A34674:240
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.
Do not trust, as not upon gifts, nor upon duties performed by those gifts, to reach the blessing; so look not for your Justification from thence at all; for the Apostle is plain, that he looked not for any thing for his righteousness before his conversion; and after his conversion, he counteth it all as dross and dung, that he might win Christ, Phil. 3.6,7,8. And, for our faith, they are not to be trusted upon as grounds of our Faith; for all the gifts of our sanctification ⟨p. 161⟩are fruits of our Faith; and therefore our Faith is said to work by love, Gal. 5.6. and so it doth by all other gifts of the Spirit, and if they be fruits of Faith, then Faith is not built upon them.
Doe not trust, as not upon gifts, nor upon duties performed by those gifts, to reach the blessing; so look not for your Justification from thence at all; for the Apostle is plaine, that he looked not for any thing for his righteousness before his conversion; and after his conversion, he counteth it all as drosse and dung, that he might win Christ, Phil. 3.6,7,8. And, for our faith, they are not to be trusted upon as grounds of our Faith; for all the gifts of our sanctification ⟨p. 161⟩are fruits of our Faith; and therefore our Faith is said to worke by love, Gal. 5.6. and so it doth by all other gifts of the Spirit, and if they be fruits of Faith, then Faith is not built upon them.
And thus much of the second Use which Christians are to make of their Sanctification.