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
the Spirit and in obedience to those Commands which come livingly into his heart from the Spirit of prophesie Fourthly That the fourth Command is to be in love kept by all believers Ans. All the Commands of Christs Covenant are to be kept by believers according as he pleaseth to dispence them under his administration in the New Covenant but the laws of the Old Covenant are not the laws of the New Covenant as so dispensed but only as they are comprehended in the righteousness which is taught and required by the spirit which is fuller stricter and exacter then that which the law of Moses required Nor do I hereby go about to teach any to break the least of Christ's Commands but the way to fulfill them which is by keeping to the certain knowledg and obedience of them in that ministration where Christ hath promised to dispense and make them known to believers which is under the ministry of his own Covenant writing them in their hearts and minds by his Spirit And here the keeping of all Christs Commands is possible yea this is the onely way to have the righteousness of the Law fulfilled in us for he that keeps the eye which the spirit hath opened in him close to the Spirit shall not be able to break any law of righteousness but the righteousness even of Moses his law shall be fulfilled in him Christ is the rest of the Gospel as he is also the holy land believing is the entring into this rest here 's his Sabbath and the keeping of it Keep in the faith the Gospel rest is kept Parting with every lust that he makes manifest observing every thing that this King calls for by his Spirit and waiting for the further manifestation or shining of the Light of his Spirit in the heart here 's the obedience of the faith and the holy and spirituall life and subjection of the living soul to its living King Here 's the beginning of a true Christian his growth his perfection But as for times places persons c. these are of another nature to another part even to that part in man which is to be done away as hee comes into the faith and into the rest Let that which is invisible whose habitation is out of the reasoning part feel and read me in that which is invisible for I do not make void the law by faith or through publishing the ministry of the Spirit but establish it in its ministration in the Spirit to the Disciples of Christ who keeping to the Spirit cannot transgress the righteousness of it though they may there learn not to esteem one day above another but to esteem every day no days having ever had any reall holiness in them one above another but only a figurative or representative which the substance Christ and his Gospel swallow up for as his day dawns those things which were the shadows of it fly away The second Letter Answered Object 1. It is said to be dangerous so to hold forth the Spirituall Sabbatism as to deny the weekly Sabbath wherein our Lord Jesus Christ rested c. and which he blessed and sanctified to Adam and his posterity c. Ans. The Gospell is a state of substance of fulfilling the types and shadows of the Law by bringing believers into the possession of that which they signified of Canaan was a type of Christ who is the land of the living in whom every believer hath an habitation at present according to the proportion of his faith and the Sabbath is the day of rest which every believer is to celebrate to Christ in this holy land which he doth by believing and obeying his Spirit in the faith which keepeth him out of the sin the unbelief the unrest But that the Sabbath of the law the rest thereof which pointed to the faith is still to be held up in the times of the Gospel I know no Scripture which so teacheth and I know somewhat which teacheth me otherwise The day is dawned blessed be the Lord God Almighty the everlasting day is dawned and the shadows of the Law are flown away Object 2. It is said that Heb. 4. Speaks of three rests The seventh day or Sabbath rest Israels rest in Canaan and a remaining rest whereof David speaks Psalm 95. Ans. I grant it There were two rests under the law which were signs of the one rest under the Gospel The two under the Law were outward and natural the one under the Gospel inward and Spiritual answerable to the state of the Gospel· David was not only acquainted with the Law-state but with the free spirit Psalm 51. and the eternal law thereof He knew the new Creation the creating of a new Spirit with its travell through the law also the new rest He knew the circumcision of the heart the spirituall sacrifices of a broken heart and of praise he could take the cup of salvation and sing the song of praise to the Lord which none can do in the strange land nor on any other day but the day of rest And he incites Israel to this rest that they might not harden their hearts against it but in the day of their visitation enter into it by hearkning to the Word which was nigh them which gives the entrance through the faith To day if ye will hear his voyce harden not your hearts c. There is a rest ye are now called to enter into as your fathers were called to enter into the land of Canaan harden not your hearts as they did but hear the voice hear the word which calls to this rest believe and enter This rest remains says the Apostle the others were types of it under the law-state which was to pass away Object 3. It is said Ceremoniall signs are done away but the ten Commands under the mercy-seat are of an other nature and that there are signs which are not yet abolished as the Rainbow Sun Moon and Stars but still remain for us to make good use of Answ. The mercy-seat under the Law is done away and the substance thereof is come and will ye not give him leave to write his law in the Tables which he shall choose where his Disciples may read it with the eye which hee gives Is his law now to be read in the shadow or with the outward eye or to be looked for under the old mercy-seat of the outward tabernacle or is it to be read with the eye of the new creature with the eye of faith with the eye of the Spirit in the everlasting Gospel where the life it self is read and in other books or writings without but tidings or relations of the life Here Christ here the Spirit here the eternall life here the love the joy the peace the rest the purity which is eternall is seen is felt is handled is injoyed for the true faith is indeed the substance of the things hoped for giving victory over the enemies which disturb and a quiet habitation
the hard stony heart be wasted and worn out by the cross and nothing left but what becomes one with the seed and so is fit to be married to it and to enter with it into the everlasting Kingdom Now this bearing the yoke this taking up of the cross this following of Christ in the wilderness through the corrections of the Father through the buffettings and temptations of the enemie in the midst of all the weaknesses frailties of the flesh going when he bids go standing still where he stops fighting when hee prepares to the warfare bearing the repulse when he suffers the enemy to prevail and hoping even beyond hope for his relief and victory in due season here 's the labour here 's the travell here 's the working under the life with the measure of grace and power received from the life So that first the day-spring from on high visits from that visitation there is light entred into the heart by closing with that light there is grace received with this grace received there is work to bee done for God his talent is to be improved all the six days by all that will rest with him on the seventh and that desire to cease from their labours in the fruition of the faith the life the power the faith the life the power living becoming and performing all in them And he that doth not improve the Talent he that doth not follow on in the pure light but either sits down by the way or is deceived with an Image of what once vvas true in him he can never arrive at the land of rest though perhaps he may arrive at that which he may call so but when the eternall witness awakes in him he will find the want of it and bitterly bewail his grievous mistake Novv in this hard travel and grievous labour under the close lavvs and spirituall Commandements of the life hard I mean yea very hard to the unrenewed part though easie and natural to that which is renewed and born of God it pleaseth the Lord novv and then to give a day of refreshment causing his life so powerfully to spring up that it even sensibly is and doth all in the heart This is a Sabbath wherein the soul rests in the povverfull movings and operations of the life and doth not find any stress of trouble or hardship or labour upon it but sits still in the povver is at ease in the life in the etertal vertue vvhich lives and moves and is all in it and no pain no trouble no grievousness of any Command is felt but to it all is easie all is natural all is purely pleasant the life to vvhich all its own lavvs Statutes ordinances judgements ways and paths are easie performing all it calls for even as fast as it calls for it And here not only a Sabbath of days but also a Sabbath of vveeks yea sometimes a Sabbath of years besides the everlasting Jubilee or year of perfect redemption it selfe are known vvitnessed by such as have vvaited on the Lord in singleness of heart under the yoke of his Spirit for the bringing down of the rough and untovvard nature and for the raising up of the meek and lovvly heart But here it is exceeding easie running out and starting aside it is easie running out from under the yoke to avoid the bitterness of the hardship to the earthly part it is much easier running out on the day of rest and so loosing the truth in a joy and rejoicing even such an one as might have a true ground Oh who can but think the bitterness of death is past when all enemies are vanished and there is nothing left but the Lord and the soul imbracing each other and who can but be unwilling to come back again to his labour and to the residue of his hard travel afterwards and yet it is far better to return to the work in the Vineyard and to suffer again with the seed then to keep up the rest in a notion and so to lose the life and pure presence and vertue of the seed when it returns unto and cals back to the labour Oh how many have perished here suffering a divource from that which led them into the rest not being willing to go back again with it to fill up the residue of its sufferings which were yet behind and so have kept up a false dead notional rest after the true Sabbath was ended Now there is no way for such but to wait to feel the living breath the quickning vertue the day-spring from on high which by the brightness of its rising can discover this false rest this dead rest this notionall rest this ease in the earthly in the fleshly in the understanding part which they uphold by things they have formerly gathered from the Scriptures or from their own perhaps once living experiences but now hold out of the feeling and possession of the life in the dead part But that it is thus with them they can never see untill the light from which they have erred spring up and discover it to them and when the light doth arise and discover it they will find the way of return and the path of redemption much more difficult to them then it was at first Yet it is better to part which the ease of the flesh and to undergo the pangs of a new birth then to miss of the inheritance in the good land There are three steps or degrees of the blessed estate First There are desires thirstings and breathings begotten after the life Secondly There is a labouring in the service under the yoke by the vertue which springs from the life Thirdly There is a Rest or sitting down at ease in the life By the stirring of life in the soul desires after life are kindled he in whom the desires are kindled and who feeleth the eternall vertue cannot but be running the race he whom the Spirit of the Lord findeth faithfull in running the race it pleaseth the Lord ever and anon to be giving him a tast of the rest Thus the spring stirring the soul cannot but move towards its center and as it entreth into and fixeth in its center it partaketh of the rest Nâ—w to know the leadings of the Spirit forward and backward into these into desires when he pleaseth into the labour and service of the life when he pleaseth into the sweet rest and perfect repose in the life when he pleaseth here is the safety and sweet progress of the renewed spirit That man who is born of the spirit is to wait for the movings breathings and kindlings of the Spirit in him and when the Sun ariseth he is to go forth to his labour in the light thereof and in the night and withdrawing of the Sun to retire And when his seventh day of rest comes he is to receive it from and enjoy it in the Spirit and afterwards to be willing to begin his week again even till his whole race
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
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
of holiness and obedience was prescribed them but by all their obedience thereto they could not be justified but only by hearing believing and obeying Christ the Word nigh in the heart and by feeling in the spirit the blood of that one offering Qu. 4. If the Gentiles were not bound under that Law that the Jews were which carryed the curse with it then which way have the Gentiles redemption by Jesus Christ seeing all that are redeemed are redeemed from the Law and the Curse thereof Gal. 4.5 3.13 Ans. As they were under the curse outwardly by transgressing that outward Law or Covenant and so mâ—ssed of the outward happiness of the holy Land and still met with Wrath and Judgements and at last utter cutting off as to their outward state and as to all their hope from that Covenant so he that comes to receive the Ministration of the Law of the Spirit will find the curse as abundantly inwardly even till that be cut down by the sword of the Spirit which the curse is to and that brought into dominion to which is the promise and blessing So that the Gentiles find as great need to be redeemed from the curse inwardly which the inward Law brings upon the transgressor as the Jews did outwardly yea and find a more heavy burthen and load then ever the Jews did outwardly Paul when he was alive in the outward Administration of the Law not being acquainted with the inward he knew little of the curse he was according to it blameless Phil. 3.6 but when he came to receive the living light of the spiritual Administration of it into his spirit then he felt the burthen and weight and misery of sin and the curse indeed and cryed out O wretched man who shall deliver Qu. 5. If the duration of the dispensation of Moses Law in the Letter was till Christ the Seed should come and fulfil it and the dispensation of Moses Law so stated without distinction between that that was perpetual and that that was ceremonially vanishing and so in the fulfilling of it besides Then what law or commandments that or they were which while Moses dispensation was in full force is said to be perpetually sure to stand fast for ever and for ever as Psal. 10.11.7 8. and when Christ the Seed was come and had fulfilled all that the Father had appointed him to do was established Rom. 3.31 and not one jot or tittle of it to pass so long as heaven and earth remain Mat. 5.18 Luke 16 17. Ans. That distinction between something in Moses Law being perpetual and something ceremonial is not sound and proper in this place For all that was under Moses law was but a shadow as in that dispensation and that Testament was dedicated with blood with the blood which was a shadow which related to every precept Heb. 9.18 19. and it was all substantiall and perpetuall in what it signified and related to The sacrifices were substantiall in that Sacrifice which they signified as well as the law and precepts were substantiall in the law and precepts which they signified And as the first Covenant pointed at a second Covenant so the laws of the first Covenant pointed at the law of the second Covenant the ministration whereof is from the Mediator of that Covenant and they come into the heart sprinkled with his blood Now the law or Commandement which even under that dispensation was to be perpetuall and last for ever was the word in the heart and the laws thereof Deut. 30.14 which Moses by especiall order from God and according to the tenor of an other Covenant directed the Jews to v. 4. For the law as administred by Moses in the letter is not perpetuall or eternall but as it comes from the Spirit and is administred in the Spirit so it is Spirituall and eternall That administration was fitted to that people and we knovv the Lord if he had pleased could have given a fuller administration of his law in the letter then that was as Christ plainly intimates divers times Mat. 5. But if it had been never so full yet the administration of it in the letter is to give place to the administration of it in the Spirit So that the administration of it in the letter is not perpetuall but for the time which God allotted it but the administration of it in the Spirit is eternal and perpetual and there it remains an eternall Light witness and sword against sin and the transgressor And thus it is established in the hands of the Spirit after the season of that ministration of it in the letter was ended and thus not one jot or tittle of it was to pass away after the other ministration with every jot and tittle of it was ended Qu. 6. If the coming of Christ in the flesh and his fulfilling all the righteousness of the law and being foretold by Moses to be that Prophet that was to be heard in all things which is not denyed by us but if by these he put an end to the law of the ten Commandements and gave forth an other law to his house or family Then what law that is And whether it be contrary to that law that he with the Father gave forth as Deut. 33.2 with Psal. 80.17 which now is in Gospel ministration holy just good as Rom. 7.12 and Spirituall ver. 14. Answ. It is the law of the Spirit or the Light of the Spirit in the heart which discovers sin not only in the outward acts but in its principle rise first motions and inward nature giving forth his living commands against it This is the law now in which the believer is to begin Gal. 3.3 and according to which he is to go on to perfection For as the believer is begotten of the Spirit and born of the Spirit so he is to receive the ministration of his law from the Spirit and in the Spirit Hee receives a gift of Faith a measure of Faith from the eternall Spring of Life and that 's his Law His law is the law of Faith The Light of Life which receives in the Faith opens the mind and will of Christ to him in the Spirit shewing him both sin and also the things of God more fully then the Law of Moses could though opened by the Spirit for it is a fuller a deeper kind of ministration and so opens the things which it ministers more fully then a ministration of an inferiour nature can Yet it is not contrary to Moses law but comprehends all the substance all the righteousness and equity of it as I said before which it as a shadow represented and commanded to that outward or shadowie people the Jews But the law which Paul spake of Rom. 7. was the law of the Spirit or such a ministration of the law as Paul knew not all the while he was under the ministration of Moses's Law blameless but this law found out sufficient blame in him ver. 14. c.
Qu. 7. If Jesus Christ as he is the Son gave forth another law to his house or family and that law contrary to that that the Father gave forth then whether there is not two law-givers when the Scriptures say there is but one Jam. 4.12 Answ. The substance when it is shadowed out or when it is nakedly dispensed is one and the same thing so that when ever it comes it cannot be an other thing then what the shadow represented it to be Moses his dispensation and Christs are one in Spirit and when he cometh in Spirit he doth not destroy either Moses or the Prophets but comprehends them So that the law is but one although the dispensations of it have been various but the proper dispensation of the law now to Christians is Christ's dispensation not Moses his dispensation Christians are now to look for the Light and Knowledge of it in the Tables where Christ writes it according to his Covenant So that there have not been two Laws given out but the one Law of God hath been variously dispensed in and according to the letter by Moses to the Jews in and according to the Spirit by Christ to his Discipes Quer· 8. If the Tables of Stone the writing of the law of the ten Commandements in the Tables and the Law of the ten Commandements it self which was written were figures or representations Then whether the finger of Gods Spirit doth write the law of God two ways in the inward Tables So called namely in the heart of Christs family in one way whilst Moses dispensation was on foot Psal. 37.31 For the Psalmist speaks in the present tense which was under that dispensation Now is it another way in this latter dispensation expressed 2 Cor. 3.3 Qu. 9. If two wayes then how doth the finger of Gods Spirit write them those ways Answ. The eternall Covenant was the same under the Law as under the Gospell and its Tables were the heart then as well as now and its way of writing the same then as now even by the finger of God's power or eternall Spirit and thither the Jews were even then referred for the inward writing of the Law Deut. 30.14 So that they that truly hearkned even to Moses were to wait on this word vvhich vvas nigh in the heart for the vvriting of his Laws there And they that hearkned to this Lavv vvhich endureth for ever knevv the writings thereof in their hearts whereas the Jews vvho vvere very diligent to get the Law into their hearts from the letter could never thereby attain the writing of it there but vvere still found breakers of it and under that curse vvhich belonged to the breach Abraham Isaac and Jacob David and the Prophets knevv the invvard Jew who becomes so by the invvard Covenant and by the inward dispensation of the Lavv in that Covenant and the Law vvhich vvas after the promise could not disannul the promise vvhich vvas before it but it stood good and firm to the children even to all the Spirituall seed the vvhole time of that outvvard dispensation of the Lavv Qu 10. If not Then how doth the writing of the Law in Tables of Stone represent the writing of the Law in the Tables of the heart seeing the Tables of the heart were writ upon by the finger of Gods Spirit whilst the Tables of stone were in full force and the dispensation had not ceased Answ. Though the Tables of Stone or Law thereof was in force to that outvvard people of God the Jews yet this did not destroy his inward people nor his inward Tables in their hearts nor hinder him from vvriting his invvard Lavv there but the invvard and eternall Covenant ran underneath to them invvardly even all the time of that outvvard dispensation whereby they were made invvardly righteous and obedient to God And as God had perticularly directed by Moses to the Word and Commandement of that Covenant So hee would not fail to write it thereby in the hearts of such as turned to that word and Commandement So that this was the Law vvhich God vvrote in the heart even then and vvas alvvays the invvard substance while as Moses his dispensation was but an outward sign thereof Qu. 11. If the Law of the ten Commandements it self which enjoined love and duty to God and love and duty to man as Matth. 22.37 38 39 40. was or is a figure of an other then what Law that is that 's the antitipe of this Law which in succeeding of it enjoyns not love and duty to God and not love and duty to man Ans. This Query ariseth from a great mistake as if the Law in the letter and the lavv in the Spirit could not require the same thing vvhereas they do require the very same thing in substance but severall vvays according to the difference of each administration to vvit the one litterally of a litterall or outvvard people the other Spiritually of a Spiritual or invvard people The one requires love according to the tenor of the letter the other according to the Spirit Qu. 12 If the owning of the ten Commandements as they are plainly laid down in the letter be a breaking of them in the Spirit and especially those contained in the first Table Then how doth the truth of God written which is life and truth Act. 7.38 and Eccl. 12.10 and the Spirit which is given forth meet together seeing the Spirit leads and guides into all truth Ans. I do not know any who hath said that the owning of the ten Commandements at they are plainly laid down in the letter is a breaking of them in the Spirit but he that hath the Spirit owneth the dispensation of the letter in its place and season but the Spirit doth not teach him to run from his own dispensation where it is livingly administred to such as wait on the eternall Word in his Covenant of Life for it to that dispensation which was appointed for and given forth to others But that the truth as it is written outwardly is Life I do not read but otherwise 2 Cor. 3.6 where Paul saith the letter killeth speaking of the letter of the New Testament The Spirit indeed guides into all truth but it is the living Soul whom hee so guides and it is the living truth into which he guides in the New Covenant though it was he also who gave forth required and was able to lead into the letter of the Old Covenant Qu. 13. Whether when Jehovah gave forth the ten Commandements plainly as a Law in the letter he did intend by the observation according to the letter the breach of them by the Spirit Ans. The Spirit doth not teach to break the commands in the letter but such as are under the ministration of the letter to observe them according to the letter and such as are under the ministration of the Spirit to fulfill the righteosness of them in the Spirit Yet the Son of man is Lord of
in him who is the rest And as touching signs I do not say that signs are so done away as that there is now no good use to be made of them but in reading the law and shadows thereof the Lord may please by his Spirit to enlighten the Spirit of him who reads in his fear to see through them but this I do not find that so much as any one sign or shadow under the law was to be continued in that way of service under the Gospel for indeed to what end should it When that is come which it signified is not its work at an end and that that Sabbath was given for a sign as well as any other Sabbaths of the Law I find expresly Exod. 31.13 to 18. Object 4. It is said That though Christ's law be a new law yet it is also old given of old to the Jews Answ. Yea it is older then so for it was written in Abels and the other holy mens hearts long before this Covenant of the Law in writing was made with the Jews And consider wel which is now to stand in the times of the Gospel the writing of the law by the Spirit in the hearts of believers as it was written by vertue of the promise before the law was given or the outward and visible writing under the Law which was done for the sake of and as a suitable dispensation for that outward people It was not thus from the beginning but after a long time for when God chose an outward people he chose also this way of writing to signifie somewhat by which signification is concerning another state in which state that which was signified is to be set up and advanced and not the shadows which were significant of it It is further said that the Lord writes these things new in his peoples hearts to know the Lord as their God and as the God and Father of Jesus Christ and as their Father in him and to love their brethren as Christ loved them And he writes this law also in their hearts Thou shalt have no other Gods but me make no Image exalt my name keep holy the Sabbath c. Ans. If God write these things in the heart are they not to be read there If God write them in the new Covenant and in the new Tables shal not I read them there And if I can read there in this living book what God writes in it by his Spirit is not this nearer to me and clearer and read by a more certain eye then what I can read with my outward eye in Tables of stone Oh do not turn the believer out of his way do not hinder him from reading in the book which is clear and infallible the clear and infallible things of God Will God write in my heart and will he not give me an eye to read Shall he give me an eye to read and shall I not read therewith Thou hast here confessed this to be the new writing and the new writing belongs to the new Covenant both which are proper to the Gospel-state and to Christs meditation who is Mediatour of the new Covenant Heb. 8.6 And in that he saith a new he hath made the first old Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away ver. 13. Object 5. It is said that Love being the sum and substance of the law of the Spirit makes no more against the fourth Commandement then against the rest Ans. Love is the substance of them all they are all fulfilled in it but they are not after this manner fulfilled to wit that a man should strive perticularly to keep them in his eye and so labour to fulfill them in love but rather thus in waiting on the Lord to receive love from him and to be kept by him in the love in this love received they are all fulfilled and cannot be broken and this is an easie yoke This is the new birth and the path thereof the other is but the old creature with its striving after the path and inheritance of life And as this love is the fulfilling of the law so the heart are the Tables of this love wherein God writeth both the whole and all the parts of his Law Now I am not against any man who in singleness of heart applies himself to the letter but it is but the old way and a conversing with Christ after the manner of Moses's his dispensation but I must confess that I am for the new Covenant and for the ministry of the Spirit which is far beyond the letter and though I have known Christ and the Lavvs of his life after the flesh yet henceforth my desire is not after knowing him so any more but to know him in the eternall life of his Spirit and to drink of the fruit of the Vine new vvith him in his Fathers Kingdome A brief explication of the mistery of the Six Days labour and Seventh Days Sabbath for such to behold the eye of whose Spirit is opened by the pure anointing and who are not so drowned in their conceivings and reasonings about the sence of the letter as most of the professors of this age are Mat. 11.28 29 30. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls For my yoke is easie and my burden is light He that hears the joyfull sound of the everliving power calling him by the voice of his eternall light out of the darkness out of the death out of the misery out of the Dominions Territories and deep slavery of Satan unto himself and cometh unto him in the vertue and power of that life which calleth he hath a tast given him of the eternall rest and a promise of entring into it But the entrance into the fulness thereof is not presently but he hath a long journey to take from Egypt the dark land from Sodom the filthy land from Babilon where all the vessells and holy things of God have been defiled through the wilderness unto Canaan and many battles are to be fought with enemies by the way also with the enemies which possess the holy land and many hardships to be undergone in following the Captain who also leadeth his Israel by a pillar of cloud by day and by a pillar of fire by night and there must be a circumcision a baptism in the cloud in the Sea and the falling of all those carcasses in the wilderness which are not to enter nor so much as see the good land before the entrance be ministred to the seed and to that which passeth through the water and through the fire with the seed In plain terms there must be a taking up of the yoke and a learning of Christ under the yoke till the proud the stiff the stubborn the wise the wilful the selfish Spirit
of the Spirits of them that put it and their want of acquaintance with the ministration of the Spirit They that know the Gospell Sabbath which is the substance of the Law Sabbath can tell who injoin'd it them and can also tell that he hath not required of them the observation of the Jews Sabbath But they that are born after the letter have been always subject to revile and reproach the truths of the Spirit and those that testifie thereto Qu 20. If the Lords holy Sabbath be that day which we may suppose is intended by this paper sent unto us to be the day that containes the time of Gospell-administration then whether that Sabbath doth prohibit outward labour as well as abstaining from sin if not then which way must this Sabbath be kept Seeing that they that did and doth observe the weekly Sabbath did and doth it in the Spirit And rest by faith in Christ worshipping the Father in Spirit and in truth Answ. The Gospell-Sabbath begins not in the observation of outward time but as it is Spirituall so it hath a Spirituall beginning increase and persecting wherein there is a rest to the Spirit from sin and from the creaturely works a worshipping in the Spirit even as on the outward Sabbath there was a bodily ceasing from labours and an outward worshipping And he that heareth the joyfull sound of deliverance from sin and self-working and entreth into the faith beginning to cease from his own works and working and to wait in the Spirit on the power for its working in him hath a tast of the Gospel-Sabbath and beginneth to see that day which the type pointed to and ends in Qu. 21. If that that was ministred to Paul Rom. 7. thou shalt keep the Sabbath or believe in the Light follow the Light and the observing of either of these in the Spirit to be a keeping the whole Law Then how are the Scriptures observed if the keeping of one Commandement be a keeping the whole Law when the holy Spirit in Scriptures says that he that offends in one point is guilty of all Jam. 2.10 Ans. I did not say that the keeping of one Commandement is the keeping of the whole Law but that the observing in Spirit of any one of those there mentioned by me is the keeping of the Law which was not barely said but demonstrated because no part of the Law can be broken but every one of these must be broken He that commits any sin breaks the Gospel-Sabbath which is a resting from all sin and self-works errs from the law of love received in the Spirit which shuts out all enmity and transgression both against God and man departs from the fear which keeps from departing from God by any iniquity and enters into the lust which is the womb of sin out of the compass of which womb sin cannot be conceived much less committed So that Paul in that Law received from the Spirit Thou shalt not Lust saw the whole body of sin struck at whereas before under the ministration of Moses in the letter according to which he said he was blameless there was not so much as the life of one sin struck at but for all his exact answering of the Law according to that ministration he was alive still To decide this controversie let it be put to tryall let any one singly wait on the Lord for the administration of his Law in the Spirit and if the Lord give forth that Command to him Thou shalt not lust in the clearness of the Light of his eternall Spirit let him try if continuing in obedience and subjection thereto he can commit any one sin whatsoever I do not say that a mans proposing to himself that he will not lust or his striving of himself to love and fear the Lord or his applying himself to keep the Sabbath or rest from sin to the Lord will do this Nay this is but an administration in the letter and will prove weak against the inward strength of the enemy but receiving the Law in its pure living administration in the Spirit and from the Spirit here comes strength against the enemy which is too hard for him while it is abode in And this the Apostle Paul taught the Galatians who were running backward towards the Law and not forwards in the Spirit He bids them Walk in the Spirit Gal 5.25 and so doing as they should not be under the Law ver. 18. So neither should they be breakers of the Law for within those bounds sin enters not but is kept out not so much as a lust against the Law being there known much less any open transgression against it and against such as thus keep within the bounds of the Spirit there is no Law ver. 22.23 But against all that make themselves debtors to the Law of the letter there stands in force both the law of the letter of the Spirit also they cannot in that state be free from the condemnation and curse thereof whatsoever they may imagine concerning themselves and their own state from a mis-understanding and mis-application of the Scriptures The first Letter Answered There is a double ministration of the Law a ministration in the Letter and a ministration in the Spirit The ministration of the Letter was by Moses from mount Sinai in Tables of stone to that outward people the Jews the ministration of the Spirit is by Christ from mount Sion in Tables of flesh to believers or his Disciples Now this is it which the Lord hath made manifest to me that the Disciples of Christ or believers are to have recourse to their administration for the receiving of the law from the Spirit and not to run back to that ministration which was litterall and outward and fitted to a litterall and outward people This was more fully set down in my Epistle in severall particulars Now in opposition to this it is said Fâ—rst That all written in that Epistle makes no more at all against a Gospel Spiritual observing in love the seventh day Sabbath to the Lord then they make against a Gospell Spirituall observing of the other nine Comandements Ans. My Epistle striketh not at a Gospel Spirituall observation of any thing but he that will obey Spiritually must receive his command from the Spirit in that way which the Spirit hath chosen to dispense it to him in Now the same Spirit which wrote his law in the letter under the old Covenant writeth his law in the hearts of believers under the new Covenant Heb. 8.10 which is a better Covenant and of which Covenant Christ is the Mediator ver. 6. and Christ is as faithfull to give forth the Laws of his Spirit in the hearts of his people as their condition requires them as Moses was to give the Law written in the Tables of stone to his house Heb. 3.5.6 And as Moses pointed his Disciples to Christ coming in the flesh so Christ pointed believers or his Disciples to the