A34674:339
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.
The Result of the Disputations of the Synod, or Assembly, at Cambri… › Part › Question 1
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.
Answ. The want of a right stating of this Question, touching the Civil Magistrates power in matters of Religion, hath occasioned a world of Errors, tending to infringe the just power of the Magistrate, we shall therefore explain the terms of the Question, and then confirm it in the Affirmative.
Answ. The want of a right stating of this Question, touching the Civil Magistrates power in matters of Religion, hath occasioned a world of Errours, tending to infringe the just power of the Magistrate, we shall therefore explaine the termes of the Question, and then confirme it in the Affirmative.
By [Commanding, Forbidding, and Punishing] we meant the coercive power of the Magistrate, which is seen in such acts. By [Matters of Religion commanded or forbidden in the word, respecting the outward man] we understand indefinitely, whether those of Doctrine or Discipline, of faith or practice; his power is not limited to such matters of Religion only, which are against the light of Nature, or against the Law of Nations, or against the fundamentals of Religion; all these are matters of Religion, ⟨p. 3⟩which may be expressed by the outward man, but not only these; therefore we say not barely thus [In matters of the first Table] but join therewith [In matters of Religion] that all ambiguity may be avoided, and that it may be understood as well of matters which are purely Evangelical, so far as expressed by the outward man, at well as of other things. And we say, [Commanded or forbidden in the word] meaning of the whole word, both of the Old and New Testament; exception being only made of such things which were merely Ceremonial, or otherwise peculiar to the Jewish polity, and cleared to be abolished in the New Testament: By which limitation of the Magistrates power to things commanded or forbidden in the word, we exclude any power of the Magistrate, either in commanding any new thing, whether in doctrine or discipline, or any thing in matters of Religion, which is beside or against the word, or in forbidding any thing which is according to the word.