A59693:342
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.
I confess such an answer would well become a blind Papist who never knew where grace grew (for so they dispute against certitudo salutis certitudine fidei, when the conclusion of faith ariseth from such a proposition as is the word of God, and the assumption the testimony of Gods Spirit to a mans own experience of the work of God in his heart) but it ill beseems a Minister of the Gospel of Christ to plead for such popish ignorance in a Christian as can see no further then his own buttons, and that cannot discern by the Spirit of God the great and wonderful change from darkness to light, from death to life, from Satan to God, the visible work of God, and graces of the Spirit of God, the things (which the Apostle calls love) are fr•ely given to them of God. 1 Cor. 2.12. Peters was imperfect, blotted and mixed, and yet he could say, Lord, thou knowest I love thee. Joh. 21.17, the poor doubting mourning man in the Gospel had some faith, and was able to see it and say certainly, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Could Paul discern (without extraordinary revelation because he speaks as an ordinary Christian) an inner man and a Law in his mind, delighting in the Law of God, yet mixed with a Law in his members, leading him captive into the Law of sin, and cannot we? and yet the Doctor doth cast such stains upon sincerity, universal obedience, love to the brethren, &c. and heaps up the same cavils against the truth of them in the souls of the Saints, as the Devil himself usually doth by sinful suspicions and suggestions, when God lets him loose for a season to buffet his people, that so they may never know (if it were possible) what great things the Lord hath done for their souls: and whoever reads his book shall find that he makes a Believer such a creature as cannot tell certainly whether he be a sincere-hearted man or an errand hypocrite, whether he be under the power of sin and Satan or not: whether one man can be discerned from another to be a Saint or a devil, or whether he hath any charity and goes love to them that are Saints from them that are not:
I confesse such an answer would well become a blinde Papist who never knew where grace grew (for so they dispute against certitudo salutis certitudine fidei, when the conclusion of faith ariseth from such a proposition as is the word of God, and the assumption the testimony of Gods Spirit to a mans own experience of the work of God in his heart) but it ill beseems a Minister of the Gospel of Christ to plead for such popish ignorance in a Christian as can see no further then his own buttons, and that cannot discern by the Spirit of God the great and wonderfull change from darknesse to light, from death to life, from Satan to God, the visible work of God, and graces of the Spirit of God, the things (which the Apostle cals love) are frely given to them of God.