A59693:269
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 94.
The Law (say some of the Antinomians) is to be kept as an eternal rule of righteousness, but their meaning then is, That believers are thus to keep it in Christ who hath kept it for them, and if they meant no more but that Christ hath kept it for righteousness to their justification, they speak truly: but their meaning herein is not only in respect of their justification, but also in respect of their sanctification, for they make Christs righteousness to be materially and formally their sanctification: hence they say, A believer hath repented in Christ, and mortified sin in Christ, and that mortification and vivification is nothing but a believing that Christ hath mortified sin for them, and been quickened for them, and that That sanctification which is inherent in Christ, and not that which is inherent in us, is an evidence of our justification. But this principle which confounds a Christians justification, and sanctification, as it casts the seed of denying all inherent graces in a Believer, so it ⟨p. 79⟩lays the basis of refusing to do any duty, or conform to any law in our own persons: for if this principle be true (which no Orthodox writer doubts of) viz. That we are to seek for no righteousness in our selves to our justification, because we are perfectly just and made righteous for that end in Christ, then it will undeniably follow that we are not to seek for any holiness and sanctification in our selves, because we are perfectly sanctified also in Christ Jesus, who hath repented, and believed, and mortified sin perfectly for us in his own person; Look therefore as the perfection of Christs righteousness to our justification, should make a Christian abhor any personal righteousness of his own to his justification, so if we be perfectly sanctified in Christ, then perfection of Christs holiness to our sanctification should make a believer not only renounce the Law, but to abhor all personal holiness through the Spirit to our sanctification, and then a Believer must abhor to seek any love or fear of God in his heart, which is not painted but professed profaneness, and the inlet not per accidens but per se, to all manner of looseness and wickedness in the world.