A59693:242
Theses Sabbaticæ, or, The doctrine of the Sabbath wherein the Sabbaths I. Morality, II.…
Theses Sabbaticæ, or, The doctrine of the Sabbath wherein the Sabbaths I. Morality, II. Change, III. Beginning. IV. Sanctification, are clearly discussed, which were first handled more largely in sundry sermons in Cambridge in New-England in opening of the Fourth Commandment : in unfolding whereof many scriptures are cleared, divers cases of conscience resolved, and the moral law as a rule of life to a believer, occasionally and distinctly handled / by Thomas Shepard ...Theses Sabbaticæ, or, The doctrine of the Sabbath wherein the Sabbaths I. Morality, II. Change, III. Beginning. IV. Sanctification, are clearly discussed, which were first handled more largely in sundry sermons in Cambridge in New-England in opening of the Fourth COmmandment : in unfolding whereof many scriptures are cleared, divers cases of conscience resolved, and the morall law as a rule of life to a believer, occasionally and distinctly handled / by Thomas Shepard ...
London: printed by T.R. and E.M. for John Rothwell, 1650
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.
Thesis 83.
If sin be the transgression of the law (which is a truth written by the Apostle with the beams of the Sun, 1 John §833.4.) then of necessity a Believer is bound to attend the law as his rule, that so he may not sin or transgress that rule, Psalm 119.11. for whoever makes conscience of sin, cannot but make conscience of observing the rule, that so he may not sin, and consequently whoever make no conscience of observing the rule do openly profess thereby that they make no conscience of committing any sin, which is palpable and down-right Atheism and profaneness; nay it is such profaneness (by some mens principles) which Christ hath purchased for them by his blood; for they make the death of Christ the foundation of this liberty and freedom from the law as their rule; the very thought of which abominable doctrine may smite a heart, who hath the least tenderness, with horror and trembling. Porquius therefore a great Libertine, ⟨p. 70⟩and the Beelzebub of those flies in Calvins time, shuts his sore eyes against this definition of sin,1 delivered by the Apostle, and makes this only to be a sin, viz. to see, know, or feel sin, and that the great sin of man is to think that he doth sin, and that this is to put off the old man, viz. Non cernendo amplius peccatum, i. by not seeing sin. So that when the Apostle tells us that sin is the transgression of the law, Porquius tells us, That sin is the seeing and taking notice of any such transgression; surely if they that confess sin shall find mercy, then they that will not so much as see sin shall find none at all: A Believer indeed is to dye unto the Law, and to see no sin in himself in point of imputation (for so he sees the truth, there being no condemnation to them in Christ Jesus) but thus to dye unto the law, so as to see no sin inherent in himself, against the law, this is impious (for so to see no sin and die unto the law is an untruth, if the Apostle may be believed,