N02384:53
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.
WITH what Prudence and Faithfulness, Diligence and Impartiality, he discharged the Duties of his Pastoral Office to this Flock, GOD, CHRIST and ANGELS are Witnesses; and I doubt not but he has received the Testimony hereof from many in the World of Perfected Spirits, who have been Blessing God for him, as the Instrument by whom they have been led to Glory: And I trust there are many yet Living, and now Standing before God, who are the Seals of his Ministry, and will be his CROWN and JOY in the Day of the Lord. In his whole Ministry he expressed a true Love and Zeal for Christ, and tender Compassion to Immortal Souls: There was light, heat and life in all his Addresses to them, which argued he well understood the worth of Souls, and had a just sense of their miserable Apostate Circumstances.
WITH what Prudence and Faithfulness, Diligence and Importiality, he discharged the Duties of his Pastoral Office to this Flock, GOD, CHRIST and ANGELS are Witnesses; and I doubt not but he has received the Testimony hereof from many in the World of Perfected Spirits, who have been Blessing God for him, as the Instrument by whom they have been led to Glory: And I trust there are many yet Living, and now Standing before God, who are the Seals of his Ministry, and will be his CROWN and JOY in the Day of the Lord. In his whole Ministry he expressed a true Love and Zeal for Christ, and tender Compassion to Immortal Souls: There was light, heat and life in all his Addresses to them, which argued he well understood the worth of Souls, and had a just sense of their miserable Apostate Circumstances.
HIS Discourses were all Elaborate, Acute and Judicious; smelt of the Lamp, and had nothing Mean in them. His common Sermons might have been pronounced with Applause before an Assembly of the greatest Divines. The Matter of his Public Discourses was always weighty; his Subjects well chosen; suited to the State of his Flock, and every way adapted to make them Wiser and Petter. The Articles of Faith he Opened and Confirmed; the Duties of Holiness he Explained, and Enforced with the most powerful Arguments; and with an Address suited to melt the rocky Heart, to bow the stubborn Will, to humble the proudest Sinner, and charm the deafest Adder. The Manner in which he delivered his Discourses was agreeable to the Matter. In respect of both he spoke as became the ORACLES of GOD. With Gravity, Courage, Zeal and Prudence, and with tender Bowels to perishing Souls. His Language was always good; his Stile Masculine, not Perplexed, but Easy as well as Strong. And when the Matter required it, no Man could speak with a greater Pathos and Pungency.