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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	free_a	grace_n	love_n	2,934	5	6.6495	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59693	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 ...	Shepard, Thomas, 1605-1649.	1650 (1650)	Wing S3145; ESTC R31814	262,948	313

the cause they handle is no other in truth then to vindicate the Sabbath both in the Doctrine and observation of it from Papists prophanesse and therefore all the world may see that under pretence of opposing in others a kinde of Iudaizing upon this day the adversaries of it do nothing else but maintain a grosse point of practicall Popery who are by Law most ignorant and grosse prophaners of this day and therefore when many of Christs servants are branded and condemned for placing so much of Religion in the observation of this day and yet Bishop White and some others of them shall acknowledge as much as they plead for if other Festivals be taken in with it ordained by the Church as that they are the Nursery of Religion and all vertue a meanes of planting Faith and saving knowledge of heavenly and temporall blessings and the prophanation of them hatefull to God and all good men that feare God and to be punished in those which shall offend they do hereby plainly hold forth what market they drive to and what spirit acts them in setting up mans posts by Gods Pillars and in giving equall honour to other Festivals and Holy dayes which those whom they oppose do maintaine as due to the Sabbath alone upon better grounds The Day star from on high visiting the first Reformers in Germany enabled them to see many things and so to scatter much yea most of the Popish and horrible darknesse which generally overspread the face of all Europe at that day but diverse of them did not as well they might not see all things with the like clearnesse whereof this of the Sabbath hath seemed to be one their chiefe difficulty lay here they saw a Morall command for a seventh day and yet withall a Change of that first seventh day and hence thought that something in it was Morall in respect of the Command and yet something Ceremoniall because of the Change and therefore they issued their thoughts here that 〈◊〉 was partly Morall and partly Ceremoniall and hence their observation of the day hath been answerable to their judgments more lax and loose whose arguments to prove the day partly Ceremonial have upon narrow examination made it wholly Ceremoniall it being the usuall unhappinesse of such arguments as are produced in defence of a lesser Errour to grow big with some man-child in them which in time growes up and so serve onely to maintaine a farre greater and hence by that part of the controversie they have laid foundations of much loosnesse upon that day among themselves and have unawares laid the corner stones of some grosse points of Familisme and strengthned hereby the hands of Arminians Malignants and Prelates as to prophane the Sabbath so to make use of their Principles for the introduction of all humane inventions under the name and shadow of the Church which if it hath power to authorize and establish such a day of worship let any man living then name what invention he can but that it may much more easily be ushered in upon the same ground and therefore though posterity hath cause for ever to admire Gods goodnesse for that abundance of light and life poured out by those vessels of glory in the first beginnings of Reformation yet in this narrow of the Sabbath it is no wonder if they stept a littele beside the truth and it is to be charitably hoped and beleeved that had they then foreseen what ill use some in after ages would make of their Principles they would have been no otherwise minded then some of their followers and friends especially in the Churches of Scotland and England who might well see alittle farther as they use to speake when they stood upon such tall mens shoulders It s easie to demonstrate by Scripture and argument as well as by experience that Religion is just as the Sabbath is and decays and growes as the Sabbath is esteemed the immediate honour and worship of God which is brought forth and swadled in the three first Commandments is nurst up and suckled in the bosome of the Sabbath if Popery will have grosse ignorance blind devotion continued among its miserable captives let it then be made like the other Festivals a merry and a sporting Sabbath if any State would reduce the people under it to the Romish Faith and blinde obedience againe let them erect for lawfull pastimes and sports a dancing Sabbath if the God of this world would have all Professours enjoy a totall immunity from the Law of God and all manner of Licentiousnesse allowed them without check of Conscience let him then make an every-day Sabbath if there hath been more of the power of godlinesse appearing in that small inclosure of the British Nation then in those vast continents elsewhere where Reformation and more exact Church-Discipline have taken place it cannot well be imputed to any outward meanes more then their excelling care and conscience of honouring the Sabbath and although Master Rogers in his Preface to the 39. Articles injuriously and wretchedly makes the strict observation of the Sabbath the last refuge of lies by which stratagem the godly Ministers in former times being drivē out of al their other strong holds did hope in time to drive out the Prelacy and bring in againe their Discipline yet thus much may be gathered from the mouth of such an accuser that the worship and government of the Kingdome and Church of Christ Iesus is accordingly set forward as the Sabbath is honoured Prelacy Popery Prophanesse must down and shall down in time if the Sabbath be exactly kept But why the Lord Christ should keep his servants in England and Scotland to cleare up and vindicate this point of the Sabbath and welcome it with more Love then some precious ones in forraigne Churches no man can imagine any other cause then Gods own Free Grace and tender Love whose wind blowes where and when it will Deus nobis haec otia fecit and the times are coming wherein Gods work will better declare the reason of this and some other discoveries by the British Nation which modesty and humility would forbid all sober minds to make mention of now That a seventh dayes rest hath therefore beene of universall observation is without controversie the Morality of it as hath been said is now the controversie in the Primitive times when the Question was propounded Servasti Dominicum hast thou kept the Lords Day their answer was generally this Christianus sum intermittere non possum i. I am a Christian I cannot neglect it the observation of this day was the badge of their Christianity This was their practise but what their judgment was about the Morality of it is not safe to enquire from the tractates of some of our late Writers in this controversie for it is no wonder if they that thrust the Sabbath out of Paradise and banish it out of the world untill Moses time and then make it a meere ceremony all

Gospel makes an offer of Christ and salvation and remission of sins to all sinners where it comes yea to all sinners as sinners and as miserable yea though they have sinned long by unbeleef as is evident Hos. 14.1 Rev. 3.17 Ier. 3 2● Isa. 55.1 all are invited to come unto these waters freely without money or price these things no man doubts of that knows the Gospel but the question is not whether Remission of sins and reconciliation in the Gospel belong to sinners but whether they belong to sinners immediately as sinners not whether they are merited by Christs death and offered out of his rich grace immediately to sinners but whether they are actually and immediately their own so as they may challenge them thus as their own from this as from a full and sufficient evidence viz. because they are sinners and because they see themselves sinners for we grant that Jesus Christ came into the world actually to save sinners yet mediatly by faith and then they may see salvation that he justifieth also the ungodly but how immediatly no but mediatly by faith Rom. 3.5 and that where sin abounds grace abounds to whom ●o all sinners no but mediatly to all those only who by ●aith receive this grace Rom. 5.17 so that the Gospel reveals no actuall love and reconciliation immediatly to a sinner as a sinner but mediatly to a sinner as a beleeving and broken-hearted sinner and the Scripture is so cleare in this point that whoever doubts of it must caecutire cum sole and we may say to them as Paul to the Galathians O foolish men who hath bewitched you that you should not see this truth For though Christ came to ●ave sinners yet he p●ofesseth that he came not to call the righteous but the sick sinners Mat. 9.13 though God justifieth the ungodly yet 't is such an ungodly man as beleeveth in him whose faith is imputed unto righteousnesse Rom 3.5 though grace abounds where sin abounds yet 't is not to all sinners for then all should be saved but to such as receive abundance of grace by faith Rom. 5.17 although God holds forth Christ to be a propitiation for sinners yet it 's expresly said to be mediatly through faith in his bloud Rom. 3.24.25 although the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise might be given yet it is not said to be immediatly given to sinners as sinners but mediatly to all that beleeve and in one word though it be true that Christ died for sinners and enemies that they might have remission of sins then procured and merited for them yet we never actually have nor receive ●his remission and consequently cannot see it as our own untill we doe beleeve for unto this truth saith Peter do all the Prophets witnesse that whosoever beleeveth in him shall receive remission of sins Act. 10.43 and hence it is that as all the Prophets preached the actual favour of God only to sinners as beleevers so the Apostles never preached it in New Testament times otherwise and hence Peter Act. 2.38 doth not tell the sorrowfull Jews that they were sinners and that God loved them and that Christ had died for them and that their sins were pardoned because they were sinners but he first exhorts them to repent that so they might receive remission of sins nor doth Paul tell any man that salvation belonged to him because he is a sinner but if thou beleeve with all thy heart thou shalt be saved Rom. 10.5 6 7. if the love of God be revealed to a sinner as a sinner this must be either 1. by the witnesse of the Law but this is impossible for if the curse of God be herein revealed only to a sinner as a sinner then the love of God cannot but the Law curseth every sinner Gal 3.10 Or 2. by the Light and witnesse of the Gospel but this cannot be for it reveals life and salvation only to a beleever and confirms the sentence of the Law against such a sinner as beleeves not Ioh. 3.17 36. he that beleeves not is condemned already not only for unbeleef as some say for this doth but aggravate condemnation but also for sin by which man is first condemned before he beleeves if the Apostle may be beleeved Rom. 3.19 and if a man be not condemned for sin before he beleeve then he is not a sinner before he beleeve for look as Christ hath taken away any mans condemnation in his death just so hath he taken away his sin 3. Or else by the witnesse and testimony of Gods spirit but this is flat contrary to what the Apostle speaks Gal. 3.26 with 4 6. ye are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Iesus and because ye are sons not sinners he hath sent the spirit of his son crying Abba Father Gal. 4.4 5 6 and verily if the love of God belong to sinners as sinners then all sinners shall certainly be saved for a quatenus ad omne val●● consequentia so that by this principle as sinne hath abounded actually to condemn all so grace hath abounded actually to save all which is most pernicious nor do I know what should make men embrace this principle unlesse that they either secretly think that the strait gate and narrow way to life is now so wide and broad that all men shall in Gospel times enter in thereat which is prodigious or else they must imagine some Arminian universall Redemption and reconciliation and so put all men in a salvable and reconciled estate such as it is before faith and then the evidence and ground of their assurance must be built on this false and crazy foundation viz. Iesus Christ had died to reconcile and so hath reconciled all sinners But I am a sinner And therefore I am reconciled If this be the bottome of this Gospel-Ministry and preaching free grace as doubtlesse 't is in some then I would say these things only 1. That this doctrine under a colour of free-grace doth as much vilifie and take off the price of free grace in Christs death as any I know for what can vilifie this grace of Christ more then for Christ so to shed his bloud as that Peter and Abraham in heaven shall have no more cause to thank Iesus Christ for his love therein then Iudas and Cain in hell it being equally shed for one as much as for the other 2. That this is a false bottom for faith to rest upon and gather evidence from for 1. if Christ hath died for a●l he will then certainly save all for so Paul reasons Rom. 8.32 and 6.10 he hath given his Sonne to death for us how shall ●e not but with him give us all other things and therefore he will give faith and give repentance and give perseverance and give eternall life also which is most false 2. If he did not pray for all then he hath not died for all Ioh. 17.9 which Scripture never yet received scarce

a sinner as a sinner had need consider what they say for is it to a sinner as possest with Christ and receiving of him or as dispossest of Christ not having of him but rather refusing and rejecting of him If they say the first they then speak the truth but then they raze down their own pernicious principle that Christ and Gods love belongs to them As sinners If they affirm the latter then they do injuriously destroy Gods free grace and the glory of Christ who think to possesse promises without possessing Christ or to have promises of grace without having Christ the foundation of them all For though the common love of God as the bare offer of grace is may be manifested without having Christ yet speciall actuall love cannot be actually our own without having and first receiving of him And if the Spirit of God convince the world of sin and consequently of condemnation while they do not beleeve Ioh. 16.9 I wonder how it can then convince them of pardon of sin and reconciliation before they do beleeve unlesse we will imagine it to be a lying spirit which is blasphemous These things not considered of have and do occasion much errour at this day in the point of evidencing and hath been an inlet of deep delusion and open gaps have been made hereby to the loose waies and depths of Familism and grosse Arminianism and therefore being well considered of are sufficient to clear up the waies of those faithfull servants of the Lord who dare not sow pillows nor cry peace to the wicked much lesse to sinners as sinners both from the slanderous imputation of legall ministrations after an old Testament manner as also of making works the ground of faith or the causes of assurance of faith the free offer being the ground of the one and the free promise the cause and ground of the other Briefly therefore 1. The free offer of grace is the first evidence to a poor lost sinner that he may be beloved 2. The receiving of this offer by faith relatively considered in respect of Christs spotlesse righteousnesse is the first evidence shewing why he is beloved or what hath moved God actually to love him 3. The worke of sanctification which is the fruit of our receiving this offer is the first evidence shewing that he is beloved If therefore a condemned sinner be asked whether God may love him and why he thinks so he may answer Because Jesus Christ is held forth and offered to such a one If he be further asked why or what he thinks should move God to love him he may answer Because I have received Christs righteousnesse offered for which righteousnesse sake only I know I am beloved now I have received it If he be asked lastly how he knows certainly that he is beloved he may answer safely and confidently Because I am sanctified I am poor in spirit therefore mine is the kingdom of heaven I do mourn and therefore I shall be comforted I do hunger and thirst and therefore I shall be satisfied c. We need in time of distresse and temptation all these evidences and therefore it is greatest wisdom to pray for that spirit which may clear them all up unto us rather then to contend which should be the first And thus we see that the whole morall law is our rule of life and consequently the law of the Sabbath which is a branch of this rule We now proceed to shew the third branch of things generally and primarily morall Thesis 120. Thirdly Not only a day nor only a rest day but the rest day or Sabbath day which is expressed and expressely interpreted in the Commandment to be the seventh day or a seventh day of Gods determining and therefore called The Sabbath of the Lord our God is here also enjoined and commanded as generally morall For if a day be morall what day must it be If it be said that any day which humane wisdom shall determine whether one day in a hundred or a thousand or one day in many years if this only be generally morall then the rule of morality may be broken because the rule of equality may be thus broken by humane determination For it may be very unequall and unjust to give God one day in a hundred or a thousand for his worship and to assume so many beside to our selves for our own use There is therefore something else more particularly yet primarily morall in this Command and that is The Sabbath day or such a day wherein there appears an equal division and a fit proportion between time for rest and time for work a time for God and a time for man and that is a ●●venth day which God determines A fit proportion of time for God is morall because equal man cannot determine nor set out this proportion God therefore only can and must A day therefore that he shall determine is morall and if he declares his determination to a seventh A seventh day is therefore morall Gomarus confesseth that by the Analogy of this Commandment not one day in a thousand or when man pleaseth but that one day in seven is morall at least equal fit and congruous to observe the same and if the Analogy he speaks of ariseth virtute mandati divini or by vertue of Gods Commandment the cause is in effect yielded but if this Analogy be made virtute libertatis humanae so that humane liberty may do well to give God one in seven because the Jews did so and why should Christians be more scant then I see not but humane liberty may assume power to it self to impose monthly and annuall holy daies as well because the Jews had their new moons and yearly festivals and by Analogy thereof why may not Christians who have more grace poured out upon them and more love shewn unto them under the Gospel hold some meet proportion with them therein also as well as in Sabbaths But it can never be proved that God hath left any humane wisdom at liberty to make holy daies by the rule of Jewish proportions Beside if humane wisdom see it meet and congruous to give God at least one day in seven this wisdom and reason is either regulated by some law and then 't is by vertue of the law of God that he should have one day in seven or 't is not regulated by a law and then we are left to a loose end again for man to appoint what day he sees meet in a shorter or a longer time his own reason being his only law and this neither Gomaras nor the words of the Commandment will allow which sets and fixeth the day which we see is one day in seven which not man but God shall determine and therefore called The Sabbath of the Lord our God Thesis 121. The hardest knot herein to unloose lies in this to know whether a seventh day in generall which God shall determine or that particular Seventh day from the creation be