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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 9 (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.
for how can the perverse inclinations of man's heart that is wholly corrupted, and become altogether filthy, be called a Rule? and if none, much less a perfect one; or if we call it a Rule, it must be abusively, it is not a Rule of happiness. Sin reigns, and Satan reigns in natural men; and these have their Laws, which they give by way of suggestion, and press upon men by a secret, and oftentimes a violent impulse, and back them with carnal Reasonings; and they have the efficacy of a Rule upon men, and strangely command them, but will never lead them to Bliss. It is certain, that Enthusiasts impulses are carnal or diabolical and consequently no divine Rule at all, much less one that is perfect and complete. [5.] NOR yet is this Rule given to each man by immediate Revelation. Fallen man's Rule is indeed of Revelation, as formerly hath been asserted, but God spake it to such as he made choice of, and by them imparted it to others, (2 Tim. 3.16.). 2 Pet. 1.21. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of men: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost. But since the Canon is perfected such Revelation is ceased: Hence that, Gal. 1.8. But tho' we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. And if none of these be it, either there must be some others which I know not of, or none, which cannot be, or the Scriptures must be it, to whose perfection I further argue. (3.) THAT Rule which is able to make […] perfect, must needs be […] perfect Rule. That the Scripture is so, we have it asserted, 2 Tim. 3.16, 17. Reason tells us, that the virtue of the Cause must not be less than the virtue of the Effect: only this is to be interpreted of it, so far as a Rule is serviceable to it, and that is, that if the Rule be exactly attended, the man will be perfect, and the ground of it lies here, viz. because there is nothing requisite to direct man aright in this way to his great End, but it will rightly inform him about; and when this is proved, the perfection of Scripture will stand against all gainsayers.
for how can the perverse inclinations of man's heart that is wholly corrupted, and become altogether filthy, be called a Rule? and if none, much less a perfect one; or if we call it a Rule, it must be abusively, it is not a Rule of happiness. Sin reigns, and Satan reigns in natural men; and these have their Laws, which they give by way of suggestion, and press upon men by a secret, and oftentimes a violent impulse, and back them with carnal Reasonings; and they have the efficacy of a Rule upon men, and strangely command them, but will never lead them to Bliss. It is certain, that Enthusiasts impulses are carnal or diabolical and consequently no divine Rule at all, much less one that is perfect and compleat. [5.] NOR yet is this Rule given to each man by immediate Revelation. Fallen man's Rule is indeed of Revelation, as formerly hath been asserted, but God spake it to such as he made choice of, and by them imparted it to others, (