A34674:520
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.
1 From that famous example, Acts 15. where the Synod meets, and site, without the call of Civil Authority; there being then no Christian Magistrate.
2 Because the power of the constitution of Synods, as properly such, firstly resideth with, ariseth from, and lastly returneth to particular Churches.
3 Because the power of the Magistrate tends not to the being, but to the better being of Synods; and added thereunto is accumulative, not privative (i. e.) it adds strength to it, but takes not any power from it: Hence a Synod may in ease be without ⟨p. 70⟩any consent of the Magistrate, but cannot be without some consent, explicit or implicit, of the Churches.
3 Because the power of the Magistrate tends not to the being, but to the better being of Synods; and added thereunto is accumulative, not privative (i. e.) it adds strength to it, but takes not any power from it: Hence a Synod may in ease be without ⟨p. 70⟩any consent of the Magistrate, but cannot be without some consent, explicite or implicite, of the Churches.