A34674:396
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.
Argum: 1
The first is taken from Rom. 13. If God will have every soul in and of the Churches, and that of Rome, as well as others, to be subject to civill Magistrates, as being powers ordained of God, v. 1. an Ordinance of God, v. 2. a terror not to good works, but to evil, v. 3. the ministry of God for their good, v. 4. and that for conscience sake, v. 5. Then Magistrates are to put forth coercive power in such matters of Religion, respecting the outward man. But the former is true, ergo, the latter.
The first is taken from Rom. 13. If God will have every soul in and of the Churches, and that of Rome, as well as others, to be subject to civill Magistrates, as being powers ordained of God, v. 1. an Ordinance of God, v. 2. a terrour not to good works, but to evill, v. 3. the ministry of God for their good, v. 4. and that for conscience sake, v. 5. Then Magistrates are to put forth coercive power in such matters of Religion, respecting the outward man. But the former is true, ergo, the latter.
Object. All this may be true, and yet verified only in matters of the second Table, and is extended to matters of the first, yet only to such things as are against the Law of Nations, or the light of Nature, and so no proof of that for which it is urged. He is a terror to evil works, but it is not said he is so to all evil works.