A59693:287
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 102.
They that say the law is our rule as it is given by Christ, §102but not as it was given by Moses, do speak niceties, at least ambiguities; for if the Lord Christ give the law to a Believer as his rule, why should any then raise a dust, and affirm that the law is not our rule? For the Law may be considered either materially, or in it self, as it contains the matter of the Covenant of works: and thus considered, a Believer is not to be regulated by it, for he is wholly free from it as a covenant of life; or it may be considered finally, or rather relatively, as it stood in relation and reference unto the people of the God of Abraham, who were already under Abraham's Covenant, which was a Covenant of free-grace, ⟨p. 87⟩viz. To be his God and the God of his seed, Gen. 17.7. And in this latter respect the law, as it was given by Moses, was given by Christ in Moses, and therefore the rule of love toward man (commanded by Moses) is called the law of Christ, Gal. 6.2. For the law as it was applied to this people, doth not run thus, viz. Do all this, and then I will be your God and redeemer (for this is a Covenant of works) but thus, viz. I am the Lord thy God (viz. by Abraham's Covenant) who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and house of bondage, Therefore thou shalt do all this. If therefore the law delivered by Moses, was delivered by Christ in Moses, then there is no reason to set Christ and Moses together by the ears, in this respect I now speak of, and to affirm that the law, not as delivered by Moses, but as given by Christ, is our law and rule.