A80637:66
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 1-50
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.
2. As God thus prepareth us for himself: so he doth give himself unto us, and taketh possession of us by his blessed Spirit: the Father giveth himself and his Son by his blessed Spirit, (for the Spirit it is by which he doth visit the hearts of his people) and this is the main Blessing of the Covenant of Grace. For the better clearing of it, it may be demanded,
How doth the Lord give himself unto his People, Quest. and his People back again to receive him?
1. They being thus prepared, Answ. the Spirit of God taketh up his seat in the soul, by making it a Temple unto himself, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son; and so are they made an habitation of God through the Spirit, Ephes. 2.22. Because ye are Sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, &c. Gal. 4.6. (He speaketh not of sons by actual Regeneration, but by Gods eternal Counsel.) The fame Spirit is also called the Comforter, whom Jesus Christ hath promised to send, Joh. 16.7, 8, 9. If I depart, I will send you the Comforter; and when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they believe not in me: this the Holy Ghost convinceth men of, to be the ⟨p. 20⟩greatest misery of the soul, that they have not believed upon Jesus Christ. And look as a talent of gold, or some weighty metal falling into a vessel of water, dasheth out all that is in the vessel, to make room for it self: so the Lord Jesus Christ coming into the soul, dasheth out all watery confidences, and maketh room for himself. And in very deed, because the heart of man is not only like unto water, but is hard as ye, and strong; therefore the Spirit of God cometh like fire, and melteth the iron stone of the heart, and softeneth it into flesh; so that now the soul is utterly at a loss, not only in regard of his sins, but in regard of his best works also; and is most of all convinced of his unbelief. Now this holy Spirit of God being thus shed abroad into the heart, at the very first entrance of it into the soul, as it doth chiefly convince the soul of unbelief; so,