A59693:989
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 18.
The fourth is, This holiness ought not only to be immediate,§18 special and constant, but all these holy duties are thus to be performed of us as that hereby we may enter into Rest; so as that our souls may find and feel the sweet of the true Rest of the Sabbath; and therefore it must be a sweet and quieting holiness also: for the Sabbath is not only called a Sabbath of Rest in respect of our exemption from bodily labour, but because it is so to be sanctified as that on this day we enter into Rest, or such a fruition of God as gives rest to our souls; otherwise we never sanctify a Sabbath aright, because we then fall short of this which is the main end thereof, until we come so to seek God as that we find him, and so find him as that we feel Rest in him, in drawing near to him and standing before him: that as God after his six days labour did Rest and was refreshed in the fruition of himself, so should we after our six days labour also, be refreshed in the presence of the Lord; That in case we want means upon the Sabbath, yet he may be in lieu of them unto us; and in case ⟨p. 88⟩we have them and find but little by them conveyed to us, yet that by that little we may be carried on the wings of faith beyond all means unto that Rest which upon this day we may find in his bosom: that as Christ after his labours entered into his Rest, Heb 4. so we ought to labour after the same Sabbatism begun here on earth, but perfected in Heaven; that after all the weary steps we tread, and sins and sorrows we find all the week, yet when the Sabbath comes we may say return unto thy Rest oh my soul. The end of all labour is rest; so the end of all our bodily and spiritual labour, whether on the week-days of Sabbath day, it should be this Rest: and we should never think that we have reached the end of the day until we Taste the Rest of the Day: nor is this Rest a Meteor in the Air and a thing only to be wished for, but can never be found; but assuredly those who are wearied with their sins in the week and wants on the Sabbath, and feel a need of rest and refreshing, shall certainly have the blessing, viz. the Rest of these seasons of refreshing and rest, and the comforts of the Holy Ghost filling their hearts this day.