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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 19 (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.
(2.) THAT he is without possibility of Beginning, Succession, or Ending of Time. And this is something more than to be so: he not only lives forever; but he cannot die: he is without any potentiality, or passive power; and so Christ came under the revolutions of time: which will be fully exhibited in the next particular.
(2.) THAT he is without possibility of Beginning, Succession, or Ending of Time. And this is something more than to be so: he not only lives forever; but he cannot dy: he is without any potentiality, or passive power; and so Christ came under the revolutions of time: which will be fully exhibited in the next particular.
3. ETERNITY is GOD, i. e. It is his alone Prerogative to be Eternal. It is a title which belongs to none but the First Being: all other things are the offspring of time. But for our right understanding of this, we must a little distinguish of the different usage of the word [Eternity] in Scripture. Sometimes it is used for a set period of time, which is of long continuance, but yet hath its date; so the word forever, and everlasting, are used often in the Old Testament. He that served till the Year of Ja•••e, is said to serve forever, (Exod. 21.6.) the Ceremonial statutes are said to be forever, (Numb 10.8.) and therefore, sometimes a proper Eternity is distinguished by the reduplication of these words, as forever & ever, and from Everlasting to Everlasting. Again, There are some Creatures, which are made for endless continuance, and are accordingly made without any seeds of Corruption in their Constitution: such are all constant natures, as the Third Heaven, Angels, and the Scars of men: which, because they shall actually abide forever, and have natures incapable of ••••ing, either by outward Created face, or any inward inclination to di••lut••ns, are therefore in a sense said to be Eternal, as being indeed actually Everlasting. Yet there is a vast difference between the Everlastingness of these, and the Eternity of God. For, 1. THEY all of them had a beginning: They received their being by Creation. (