A34674:355
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.
9. That hereby Christians are discouraged from seeking more light or hindered from embracing or following such new light as the Saints expect in these latter days. When as its evident that the commanding and forbidding ⟨p. 13⟩things cleared in the Word, to be good or evil, doth neither express what light men have from the Word, nor discourage from more light in & from the same, as not in matters of the second Table, so neither of the first.
9. That hereby Christians are discouraged from seeking more light or hindred from embracing or following such new light as the Saints expect in these latter dayes. When as its evident that the commanding and forbidding ⟨p. 13⟩things cleared in the Word, to be good or evill, doth neither expresse what light men have from the Word, nor discourage from more light in & from the same, as not in matters of the second Table, so neither of the first.
10. That thereby conscientious men especially, will come to suffer, because Magistrates may think things commanded or forbidden of God, and accordingly ratify them by their authority, which God did never command or forbid, when as the question is not concerning Magistrates enjoining what they think, but what is the mind of God; nor can the pressing of the mind of God commanding what he requireth, and forbidding the contrary, be any just or proper cause of suffering to men truly conscientious.
10. That thereby conscientious men especially, will come to suffer, because Magistrates may think things commanded or forbidden of God, and accordingly ratifie them by their authority, which God did never command or forbid, when as the question is not concerning Magistrates enjoyning what they thinke, but what is the minde of God; nor can the pressing of the minde of God commanding what he requieth, and forbidding the contrary, be any just or proper cause of suffering to men truly conscientious.