A59693:578
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 204.
For though it be true that we are to rest every day §204from sin, yet it will not hence follow, that every day is to be a Christians Sabbath, and that no one day in seven is to be set apart for it: For 1. Upon the same ground Adam should have had no Sabbath, because he was to rest from sin every day. 2. The Jews also before Christ, should have rejected all Sabbaths, because they were then bound to rest from sin as well as Christians now. 3. Upon the same ground there must be no days of fasting or feasting under the Gospel, because we are to fast from sin every day, and to be joyful and thankful every day. I know some Libertines of late say so; but upon the same ground there should have been none under the law neither, for they were then bound as well as we to fast from sin. 4. Hence neither should any man pay his debts, because he is bound to be paying his debt of love to God and all men every day. 5. Hence also no man should pray at any time in his family, nor alone by himself solemnly, because a Christian is bound to pray continually: And indeed I did not think that any forehead could be so bold and brazen as to make such a conclusion; but while I was writing this, came to my hearing concerning a seaman who came to these coasts from London, miserably deluded with principles of Familism, who when an honest New-English man his Cabin-mate invited him to go ⟨p. 180⟩along and pray together, considering their necessities, he would professedly refuse to do it upon this ground, viz. Dost not pray continually? Why then should we pray together now? 6. The Commandment of the Sabbath doth not therefore press us to rest only from such works as are in themselves evil, which God allows at no ti but from the works of our callings and weekly employments which are in themselves lawful and of necessity to be attended on at some time. It is therefore a loose and groundless assertion to make every day under the Gospel to be a Christians Sabbath day.