The Lords Day Vindicated, Tract · Section 2
SECT. II.
HE aſſerts Page 9. that Propoſition which no Chriſtian ever denyed or queſtioned; and whoever does ſo, deſerves not the Name Chriſtian, viz. That the Lord Jeſus Christ is Jehovah: Which he proves at large, home to Page 22. which in theſe days might have been very ſeaſonable and commendable too, had it not been made a progreſſive Step toward the ſupremely intended Doctrin of the neceſſary Obligation of the Seventh-day-Sabbath. But yet I muſt ſay, that our Lord Chriſts Deity, or Jehovah-ſhip, has been more fully prov'd, and more methodically, and from more Topicks, and all theſe demonſtrated and confirmed from Scripture, than here it is; and that by many Orthodox Divines. We acknowledging his Theſis to be good and orthodox; we hope he will acknowledge this to be ſo likewiſe, viz. That Jehovah was not always Christ: Chriſt is, and muſt be everlaſtingly Jehovah. But Jehovah was throughout a paſt Eternity, before there was ever any other Being, and in the beginning of time, before there was a ſinful Being: And therefore neceſſarily before Chriſt Jeſus had a Being. For Chriſt Jeſus in an orthodox Notion, and according to Scriptural Revelations, does pre-ſuppoſe a created, and a faln ſinful Being. And ſo this orthodox Propoſition, will but contribute very little to that other, which we deem heterodox. I ſhall make no Reflections at all upon what he has written in all theſe Papers, ſave only upon that Medium which he uſes Page 12, and 13. which is Chriſts giving the Law; (for that's his Expreſſion) where again we urge, according to our former Interpretation, that Chriſt properly apprehended, did not give the Law before his Incarnation, not being Chriſt before it: He gave it not to Man before the Fall. When the whole abſolute and primary Moral Law, was implanted by God on his Mind, to know all the Duties he ought to perform towards his God, according to his Excellencies and Attributes revealed unto him, according to his Works and his Obligations laid upon him, and all his Duties toward all his Fellow Creatures: In his Will, by a perfect and full Complyance with, and active and exact Conformity to all theſe moral Dictates of his Underſtanding, in all the Inferiour Affections, Appetites, Inclinations, Motions, Senſes, Organs and Members of the Body; by a ready and compleat Subjection to the holy Will, and a moſt harmonious Obedience thereto. Which the Apoſtle calls Knowledge, Righteouſneſs and true Holineſs, Col. 3.10. Eph. 4.24. Neither did Chriſt Jeſus give the Law juſt upon the Fall, as I ſuppoſe the Moral Law muſt be ſuppoſed to be given to Adam; ſeeing that by the Fall, he had greatly defac'd and blotted the former clear and perfect Edition of it, in his Heart and Soul. Neither did he give it in the Third Edition, when 'twas brought and delivered by the Hand of Moſes, from the Finger and Mouth of God, to the Iſraelites: For all theſe were long before Jeſus Chriſt came into, and ſo was in, the World: And St. John himſelf tells us, John 1.17. The Law was given by Moſes, but Grace and Truth came by Jeſus Chriſt. So that the Law was given long before Jeſus Chriſt came, and preached, and purchaſed the Grace and Truth of the Goſpel. But all this is made uſe of by this Author to inſinuate, that even Chriſt Jeſus, in the Fleſh, was the Author of all the Ten Commands, as they are verbatim recorded in Moſes's Books, or were written upon the Tables of Stone; and ſo particularly of that very Clauſe in the Fourth Command; which is given as a reaſon of the Sanctification of the Seventh day to be the Sabbath, home to his own Reſurrection.
But this we ſhall prove in the Sequel to be a very great Miſtake: The only Proof that he brings for this, which has not been ſufficiently anſwered already, or may not be ſo, by what has been formerly ſaid and proved, is John 14.15. If ye love me keep my Commands: And ſuch other like Paſſages. Here I would feign enquire, in what Senſe he underſtands the Commands to be Chriſt's Commands: Either as he is Jehovah; and ſo before his Incarnation: If ſo, then the Ceremonial and Judicial Commands were his as well, and as much, as the Moral; for he gave the one as well as the other. And ſo by this arguing, and from this Topick, we are bound to keep the one as well as the other: If we would evince to our own Conſciences, or others Obſervations, that we ſincerely love Chriſt. If he underſtands them to be his, after his Incarnation, as taught, commanded and confirmed by his own bleſſed Mouth and Doctrin: So we confeſs that all the Moral Law was his, and that he taught it in the diſcharge of his Prophetical Office in the Fleſh. But then we affirm, and doubt not to prove, that in all his Doctrin, Diſcourſes and Commands, there is not one word that teaches or enjoyns the Seventh-day-Sabbath, but much to the contrary: Or if there be only a perfect ſilence in this particular, without any thing ſpoken or done by Chriſt contrary to it, whilſt he particularly enjoyns and preſſes all thoſe other Precepts, which are acknowledged by all to be Moral: I ſuppoſe this very Excluſion of it, out of all his Diſcourſes, carries more weight in it, to caſhire it from being any one of the Commands of Chriſt Jeſus, than all his former Endeavours to prove Chriſt to be the Maker of the World, to be Jehovah, and here to be the Giver of the Law, have of moment to prove the Morality, and ſo the neceſſary obſervance of the Seventh-day. I have been here a little the more large, becauſe I find the Author, Page 24. referring unto his having proved the Law to be given by Chriſt, as to that which highly conduces to his grand Deſign; but being duly weighed, we ſee that 'tis of little or no uſe at all thereto.