A80637:196
A treatise of the covenant of grace, as it is dispensed to the elect…
A treatise of the covenant of grace, as it is dispensed to the elect seed, effectually unto salvation. Being the substance of divers sermons preached upon Act. 7. 8. / by that eminently holy and judicious man of God, Mr. John Cotton, teacher of the church at Boston in N.E.
London: printed by Ja. Cottrel for John Allen, 1659
THE COVENANT OF GRACE, As it is Dispensed to the Elect Seed, effect… › Part 100-150
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.
Now if you shall ask me, Quest. 1 wherefore the Lord will have us pursue after Holiness; and what needeth it, if the Spirit of Holiness dwell in me by an everlasting Covenant? if it did withdraw from us as it did from Adam, it was another matter; but though it may be quenched in us, yet abideth it for ever: what need then of gifts of Holiness?
That one word may be sufficient, Answ. which we find in 2 Tim. 2.21. If any man purge himself from these evils, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified and meet for the Masters use, and prepared unto every good work. This showeth us why gifts of Holiness are requisite to be in Gods people, namely, that they might become meet instruments in the hands of God, and fitted unto every good word and work; therefore it is, that the Lord will have us to be filled with all the gifts of Righteousness, and fruits of his Spirit, that we might be more fit Temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in: and this is the principal Reason of the Point.
That one word may be sufficient, Answ. which we find in 2 Tim. 2.21. If any man purge himself from these evils, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified and meet for the Masters use, and prepared unto every good work. This sheweth us why gifts of Holiness are requisite to be in Gods people, namely, that they might become meet instruments in the hands of God, and fitted unto every good word and work; therefore it is, that the Lord will have us to be filled with all the gifts of Righteousness, and fruits of his Spirit, that we might be more fit Temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in: and this is the principal Reason of the Point.
If then there be such gifts of holiness, Quest. 2 what need the Holy Ghost dwell in us? is it not enough that he should shed abroad these