A34674:135
The Covenant of Grace
The covenant of grace discovering the great work of a sinners reconciliation to God / by John Cotton ... ; whereunto are added Certain queries tending to accommodation [sic] between the Presbyterian and Congregational churches ; also a discussion of the civill magistrates power in matters of religion ; by the same author.The covenant of grace discovering the great work of a sinners reconciliation to God / by John Cotton ... ; whereunto are added Certain queries tending to accommodadation [sic] between the Presbyterian and Congregationall churches ; also a discussion of the civill magistrates power in matters of religion ; by the same author.
London: printed by M.S. for Francis Eglesfield and John Allen, 1655
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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. There is Difference also in the Rule whereby they are guided, though both seek to the word of God & take delight in that, insomuch as you shall not be able to difference them there, yet a great difference there is in the apprehension of the word: the one is so confident of the comfort that he hath in the word, and he will be ready to take it ill at Gods hand, if he find not acceptance before him: Now the other see the need they have of the Lord to maintain their comfort for them. This manner of affection we find in David, when the Lord had brought him and his people into a sweet frame and temper of spirit to offer willingly towards the building of the Temple; what saith David now? Doth he think this to be enough? No, no, but he prayeth to the Lord, 1 Chron. 29.18. O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel our fathers keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee. Thus is he sensible that these comforts would soon fail them, & they should again wax barren and uncomfortable. And here is the nature of true Consolation ⟨p. 68⟩in Christ, to look up unto the Lord to preserve and maintain it, and so he is still drawn nearer & nearer to Christ. But now though both attend unto the Word, as their Rule of Sanctification, if you take it in the way, in which the one and the other hold it forth, yet there is a great difference. Psal. 119.6. Then shall I not be ashamed, &c. Here is a Rule; what, may not hypocrites walk according to this rule? Truly they profess no less, and they think it enough, if they have but a Rule in their eye, and therefore under a spirit of bondage they are confident and say, Whatsoever the Lord commandeth us, we will hear it and do it, Deut. 5.27. And what saith Balaam; Though Balaack would give me an house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the Commandment of the Lord, Numb. 22.18. and yet he loved the wages of iniquity; and indeed those that undertake so much in their own strength, they come afterward to be weary of the Lord, and weary of his Commandments: as Amos 8.5