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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 14 (Question 4 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.
USE 1. THE consideration of this Conclusion, will afford us Direction, how to regulate our Conceptions, and Expressions about GOD; and how to expound them. It tells us that all is to be understood after the manner of men, according to our conception, and not according to the Nature of God properly. Though the things concerning God, which are revealed in the Scriptures, are not false, but true, yet they are infinitely short of expressing his sublimity, and they are very improper. We must always remember that God is inconceivably more, and better, than all that is or can be said of him. And it may also teach us to have a care how far we strain the humane expressions of Scripture, in drawing of Conclusions from them, concerning the Nature of God. Our vain minds will soon grow wanton here, and cast reproach upon the glorious First Being, and provoke his just displeasure. It is good to be cautious how we approach too near to him that is a consuming Fire.
USE 1. THE consideration of this Conclusion, will afford us Direction, how to regulate our Conceptions, and Expressions about GOD; and how to expound them. It tells us that all is to be understood after the manner of men, according to our conception, and not according to the Nature of God properly. Though the things concerning God, which are revealed in the Scriptures, are not false, but true, yet they are infinitely short of expressing his sublimity, and they are very improper. We must always remember that God is inconceivably more, and better, than all that is or can be said of him. And it may also teach us to have a care how far we strein the humane expressions of Scripture, in drawing of Conclusions from them, concerning the Nature of God. Our vain minds will soon grow wanton here, and cast reproach upon the glorious First Being, and provoke his just displeasure. It is good to be cautious how we approach too near to him that is a consuming Fire.
USE 2. WE are here taught, what is the infinite Disproportion between the happiness of GOD, and that of his People. God as he is in himself, his Essence, his Face, his Light unapproachable, is his own portion and felicity; But God in his Backparts, his Attributes, his Communicable glory, is the heritage and happiness of his Children. He is happy in himself, and therefore called God blessed for ever. He