any of these Laws be broken if they may not be broken then they are perpetual Ans. The reason why they may not be broken is not because that the dispensation of them is still in force but because the dispensation of the law of the spirit comprehends all the righteousness of Moses his law and the end of Christs dissolving that Covenant was not that any man might have liberty to do any thing which is there manifested to be unrighteous but that the righteousness of it might be fulfilled in them who receive his law in the spirit which never could be fulfilled by receiving of Moses his law in the letter Rom 8.4 And mark this diligently ye that have been exercised in spirit towards God The law of sin is nearer to us then any law of the letter can come the covenant of Death and Hell with the laws thereof are written within by the finger of Satan and that which blots them out must be as near even an inward covenant an inward writing from the Eternal Word in the heart by the law of his Eternal Spirit of life This then is my Answer Moses his law in substance remains as it is taken in by Christ and administred by him in spirit but not as it was given in the letter to the Jews for so it was a shadow making nothing perfect but making way for the better hope for the Covenant established upon better promises for the inward law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus which effects that in the spirits of his people which Moses his law could by no means do Quest But what is the substance of the law which abides Ans. The substance of the law is Love To love God above all above all without above all within and to love one's Neighbor as ones self To receive this love from God and to bring it forth in his spirit this is the substance of the law this is the thing which the law drove at in a shadow The law is fulfilled in this one word Love but that love must be received from God which fulfils the law A man may strive to love abundantly and strive to obey in love and yet fall short of the covenant but the Lord must circumcise the heart afore that love can spring up which fulfils the law Deuter. 30 6. Obj. But doth not the Apostle Paul say That by the law is the knowledge of sin and that he had not known lust except the law had said Thou shalt not covet plainly referring to the tenth Commandment which saith Thou shalt not covet Ans. By the law outwardly was the knowledge of sin outwardly to the people of the Jews by the law inwardly is the knowledge of sin inwardly to the spirits of Disciples Now a little consider and wait on the Lord to know what administration of the law it was that Paul knew sin by whether it was by Moses his administration of the law in the letter or by Christ's Ministration of his law to him in the spirit It is rendred in our last Translation Thou shalt not covet but it might more properly be rendred Thou shalt not lust For if {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} be properly rendered Lust then {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} may as properly be rendred Thou shalt not lust And he that hath received the administration of the law in the Spirit knoweth it thus to issue forth from the Word of life into his Spirit It discovers the lusts and affections of the flesh which draw from the yoke and subjection to the spirit and then by a command from the living spirit it hedgeth up the way after the other lovers saying Thou shalt not lust And as the law of the flesh ariseth kindling desires after vanity and after fleshly ease and delight so the law of the spirit arises in the inner man forbidding pricking stopping and limiting that which would be at liberty out of the life and purity of the holy law And here begin the bitter fights and terrible battels and conflicts between the two Seeds wherein all the powers of heaven earth and hell are engaged Now because this interpretation of Paul's words may seem strange and uncouth to persons who have drunk in another apprehension and have taken it for granted that Paul there refers to the tenth commandment consider the place yet further and perhaps the Lord may please to open it to you from the very Letter even as he hath opened it to others immediately by his Spirit by causing them to feel the thing which Paul felt and to receive the Law as he received it Paul in that seventh of the Romans speakes of three states vvhich he had known First a state of life before the law I was alive without the law once v. 9. Secondly a state of death after the commandment came Then sin revived and he dyed When the Word of Life came with its living commandment to set upon sin indeed then sinne would dally no longer it would no longer lye as dead and let Paul live in his Zeal and Worship as he had done before but it slew him it shewed its power in him sometimes deceiving him and sometimes forcing him from that which was holy spiritual just and good and to that which was unholy insomuch as he did do what he hated and could not do what he loved and found himself a wretched man and in miserable captivity because of the body of death and the law of sin in his members v. 23 24. 3dly A state of life after the commandment had done its Work in throughly slaying of him When that was removed which the law came against then then he was marryed to another husband then he could bring forth fruit unto God Rom. 7.4 then he could walk freely with God not after the flesh but after the spirit ch. 8.4 and rejoice in the life and the peace instead of roaring out because of the death which came from the carnal mind v. 5. Now when was the time when Paul was alive without the Law Was it not when he was righteous when he was whole then he had no need of the Phisician then he had not received the Wound even the terrible Wound which Christ then gives the soul when he calleth to it by his spirit and giveth forth the commandment Thou shalt not lust When he had confidence in the flesh being circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the Tribe of Benjamin an Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the Law a Pharisee concerning Zeal persecuting the Church touching the righteousness which is in the Law blameless Phil. 3.4 5 6. Here was a living man and his exact receiving the Ministration of the Law in the letter was part of his life yea but he had not received the commandment yet that slew him Paul was alive yet and could flourish in the freshness of his life zeal and abundant knowledge under this administration of the Law But when
THE New-Covenant OF THE GOSPEL Distinguished from the Old Covenant OF THE LAW AND The Rest or Sabbath of Believers from the Rest or Sabbath of the Jews which differ as much from each other as the Sign and Shadow doth from the thing signified and shadowed out In Answer to some Queries of W. Salters tending to enforce upon Christians the observation of the Jewish Sabbath which was given under the Law to the Jews for a sign As also to some other Queries sent in Writing upon an occasion of an Epistle directed to all such as observe the seventh day of the week for a Sabbath now under the Gospel As likewise to some Letters to the same purpose With a brief Explication of the Mysterie of the six dayes Labour and seventh days Sabbath Whereto are added some Considerations propounded to the Jews tending towards their coâ—â—ersion to that which is the Life and Spirit of the Law By ISAAC PENINGTON the younger VVe which have believed do enter into rest Heb. 4.3 Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new Moon or Sabbaths which are a shadow of things to come but the body is Christ Col. 2.16 17. London Printed for Robert VVilson and are to be sold at his shop at the black spredd-Eagle and VVindmill in Martins l' grandâ— 1660 The Preface THE Apostle Paul saith That God had made them able Ministers of the New-Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit 2 Cor 3.6 After the dispensation of the Law which was a shadow of good things to come and after the dispensation of the Prophets who foretold of better days and of a better state to come then the days and state under the Law was it pleased God first to send the fore-runner John the Baptist in the spirit and power of Elias to prepare the way for the King and his Kingdom and then to send the King himself in the fulness of his spirit to gather Disciples to him and to furnish them with a competent measure of the same spirit to raise up a Spiritual Seed to him in whom he would set up his Kingdom dwelling walking and reigning there causing his Light to shine from thence round about the Earth as from his holy City founded upon his holy Hill of Sion Now those Disciples or Ministers whom he chose to raise up this holy Seed unto him he made fit and able to minister his New Covenant by which it was to be raised yea he furnished them with such a power of his Spirit that they were able through him to minister not in the Letter as the old Covenant was ministred which left the people still dead nay because of the transgressing nature made the offence abound and so encreased death upon them but in the quickning spirit which raiseth from death and bringeth into the light of the living to walk with the living God towards the land of Eternal rest and peace So that that which they ministred was spirit and that which they ministred to was spiritual By the power of the spirit in preaching the living Word of Faith they reached through the vail to that which lay in death they stirred up a living Principle and ministred life to it through the spirit Gal. 3.5 and such as were born of this living Principle they taught to live in the spirit to walk in the spirit to be made perfect by the spirit and not to run back to the Ministration of the Letter as was proper for the Jews in their day after the manner of the former dispensation but to keep in the living Principle to grow up in the Seed into the eternal life and immortality of the Gospel Mark well O ye Christians who desire eternal life the different way of Ministration between the Law and Gospel The Law was a Ministration of the Letter in which they were to wait for assistance from the Spirit by which they might be kept in the faith of and be made obedient to the Law Nehem. 9.20 The Gospel is a Ministration of the Spirit wherein they are to begin with the spirit and to go on with the spirit not to gather outward Rules out of the Letter from what is written or spoken but to keep to the living Principle and feel refreshment to that in reading or hearing what is written or spoken by the Spirit And thus the Scriptures being read or any one speaking from God being heard it is mingled with faith and becomes profitable feeding and refreshing the young tender plant the living Principle and causing it to grow up into God whereas whatever is understood or received or held out of this feeds but the earthly and doth but thicken the vail over the living Seed to which the Kingdom belongs and to which the Gospel is sent to be preached to raise it that it might live and thrive and grow up into its stature that so it might inherit The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand said John the Baptist Mat. 3.2 It is come unto you said Christ Mat. 12.28 that Power of Life which was made manifest in him was it and this Kingdom is also within you saith Christ to the Pharisees Luk. 17.21 The Pharisees demanded of him when the Kingdom of God should come It cometh not saith he with outward shew or observation it cometh not that way you look for it to wit by the manifestation of an outward glorious King to reign outwardly in the Common-wealth of the outward Israel but the Kingdom is within you How was it within them Christ explains to them in another place it was in them like a Grain of Mustard-Seed it was the least of all the Seeds in their hearts There were many great seeds of darkness there but yet there was also one little Seed of Light It was there as well as the rest though less then them all and did sometimes cast some glimmerings of light and of its shining in the darkness though the darkness could not comprehend it This Seed was also likened to leaven which being received by faith into the lump would leaven the whole lump and bring it into the savor and Dominion of the Kingdom Now the Ministry of the Apostles was to turn men from Satan's Kingdom to this Kingdom from his large compass of Dominion in the heart to this narrow Seed from his great Territories of darkness to this little Principle of Light from his great Power of Death to this little weak Thing of God wherein the Eternal Power and God-head is made manifest as this comes to be opened and encreased by the Spirit Here light is sown for the righteous and joy for the upright in heart where it is to grow up and from whence it is to be reaped after its growth to perfection Oh how long have Christians so called wanted the Spirit How have they wearyed themselves in running to and fro about the Letter to find out the mind of God and are still
unsatisfied concerning it and even drowned in fleshly imaginations and contentions about it They seek to have that satisfied which is not to be satisfied They seek to have that know which is not to know they offer to God the service faith and obedience of that which he will not accept keep that from him which he calls for They seek for the Spirit in the Letter according to the manner of the Law but wait not to feel it in the Seed quickening the Seed raising up the Seed and dwelling in the Seed whither Christ and his Apostles directed to wait for it They looke for that knowledge that faith that life that spirit from words written which the Apostle preached was to be waited for from the word in the heart And by this means they raise up several buildings and get various kinds of knowledge each according to his understanding and apprehensions of the Letter every sort being very confident concerning their own apprehensions that they are the right And thus they wander from the City of the living God and from the living knowledge building up Images some outwardly some in their minds some more gross some more refined but all more or less who are not acquainted with the living knowledge and truths of God but have gathered apprehensions with the wrong tool from the Letter have set up somewhat else instead of the true Life and Power The knowledge of the true God which is life eternal the knowledge of the true Christ whom no man can indeed call Lord but by the spirit the knowledge of the everlasting Gospel which alone is read in the spirit the knowledge of the spirit which alone is read in the Seed these are strange things to the several generations of the Christians of this age who commonly know no more of them then according to the apprehensions they have taken in concerning them even from that wisdom and understanding which hath not a capacity in it to receive them but must be destroyed before these things can be understood aright 1 Cor. 1.19 O that ye could read in the eternal light of life O Christians Christians O that ye could see how your understandings and knowledge from the Letter stand as much in your way as ever the Jews did in theirs and must be broken down as flat as ever theirs was before the foundation of the Kingdom can be laid and the building of eternal life reared up in your hearts Be not offended at my zeal for the Lord my God and for your souls It hath cost me very dear what I testifie to you in the simplicity and integrity of my heart and this I know to be most certainly true that that spirit of man which without the leadings of the eternal Light hath nestled it self in the letter got a seat of wisdom and knowledge there raised up a building from thence either of inward or outward Worship will be dissetled driven thence even by that very spirit which gave forth the Letter And when this is done and God's spirit again openeth the Letter O how sweet how profitable how clear how refreshing will it be being read in the light of the spirit in the faith which is in Christ Jesus which is begotten in the heart by the word of Faith which is nigh there From that light from that spring as the Lord pleased to open enlarge and fill the Vessel all the words of the holy men of God came and in that alone they have their sweetness freshness vertue and fulness but how to read the words outwardly written keeping to that and understanding them in that and how to keep out the natural man with his natural understanding which knoweth not the things of the Spirit nor can know or receive them 1 Cor. 2.14 is a mystery to them who have not been turned inwards to this word nor have known or heard his voice The Lord is recovering the Mysterie of Life and as that appears the Mysterie of Death under all its paint under all its painted Faith painted Love painted Knowledge painted Obedience painted Duties Ordinances and Worship will be made manifest Happy is he whose inward Building will stand whose Gold will abide the fire and everlasting Burnings of the jealous God whose Eye-salve was bought of the true spirit whose raiment is right spun but exceeding hard wil it go with that man whom the Lord when he cometh to search him shall not find a right inward Jew as he took himself to be nor truly circumcised by the Lords eternal Spirit with the light thereof but onely by such a circumcising knife as he himself had formed out of the letter of the Scriptures This is the great misery of Christians the vail lies over their hearts even the same vail which covered the Letter of Moses from the Jews and they are groping after the mind of God in the Letter but the life is hid from them even as it was from the Jews because they also say they see that they have the life the spirit therefore the vail remains the caul of iniquity surrounds them so that they cannot see into that which makes free from it but remain yet in captivity and bondage to the Enemy Some Queries of W Salters tending to inforce upon Christians the observation of the Jewish Sabbath ANSWERED Query 1. WHether the Fourth Commandement exprest Exod. 20. be not morall and perpetuall as well as the other nine be yea or no Answer That Covenant which God made with the Jews at mount Horeb when they came out of the Land of Egypt was not to be perpetuall but to make way for that Covenant Priesthood Law-giver and Law which was to be perpetuall That Law so given forth made nothing perfect but was a continuall hand-writing of Ordinances against the Jews and the very Salvation of the Jews was by another Covenant and by the Laws thereof Deut. 30 11. By which Covenant and by which Law they might be made perfect and come to the better hope Which other Covenant is the Covenant of Grace or the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus or the Word which is nigh in the mouth and in the heart and speaks Life to them that can hear and believe the joyfull sound of it Now that this former Covenant was not to abide but to give place to the other see Heb. 8. Which treateth of the New Covenant For God's speaking of a New Covenant importeth that he himself hath made the first Old ver. 13. It had had a long continuance among that people of the Jews but now against the coming of Christ who was to be Mediator of a better Covenant v. 6. even of a New Covenant v. 8. as it had been long decaying and waxing Old So now it was ready to vanish away as v. 13. And indeed it was necessary it should pass away for it was not faultless How not faultless was there any sin in the Holy Law Ministration
them What should I mention the time of the Judges and of the Kings how often the Lord made them smart by their Enemies in their own Land how often he gave them up to Captivity out of their Land even till at length that great Captivity of Babylon befel them and since that a greater Captivity and Desolation than that of Babylon Consid. III. Whether God having tryed this People even to the utmost by that Covenant which he made with them by Moses in Mount Sinai may ever please to try them so any more Or if there yet remain any Mercy or Love from God towards them whether it is not to be expected another way and upon another account This is very necessary and profitatble for them to consider that they may not be looking that way for Mercy and Favour from God in which it is never to come and so have their eyes and hearts diverted from that way according to which it is to come for this must needs put them back exceedingly if their eyes be looking out one way and the Love of God hath chosen another channel to run towards them in This may make them refuse the very Mercy Love and Redemption when it comes suspecting it not to be it because it comes not in the way and after the manner that they look for it Now God hath expresly said that when he shall be pacified towards them and shall look again upon them with an eye of Favour to do them good it shall not be by their Covenant which could never last but was still broken on their parts but by his own everlasting Covenant which he would establish to them Ezek. 16.60 c It would therefore diligently be enquired by them What Covenant it is which is called their Covenant vers. 61. And what Covenant it is which is called Gods Covenant vers. 62. That they may withdraw their eyes and hopes from the one from whence their Redemption Recovery and Mercy cannot come towards the other from whence it is to come To which Query for their sakes it is in my heart to return this Answer Answ. Their Covenant is that which they entred into with God the Covenant that their hearts chose to unite with God by and that was to this effect That if God would shew them his Will they would obey it Go thou near said they to Moses and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it Deut. 5.27 Thus they thought but the Lord knew otherwise for O saith the Lord that there were such an heart in them c. vers. 29. and Moses knew otherwise he knew that they would corrupt themselves and that evil would befal them in the latter dayes Deut. 31.29 But Gods Covenant was the free Covenant he made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob the Covenant of his Grace the Covenant of his free Love whereby he was able to reach them in Egypt upon the cry of the Seed in them in the midst of their Idolatries and to bring them out and do them good notwithstanding their stubbornness and stiff-neckedness even before the other Covenant was made This Covenant of Love was Gods Covenant This is the Covenant God remembred to them in the days of their youth while they were young and tender and not yet grown up to be a people under the other Covenant and this is the Covenant which lasts for ever which is not founded upon their obedience but on God's free Love to them for his own Name sake and for their Fathers sake with whom he freely made it Quest What doth this Covenant contain Answ. Putting his Fear in the Heart writing his Laws in the Mind pouring of pure clear Water upon them to wash away the pollutions of their inward parts circumcising the filth of the Heart healing the backsliding Nature by creating of a right Spirit within and keeping of the created Spirit right by the presence of that Spirit which created it See Jer. 31.31 32. Ezek. 36.25 c. Hosea 14.4 This is God's Covenant this is the new Covenant which is to be made with the House of Israel and Judah when God redeems them and they can never be redeemed but by this Covenant but are to remain desolate until the Spirit be poured out from on high upon them Isai. 32.15 until their Hearts be circumcised to love the Lord their God untill his fear be placed there and they thereby caused to walk in his ways As therefore they receive the Spirit are brought into the fear have the Law written in their minds and become subject thereto so will they tast of this Covenant be brought into Redemption by it and become a glory inwardly and outwardly also upon the Earth Quest What is the way for them to have the fear of God put in their Hearts to have their Hearts circumcised to receive the Spirit and his Laws into their minds and so to come into this Covenant Answ. There is no other way but that to which Moses himself directed them after God had made the other Covenant with them and tryed them long by it together with many Temptations Signs and Wonders both before and after it and seeing by all these they had not had an Heart to perceive nor Eyes to see nor Ears to hear Moses at length directs them to another Covenant the Word whereof would give them Eyes to see and Ears to hear and an Heart to understand Which Covenant was a Covenant besides the former Deut. 29.1 And was indeed the Covenant concerning Life or Death eternal chap. 30.15 the other being but a Covenant of their outward state made with them after their coming out of Aegypt upon their deliverance there from and according to their choise to become a People to God according to it This Word Moses tells them was near them nearer then that which was spoken by God on the Mount and afterwards written in Tables of Stone The voyce of this Word and the Commandment thereof was nearer that they need not seek anywhere abroad for it but only listen at home to hear its speech obey it in the faith and live for ever Deut. 30.11 c. This is the way for them and all Men to come into this Covenant and there is no other There is a Light shining in the Darkness of Mans heart which Springs up in him and casts forth it's rayes to discover and draw him out of the Darkness Now as this Light is felt loved understood in Spirit hearkned and cleaved to in the pure Faith which it begets that which cleaves to it is drawn out of the darkness by it into the Covenant of the pure eternal Light where God is and whither all they are translated who are drawn to him in and by this Covenant as they are kept preserved and continue in the Faith Love and Obedience of it Now I would yet put these few
things more to them First Whether that People of the Jews as they stood related to God in that Covenant given by Moses at Mount Horeb with the Covenant it self and all things appertaining thereto were not a shadow of some inward and Spiritual thing afterwards to appear and be made manifest in its season Whether they themselves were not a shadow of a more inward and Spiritual People to be gathered to God by the inward and Spiritual Covenant and whether their outward Covenant was not a shadow or visible representation of that Covenant and the Laws of it a shadow or representation of the inward Laws which were to be written in the hearts of that Spiritual People Was not their Tabernacle or Temple a shadow of the true Tabernacle or Temple seeing God dwelleth not in Temples made with hands but in a poor humble contrite Spirit and in the Heart that trembles at his Word Isai. 57.15 and chap. 66.1 2. So was not their circumcision a shadow of the circumcision which is to pass upon the Hearts of God's chosen Were not their Sacrifices types or representations of the Sacrifices of praise and of a broken Heart Psal. 51.17 and Psal. 50.14 Was not their Canaan or Holy-land a type of the true Holy Spiritual rest which the faith gives entrance into Their City Jerusalem a Tipe of the Jehovah-shammah Their Priests and Levites Tipes of the Spiritual Priesthood which was to offer the pure offering and Spiritual Sacrifices among the Gentiles Malac. 1.11 Mark that place if it did not plainly foretel the casting off of the Jews with the rejecting of their Offerings Priests and Levites and God's raising up a seed among the Gentiles where he would have a more acceptable People and Worship even a pure Spiritual People and a pure Spiritual Offering Secondly If they were Types Representations or Shadows of somwhat Spiritual to come then were they not to give place to that which is Spiritual when it came and so to be swallowed up in it Is not the Spiritual Glory the Glory the inward Jew the Jew indeed the circumcision of the Heart the choice circumcision the offering up of praise and of a broken Heart the acceptable Sacrifice the Land of Life and Righteousness the true Land of rest to the living by Faith Is not the Spiritual City House or Temple which God builds the Ierusalem or Temple of the new Covenant Is not this the choice House to God and is not this Spiritual Glory to be expected in the days of the Messiah and all the Tipes and shadows of Moses which pointed at him to end in him when once he comes to set up his true inward invisible substantial Glory among his inward and Spiritual People When the day of Messiah dawns shall not Moses his shadows fly away O that your Eyes were opened to behold the inward Glory of Life the good things of the new Covenant the great Treasure and Riches which are revealed and possessed in the Spirit by the Spirits that are redeemed unto God that ye might partake thereof and then your Eye would not be so much on that which is outward which if ye had even to the utmost of your desires are not comparable to the inward Lastly Search the Prophets see if the Messiah is not first to come in a despiseable way as a man of sorrows Isai. 53.2 3. whose visage in that appearance was to be more marred then any mans Isai. 52.14 and consider whether he was not to be cut off though not for himself Dan. 9.26 and then to sit at the right Hand of God until his Enemies be made his Footstool Psa. 110.1 before he come in that Glory wherein ye expect him So that if he be not thus come already then that coming of his is yet to be expected and his Hands and Feet are yet to be pierced by you and then afterwards ye may look upon him whom you have pierced Zach. 12.10 and all the Families of Israel mourn bitterly apart for it ver. 12. When Moses gave the Law the vail was over his face your Fathers were not able to bear the Light wherein the Law was given nor the Light wherein the Prophecies of the Prophets were given and so they still erred from the Law were offended at the Prophets while they were alive mis-understood their words after their death Now do not ye search into Moses and the Prophets in the same Spirit of error as your Fathers did being shut out from the Light of them even as they were If it be thus if the vail be over your hearts if ye be ignorant of the true Light of the true eternal Power wherein the Scriptures were given forth ye must needs mis-understand them mis-understand Moses mis-understand the Prophets mis-understand the things spoken concerning the Messiah so not be able to see unto the end of those things ministred by Moses of that ministration which was to pass away nor into the beginning of the ministration of the Messiah which was to succeed it O turn within to the Word nigh in the Heart that the true Jew may be begotten and formed in you and his Light may arise and overspread you that in that Light ye may see the Light of Moses and the Light of the Prophets and not gather false meanings from their words but understand them a right in the same Holy Spirit and injoy the blessedness they spake of and directed to which lyes in the inward raising up of an inward Seed and not in an outward conformity of the outward man while the heart and mind remains unchanged and unrenewed which can never be made new by any ministry of the Letter without the Spirit but alone by the ministry of the Spirit whether with or without the Letter as he pleaseth J. P. THE END