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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 12 (Question 4)
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.
3. IF we consider how the Actions of Angels and Men are governed and controlled, it will persuade us of the truth of a Deity. These are the highest order of Created Beings, and are Causes by counsel of their own Actions, or voluntary agents; nor do they acknowledge any second Being Superior to themselves; but it is certain that their wisdom & power is not the highest that is at work in the World; but there is One above them, and that over rules them. This evidently appears from frequent disappointments, that befall the strongest Policies, and deepest designs that these are managing. There is something that crosseth them when they have done their utmost. They think themselves their own Carvers; but he makes them see and say as Nebuchadnezzar. Dan. 4.34. And at the end of the days, •Nebuchadnezzar lift up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, & his kingdom is from generation to generation. When they have laid in against all unforeseen events, he surpriseth them, takes them in their craft, and makes their counsels go head-long. So Eccl 9.11. I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill, but time and chance happeneth to them all. If men did all, then they that have most strength on their side, would get the day, &c. but it is not so: but an unseen cause comes on things: even their very hearts are under his control. Laban pursues, Esau meets Jacob with bloody designs: yet are they overruled, so that one leaves him, the other meets him with a kiss. The dashing of the purposes of men, extorts from them this Confession, if we will believe the Psalmist, Psal. 58. ult. Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth. And that Devils themselves are under such a power, is therein sufficiently evident, in that the Souls of men are daily taken out of their hands by a powerful Conversion. There must therefore be a stronger than they, and this is God.
3. IF we consider how the Actions of Angels and Men are governed and controlled, it will perswade us of the truth of a Deity. These are the highest order of Created Beings, and are Causes by counsel of their own Actions, or voluntary agents; nor do they acknowledge any second Being Superiour to themselves; but it is certain that their wisdom & power is not the highest that is at work in the World; but there is One above them, and that over rules them. This evidently appears from frequent disappointments, that befall the strongest Policies, and deepest designs that these are managing. There is something that crosseth them when they have done their utmost. They think themselves their own Carvers; but he makes them see and say as Nebuchadnezzar.