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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
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.
IN Him Bountiful Heaven was pleased to cause a Concurrence of all those Natural and Acquired, Moral and Spiritual Excellencies, which are necessary to constitute a Great Man, a profound Divine, a very considerable Scholar, and an Heavenly Christian. In the light and influence of these Perfections he appeared as a Star of the First Magnitude in the Orb of the Church.
THE God of Nature was pleased with a Liberal Hand to bestow on him those Natural Intellectual Endowments, which laid the Foundation of great Improvement in Knowledge. And did from his Youth presage Uncommon Service for God and his People, which his Master had designed him for. In Natural Endowments, he appeared as the Elder Son among many Brethren: In these very few, if any, could pretend to stand upon a Level with him. The Natural Capacity of his Soul was of that Distinction, that it seemed an undeniable Confutation of the Doctrine of the Equality of Souls; and left it no longer Problematical.
THE God of Nature was pleased with a Liberal Hand to bestow on him those Natural Intellectual Endowments, which laid the Foundation of great Improvement in Knowledge. And did from his Youth praesage Uncommon Service for God and his People, which his Master had designed him for. In Natural Endowments, he appeared as the Elder Son among many Brethren: In these very few, if any, could pretend to stand upon a Level with him. The Natural Capacity of his Soul was of that Distinction, that it seem'd an undeniable Confutation of the Doctrine of the Equality of Souls; and left it no longer Problematical.
HIS Phansy was Copious, tho' not Luxuriant, but most Correct, being Obsequious to the Dictates, and kept under the strict Guard of a well poised Judgment: By which it was restrained from those lawless Luxuriances and Extravagances, which this Power is subject to, when it has broken loose from the Government of a well-informed Understanding. His Apprehension was quick, his Reason bright, and his Judgment exact and solid: which made him banish such things as trivial, as were not capable of Improvement to advance his Soul, either in it's Intellectual or Moral Perfection. His Understanding was of great Prospect: His Mind filled with bright Images of things; enriched with a vast number of noble Ideas, and knew well their several Connections, Relations and Dependencies, how to separate, and how to unite them in deep searches after Truth. He had a deep Thought, and penetrating Sagacity to make a just Estimate of things on sudden Emergencies; which made him justly esteemed one of the Wisest Men, that has been known of his Order; in Our Land. His Natural Genius and Spirit seemed superior to all narrow selfish Interests; not governed by the Rules of Carnal Policy, nor biased by Private Views; but appeared almost uncapable to be under the commanding influence of any thing, but what appeared Great, Good and Honourable. He had a Native Modesty, which continued in his advanced Years, seldom known in Conjunction with Gifts of so Conspicuous an Elevation; which might seem to some to Veil the Brightness of some of his Public Appearances; tho' in the Opinion of others was but a Foil to his greater Excellencies.