A59693:256
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 88.
Some say, That the difference between the old Testament dispensation §88and the new, 1or pure Gospel and new Covenant, is this, to wit, That the one, or that of Moses was a Ministry from without, and that of Christ from within: and hence they say that the mere Commandments or letter of Scripture, is not a law to a Christian why he should walk in holy duties, but the law written on our hearts, the law of life. But if this be the difference between the old and new Testament dispensation, the ministry of the old, and the ministry of the new, then let all Believers burn their Bibles, and cast all the sacred writings of the new Testament & old, ⟨p. 74⟩unto spiders and cobwebs in old holes and corners, and never be read, spoken or meditated on, for these external things are none of Christs Ministry, on which now Believers are to attend: and then I marvel why the Apostles preached, or why they writ the Gospel for after times (for that was the chief end of their writing, as it was of the Prophets in their times, Isaiah 30.8.) that men might believe, and believing have eternal life, and know hereby that they have eternal life, John 20.31. 1 John 5.13. For either their writing and preaching the Gospel was not an external and outward Ministry (which is cross to common sense) or it was not Christs Ministry, which is blasphemous to imagine: and it is a vain shift for any to say, That although it was Christs Ministry, yet it was his Ministry as under the Law and in the flesh, and not in mere glory and spirit: for its evident that the Apostles preachings and writings, were the effect of Christs ascension and glory,