A59693:354
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.
1. That sanctification, faith, &c. might be no evidence at all to a Christian of a good estate, for this they say is a doubtful evidence and an unsettling way of assurance; because they will hereby be as bones out of joint, in and out; humbled to day, and then comforted, but hard-hearted to morrow, and then at a loss: whereas to see ones self a sinner, that is a constant evidence, for we are alway sinners, and the Gospel proclaims peace to sinners as sinners.
1. That sanctification, faith, &c. might be no evidence at all to a Christian of a good estate, for this they say is a doubtfull evidence and an unsettling way of assurance; because they will hereby be as bones out of joynt, in and out; humbled to day, and then comforted, but hard-hearted to morrow, and then at a losse: whereas to see ones self a sinner, that is a constant evidence, for we are alway sinners, and the Gospel proclaims peace to sinners as sinners.
2. That so men may keep their lusts and sins and yet keep their peace too, for if peace be the portion of a man under the power of sin and Satan; look then, as he may have it, why may he not keep it upon the same terms: And therefore W. C. saith, That if conscience object, thou art an hypocrite (perhaps truly) yet a hypocrite is but a sinner, and Gods love belongs to sinners as sinners: And if this be thus, what doth this doctrine aim at, but to reconcile God and Belial, Christ and Mammon? not only to open the door to all manner of wickedness, but to comfort men therein,
2. That so men may keep their lusts and sins and yet keep their peace too, for if peace be the portion of a man under the power of sin and Satan; look then, as he may have it, why may he not keep it upon the same terms: And therefore W. C. saith, That if conscience object, thou art an hypocrite (perhaps truly) yet a hypocrite is but a sinner, and Gods love belongs to sinners as sinners: And if this be thus, what doth this doctrine aim at, but to reconcile God and Belial, Christ and Mammon? not onely to open the door to all manner of wickednesse, but to comfort men therein,