A34674:163
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.
3 The Promises serve also for Exhortation, as the Scripture last alleged holdeth forth: For so many blessings as you see propounded in the Promises, so many invitations are there to provoke mens souls to come unto Christ; as old Jacob sometimes provoked his Sons, Gen. 42.1,2. so saith the Lord to the Sons of men in his Promises, Why stand ye gazing in the want of this and that blessing? Is there not pardon of sin, and all manner of blessings in Jesus Christ? Thus is the soul exhorted, not only to look for mercy, but not to rest till he may enjoy it. Though it be not the Promises that can by their own power carry men an end, yet this is the end to which God giveth them, to stir up the Sons of men, not to rest in beholding the good things in the Promises, but to exhort them to provoke themselves and one another, to look after the ⟨p. 90⟩Lord; thus did the Apostle Peter exhort the Jews, and testified to them of the free grace of God in his Promises, Acts 2.40. and indeed the Promises are strong grounds of Exhortation to stir up the spirits of all Gods people to look to Jesus Christ, and to come unto him in whom such abundance of rich grace is laid up. Thus do the Promises of God furnish both Ministers and people, with Doctrine, with Instruction, with Exhortation, in their kinds.
3 The Promises serve also for Exhortation, as the Scripture last alleadged holdeth forth: For so many blessings as you see propounded in the Promises, so many invitations are there to provoke mens soules to come unto Christ; as old Jacob sometimes provoked his Sons, Gen. 42.1,2. so saith the Lord to the Sons of men in his Promises, Why stand ye gazing in the want of this and that blessing? Is there not pardon of sin, and all manner of blessings in Jesus Christ? Thus is the soul exhorted, not onely to look for mercy, but not to rest till he may enjoy it. Though it be not the Promises that can by their owne power carry men an end, yet this is the end to which God giveth them, to stir up the Sons of men, not to rest in beholding the good things in the Promises, but to exhort them to provoke themselves and one another, to look after the ⟨p. 90⟩