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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 15 (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.
1. GOD doth possess a Divine happiness. Hence the title of Blessed is so often ascribed to him in Scripture; yea, he is said to be God blessed for ever. And Happiness, in our notion, ariseth from the affluence of all suitable and sufficient good; that which is fitted to the nature of the Being, and of which there is enough.
1. GOD doth possess a Divine happiness. Hence the title of Blessed is so often ascribed to him in Scripture; yea, he is said to be God blessed for ever. And Happiness, in our notion, ariseth from the affluence of all sutable and sufficient good; that which is fitted to the nature of the Being, and of which there is enough.
2. HE hath all this in himself independently upon the Creature: and hitherto belongs the Attribute of his Independency. He hath no need to fetch in any supply from abroad: He wanted nothing in those eternal Ages, when he was alone, and there was no being beside him: his own Being satisfieth him abundantly. Earthly Monarchs are not self-sufficient. Eccl. 5.9. Moreover, the profit of the earth is for all […] the king himself is served by the field But the First Being derives nothing from the second; for that hath nothing but what is received from the First. 1 Cor. 4.7. For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Heathen Lucr•sius, speaking of the Divine Nature, could say, Ipsa suis valens Opibus, non indigna nostri. We stand in need of Meat, Drink, Clothing, and all from Abroad, to support this life of ours: but God hath his life in and of himself. Joh. 5.26. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath •e given to the Son to have life in himself. And in this regard he saith, That his Name is, I AM THAT I AM,