Apostle's way of arguing, Heb. 7.14. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning Priesthood.
(2.) THIS doth regulate us in all points of Manners. He that would know his duty, must look for it there, and that both in respect of the matter and manner. All that belongs to us, is here comprised. Deut. 29.29 The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed, belong to us, and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. This is to be the guide to our paths. Here we are to inform our selves, what is duty, and what is sin. If God hath not here commanded or allowed, it is enough to declare it sin; if he hath here enjoined it, it cannot be evaded. Here we are to enquire, who, when, where, how, in respect of our whole conversation, if we would enjoy true Peace, as the Apostle intimates, Gal. 6.16. As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, & mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
(2.) THIS doth regulate us in all points of Manners. He that would know his duty, must look for it there, and that both in respect of the matter and manner. All that belongs to us, is here comprized.