N01348:35
A treatise I. Of faith. II. Twelve fundamental articles of Christian religion. III. A…
A treatise I. Of faith. II. Twelve fundamental articles of Christian religion. III. A doctrinal conclusion. IV. Questions and answers upon church-government. Taken from written copies long since delivered by the late Reverend Mr. John Cotton, teacher of the First Church in Boston, in New-England.
Boston: printed by Bartholemew Green?, 1713
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.
A. He speaketh of both, for in the verse next before (ver. 5.) he putteth Timothy in mind of the unfeigned faith which (saith he) is in thee, & which dwelt first in thy Grandmother Lois, and in thy Mother Eunice, and now in thee also: Whence the Reason is plain, if unfeigned faith, and other such like Gifts of God dwelt in Timothy, and in his Mother, and in his Grandmother, then there be Gifts and Graces accompanying Salvation, that dwells in such as are Effectually Called.
But the former is plain out of the Text, and therefore so is the latter, in 2 Cor. 6.6. The Apostle saith, He with other Apostles approved themselves as the Ministers of Christ, by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned.
Obj. But by these Paul and the rest approved themselves as the Ministers of Christ, and therefore he speaketh of Ministerial Gifts, not as Gifts accompanying Salvation?
A. The Inference is naught, for a man cannot approve himself as a Minister of Christ by Ministerial Gifts, without such Gifts as do accompany Salvation; and therefore the Apostle doth plainly instance, not only in Ministerial Gifts, but such as also do accompany Salvation, as pureness, long-suffering, love unfeigned; in