A34674:170
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.
Indeed the Lord would have the Jews to know, that though he were married to them, yet he would not continue that Covenant, but upon condition of obedience; when they were disobedient, the Lord gave them a bill of Divorce; but in the Covenant of Grace (spoken of, Hos. 2.19,20.) the Lord giveth himself, and you take him in an absolute Promise; and now the Lord dwelleth in you, and the soul yieldeth up it self unto God, to be wholly at his disposing, and doth not stint nor limit God upon this and this condition, nor doth the Lord so bind us to the performance of any condition, as that if it be not found, the Covenant will be void, yet he requireth many things of us (as an Husband will do of his wife) as to be meek and lowly, &c. but if we fail, the Covenant is not broken; therefore believe it, it doth much dishonour the Covenant of Grace, to lay the weight of our interest in it, upon any Condition by which we might plead our right unto it. I confess that the Lord doth usually give himself in a future Promise, which makes us conceive that ⟨p. 95⟩it is not so absolute a Covenant: when persons give themselves one to another, they give themselves absolutely, and not in a future Promise, and say, I take thee to be my wife, and I take thee to be mine Husband; but all times are alike unto God, that if the Lord say, I will marry thee to me in tender mercies, and faithfulness, and loving kindness, he doth that for the present, which he promiseth to do; and again it breeds in the soul a Reciprocal Union, that though it know not whether the Lord hath given himself, yet this it findeth, namely, a patient waiting with hope, that the Lord will show mercy at the length: as when a woman hath a promise of marriage from her Husband, she waiteth in hope until he give himself: so there is an Union or Contract, when the soul doth wait upon God, but when the Lord giveth himself more fully, then he speaketh more plainly, and giveth himself, not in a future, but in a present Promise; and now the soul seeth that the Lord hath gracious fellowship with him, for ever and ever.
Indeed the Lord would have the Jewes to know, that though he were marryed to them, yet he would not continue that Covenant, but upon condition of obedience; when they were disobedient, the Lord gave them a bill of Divorce; but in the Covenant of Grace (spoken of,