N00766:22
The everlasting Gospel. The Gospel of justification by the righteousness of God; as 'tis…
The everlasting Gospel. The Gospel of justification by the righteousness of God; as 'tis held and preached in the churches of New-England: expressed in a brief discourse on that important article; made at Boston in the year, 1699. / By Cotton Mather. ; And, asserted with the attestations, of several Reverend and eminent persons, now most considerable in those churches.The everlasting Gospel. The Gospel of justification by the righteousness of God; as 'tis held and preach'd in the churches of New-England: expressed in a brief discourse on that important article; made at Boston in the year, 1699. / By Cotton Mather. ; And, asserted with the attestations, of several Reverend and eminent persons, now most considerable in those churches.
Boston: printed by B. Green for Nicholas Buttolph, 1700
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Dedication: The Dedication. TO The Reverend Ministers Of the Gospel in London, Sometimes Honoured w…
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.
Briefly, We have the Testimony of that Man of an Excellent Spirit, the Reverend Mr. How: We are all agreed, That a Sinner, can never be Saved, but he must be Justified, and he must be Sanctified: That such Justification, and such Sanctification, are both the Effects of most absolutely free and Sovereign Grace: That the Righteousness is entirely and only Christs, by which we are Justified, and the Spirit is most entirely and only Christs, by which we are Sanctified: That whoever doth sincerely, Evangelically Believe in God through Christ, Receive Christ, and is United with Him; and by serious Repentance turn to God, and having been made willing in the day of His Power, doth now render sincere Obedience to Him; Every such one is Accepted with God: others are liable to abiding wrath: That such Faith, such Repentance, such Obedience, even in the most entire Sincerity, are not to be considered at all, as any cause of a Persons ⟨image ?⟩Acceptance with God; they Characterize the Accepted Person, but cause it not; no internal Work of the Holy Ghost can be any part of the Righteousness, that must Justify us before God.
Reverend Sirs▪ let it not be a Wonder to you, that your Divisions are so to us, when we can discover so little, that is left for you to Divide upon. 'Tis a frequent Occurrence in the World, Maxima Odia ex levissimis Causis; but when such a Thing Occurs in the Church, it must certainly be reckoned among the Devices of Satan, and, why may it not be ascribed unto his Energies? However, We do not see the least Cause, for You, O ye Men of God, to be suspicious of Each other, as having a Design to betray the Protestant Religion, and maintain your Suspicions, with a strong Indisposition to be Cured of those Evil Surmises: For You, to disparage the Persons and Labours and discourage the Ministry of Each other, and seem to delight in occasions for Disparagement: For You, to write against each other, with poignant Invectives; or, do any thing but that whereby Men may know, that ye are the Disciples of the Patient JESUS; any thing that can't stand before the Thirteenth Chapter, in the First Epistle to the Corinthians.