A34674:53
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 God gave himself to be a God unto Abraham, and to his seed. This is such an Argument as the strength and wisdom of men and Angels cannot unfold: It is a Catechism point, and by way of Catechism to be opened (as the Lord hath revealed it) I mean, plainly and familiarly.
1 God gave himselfe to be a God unto Abraham, and to his seed. This is such an Argument as the strength and wisdome of men and Angels cannot unfold: It is a Catechisme point, and by way of Catechisme to be opened (as the Lord hath revealed it) I mean, plainly and familiarly.
2 God did receive Abraham and his seed to be his people, this is implied and necessarily inferred by the Rule of Relatives; for if God do give himself to be a God unto Abraham, and to his seed, and doth not expressly prerequire it of Abraham and of his seed, that they should give up themselves to be his people; then it must of necessity follow, that the Lord will undertake to receive them to be a people ⟨p. 6⟩unto himself, and prevent them in that grace, and so he will perform both his own part of the Covenant, and Abraham's part also; according to what we read, Deut. 7.6,7,8. when as they were in a Land of Idols, and the Lord lifted up his hand to have destroyed them there, yet he remembered and wrought for his own Name sake: so that though they were far off, yet the Lord (to make good his Covenant) brought them out of Egypt, and so from one Covenant to another; by all which things it doth appear, that the Lord will keep our part of the Covenant also; and this is necessarily implied, in that he promiseth to be a God unto Abraham, and to his seed; and there is no express Restipulation pre-required on Abraham's part. We see this likewise held forth, Deut. 29.1.13. where the Lord entereth into another Covenant with them, in the Land of Moab, besides the Covenant which he made with them in Horeb, and in this Covenant he doth establish them to be a people unto himself, as well as give himself to them to be their God, vers. 13. and as God required it of