A34674:235
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.
If you shall mark the sins of all the servants of God, they have been chiefly found in the very exercise of their best gifts; let us take a little taste of them, that we may learn to use our gifts in the strength of Jesus Christ. Abraham a man full of Faith, none went beyond him in the old nor new Testament, yet if you read of any failing in him, it is in regard of the acting of Faith: what made him afraid not once but the 2d time, that his wife would be taken from him by Pharaoh? Gen. 12. by Abimelech, Chap. 20. had not the Lord promised to bless him wheresoever he came, Gen. 12.2. He had so much of the knowledge and grace of God shining in him, that Sarah needed not to have dissembled, and Abimelech (a poor Heathen) could say as much, Chap. 20.16. Behold thy Husband is to thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved: As if he should say, thou needest no shifts and lies for thy protection, ⟨p. 156⟩and to be a veil unto thee. This a poor Heathen can discern, that a man that hath God with him, needeth no other shifts nor covering to defend and shelter him. Thus we see that these great failings of Abraham were proper acts of unbelief.
If you shall mark the sins of all the servants of God, they have been chiefly found in the very exercise of their best gifts; let us take a little tast of them, that we may learn to use our gifts in the strength of Jesus Christ. Abraham a man full of Faith, none went beyond him in the old nor new Testament, yet if you read of any failing in him, it is in regard of the acting of Faith: what made him afraid not once but the 2d time, that his wife would be taken from him by Pharaoh? Gen. 12. by Abimelech, Chap. 20. had not the Lord promised to blesse him wheresoever he came, Gen. 12.2. He had so much of the knowledge and grace of God shining in him, that Sarah needed not to have dissembled, and Abimelech (a poor Heathen) could say as much, Chap. 20.16. Behold thy Husband is to thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved: As if he should say, thou needest no shifts and lyes for thy protection,