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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 11 (Question 3)
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.
Divine Faith believes, because God hath said it. There are divers things in Divinity, that are above the Comprehension of our reason; and for us to assent to the Truth of the Scriptures, merely upon our own reasonings; or because we see into the rational arguments to evince the Truth of them, is not Faith: nor is it Faith of the right stamp, to receive them upon the affirmation of any man or men. This was their Commendation, 1 Thes. 2.13. — When ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but (as it is in truth) the word of God—. And indeed God's report is to be credited; for he hath all the properties of a credible witness transcendently in him. He hath infinite Knowledge, perfect Fidelity, and unprejudiced Charity.
Divine Faith believes, because God hath said it. There are divers things in Divinity, that are above the Comprehension of our reason; and for us to assent to the Truth of the Scriptures, meerly upon our own reasonings; or because we see into the rational arguments to evince the Truth of them, is not Faith: nor is it Faith of the right stamp, to receive them upon the affirmation of any man or men. This was their Commendation, 1 Thes. 2.13. — When ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but (as it is in truth) the word of God—. And indeed God's report is to be credited; for he hath all the properties of a credible witness transcendantly in him. He hath infinite Knowledge, perfect Fidelity, and unprejudiced Charity.
7. THE matter of this Faith is, what is to be Believed concerning God. For if God be the only Object of our Faith, then all the matters, or the truths to be believed must centre in him: Humane Faith extends to other matters; but Divine Faith is restrained hither. It is true, there are a great many Articles in Christian Religion, many of which do nextly concern the Creature, as mans integrity, apostasy, and recovery, &c. but all are reducible to God, and are to be referred to him, as belonging unto his Government: So that all matters of Faith are to be brought hither, and lead us to this Object, viz. the Being of God, his Sufficiency, his Attributes, his Subsistences, his Efficiency, his Decree, and Works of Creation and Providence, his Preserving, and Governing the World, disposing all the affairs of man in particular, so that we are to come to the knowledge of ourselves in the knowing of God; which things will follow afterwards to be looked into.