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
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.
the Sabbath and if he bid a man Take up his bed and walk which was bearing a burthen and doing of work on the Sabbath day it is no breach of the Sabbath Now this is most righteous that as the Son's rest should be entred into under the Gospel so his day of rest should be kept by his Disciples and family Qu. 14 Whether to say The keeping the Law of God according to the letter is a breaking of it in the Spirit be not a charging of God that gave it forth to be kept and the holy Spirit that incites us so to do now in this administration Jam. 2.8 and says they do well that do so and yet thou saist they break it in Spirit but tell us by any one Scripture how a man assisted by the Spirit to own Jehovah alone to be his God according to the letter of the first Commandement doth break that Command in the Spirit Or so the like of any other of them Ans. This Query is altogether from a mistake for it was not said by me That the keeping the Law of God acccording to the Letter is a breaking of it in the spirit but that he that runs back to the Law in the letter to take up any command as hold forth in it will be found a breaker thereof in spirit And for this the Jews in general and Paul in particular may be my instances who was exceeding strict according to the Letter of the Law but yet was a grievous breaker of it in spirit and did not love his neighbor as himself but in a blind zeal was a bitter persecutor And if the Jews had taken that direction of Moses Deut. 30.14 the observation of the law in the letter might have been more easie to them So that the turning towards and receiving the Word in the heart from whence the letter came is the onely way to fulfll the letter and the Law is not so much as to be known much less fulfilled by running to the letter of it in the first place And this I certainly know that there is no coming to the Lord of life nor no keeping chast to him but in the New-Covenant and in the light of the Lord as it is there dispensed and till then the mind cannot forbear making of images and false representations of him to it self though being from the light of this Covenant it cannot discern that it doth so no more then Paul by the Letter of the Law could discern how he was a breaker thereof in his violent persecutions Qu. 15. Whether the Prophets Jesus Christ or the Apostles their keeping the Law according to the letter that they did do so is evident did break the law in the spirit Ans. The Prophets were under the Law as to their outward state though inwardly not without feeling the vertue of the New-Covenant Christ also was made under the Law and took upon him the fulfilling of that dispensation of Moses that he might bring the believing Jews from under it into the liberty of the Spirit that they might receive the adoption of Sons and the free Ministration which was appointed for the Sons and might not be held under that Ministration of bondage which was appointed for the servants And the Apostle bids Believers to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free not making themselves debtors to the Law Gal. 5.1 for they were children of the promise children of new Jerusalem the free Woman children of the New-Covenant and not children of Mount Sinai the old Covenant the Law in the Letter c. 4.15 16. Qu. 16. If there be but one day of rest holy to the Lord and all the Sabbaths of the law were but signs of it that is said to be the day of redemption that the Lord hath made Then whether that day be a day natural one of the seven days of the week which either respect the Day on which our Redeemer suffered or that on which he rose again from the dead or any other Ans. As the Gospel is not natural but spiritual so its day of rest is not natural but spiritual likewise Yea I may add this also the six days Work in the new Creation are not natural neither Qu. 17. If not so but that it should he intended applicable to the day or time of the Gospel Administration from the time that Christ suffered in the flesh unto the end of the world Then whether this day that is intended as a Sabbath is one with that day that the Scriptures intend and call a Sabbath which Christ himself gave his Disciples charge to have respect unto in their flight Matt. 24.20 Answ. The supposition here put demonstrateth that those that put it have no acquaintance with the Gospel-Sabbath but propose another outward time for it even the time from Christs suffering in the flesh to the end of the World Now if any should so affirm it were as justly to be excepted against as pressing the observation of the Jews Sabbath is That which signifieth is outward or natural and signifieth to that part which is without that which is signified is inward and spiritual and is known entred into kept and enjoyed in the spirit It is a spiritual Sabbath not a natural which God hath instituted for his spiritual people after he hath led them out of spiritual Aegyt into the spiritual Wilderness where he administreth to them the Law in the spirit and teacheth them to worship him in spirit and truth Qu. 18. If they intend one and the same Sabbath day then how impossible was it for the Disciples of Christ to escape flying on that Sabbath day though never so fervent in prayer in regard that this Sabbath spoken of begun when Christ had suffered and put an end to the dispensation of Moses Law and the flight spoken of by Christ which respect the Lords Sabbath was not until many years after his sufferings Supposed-Sabbath being before denied the foundation of this Query fails An. Christs Sabbath is not an outward time or day in the flesh but a day in the Spirit even a day of rest from all the labours of the fleshly part But this was spoken to before in the Answer to the last of W. Salters Queries whereto I may add this Christ spake to his Disciples of things as they were able to bear them Now as they understood not his death so then they understood not the abolishing of those things which were to pass away after his death so that Christ might very well call Jerusalem the holy place and the seventh day the Sabbath speaking to them in that state Qu. 19. If they intend not one and the same Sabbath day then which are the Disciples of Christ to have respect unto whether that that Jesus Christ injoined his Disciples to have respect unto or that that Isaac Penington would injoyn the Disciples of Christ to have respect unto Ans. This Querie hath very little in it save to shew the unsavouriness
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
and the full course of his Pilgrimage be finished Yet if it were possible for man after he is come to Christ to abide perfectly with him to cease from lust to keep within the faith to draw naturally in the yoke to bow in the Spirit continually to the Father of Spirits there would be a continuall Sabbath kept in the passage even before the great full and perfect Sabbath in the end The hardness and unease of the labour is because of a part contrary to the life which when it is worn out there will be no more labour but the yoke will become the rest and all the motions and operations of life will flow forth naturally in the rest And here is the Patience and Faith of the Saints to wait under the yoke under the daily cross to that Part which is to be brought and kept under till all the bonds of Captivity be broke through by the life and the vail of flesh rent from the to the bottome the remaining of which is that which stops the free current of life and then shall the soul enter into the holy of holâ—es obtaining the full possession of the everlasting inheritance and of the eternall redemption and know sorrovv tears bonds sickness death captivity no nor so much as grapling with them or travelling out of them no more but the enjoyment of the plenty and fulness of the life reaping all the pleasant fruits of life in the rich land of life for evermore SOME CONSIDERATIONS Propounded to the JEWES That they may hear and consider and their Hearts at length may be Turned towards that which alone is able to Convert Them to God that they may once more become his People and enter into an Everlasting Covenant with him that may not be broken that so they may abide in his Love and Covenant of Life and remain his People for ever Consideration I. WHat great Love Mercy and Kindness God shewed to that People above all Nations and Peoples under Heaven Of his own free love he set his heart upon them chusing them to be a People to himself He brought them out of Egypt by a mighty hand and outstretched Arm he mightily preserved them in and led them through the Wilderness He entred into a Covenant with them to become their God and betrothed them unto himself for his own Lot and Inheritance He gave them righteous Laws Judgments Statutes and Ordinances both of Worship towards him and of an upright Demeanour and Conversation among themselves and towards all men He drove out the Heathen from before them and gave them a pleasant Land to possess even the glory of all Lands a Land flowing with Milk and Honey He built an habitation for himself among them first a moving Sanctuary or Tabernacle afterwards a more setled abiding place or Temple which Solomon built wherein was the Ark of his presence where he was to be sought unto and enquired of by them and towards which their Prayers were to be directed and there was a Mercy-seat whereof they had large experience and he ever and anon sent Prophets among them to reprove their errors and blackslidings and to set them to rights again He raised up Judges likewise to defend them and although they were weary of his Government desiring a King after the manner of the Nations so vehemently that they even forced a King from him yet he took him away from them and after him chose a man after his own heart to feed Jacob his People and Israel his Inheritance who fed them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands What should I say more what was wanting of Love of Care of Goodness of Kindness of Mercy of Gentleness of any thing that a People could desire of their God I say what was wanting of all this on Gods part What could he have done more for his Vineyard than he did do Nay he emptied upon them all the Goodness all the Mercy Love Favour c. that that Covenant would hold to the full yea and more too for he bare with them more than that Covenant required him to bear and redeemed them oftner than that Covenant engaged him yea many time turned he his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath as he might often have done according to the tenour of that Covenant Yea in all their afflictions he was afflicted and the Angel of his presence saved them And he was still ready to say in his heart Surely they are my People Children that will not lie at length they will see their error repent and be true to me insomuch as he was never weary of saving them of trying them again and again of stirring up his Bowels of Love and Pitty to Redeem them of sending his Servants and Prophets among them to warn and reclaim them even till at last it was manifest that there was no remedy but he must cast them off and provoke them to jealousie by a foolish Nation Deut. 32.20 21. drawing them nigh to him who had been Worshipping Stocks and Stones making them become a People who had long been no People and casting these out of his sight making them become no People who had so long been his chosen peculiar People in Covenant with him and nigh unto him above all the Families of the Earth Consid. II. What constant Rebellion and stiffness of Spirit that People all along expressed towards the Lord what wild sowre Grapes they still brought forth to him sowre Love sowre Obedience sowre Worship and Sacrifices such as the pure pallate of the Lord could find no relish nor savour in but as Moses had told them that it was not for their Righteousness God chose them to give them the good Land to possess for they were a Rebellious and stiff-necked People Deut. 9.6 7. So it was not for their Goodness that God continued his love to them for they were all along provoking him Jer. 44.4 When God came to shew that great Mercy to them of Redeeming them out of Egypt and bid them cast away their Idols they would not cast away their Idols Ezek. 20.7 8. neither did they regard that Mercy of Redemption from the House of Bondage and from the Iron Furnace but said to Moses it was better for them to stay in Egypt and to serve the Egyptians Exod. 14.12 Again in the Wilderness how did they provoke him all that forty years of Mercy how did they err in their hearts from his pure fear and from Love to him and from Faith and Confidence in him how did they murmur against him and against Moses and Aaron their Leaders how did they forget his Works and his Wonders continually When they came near the Land and should have gone in to possess it then they would not but repined and rebelled because of the talness and strength of the Enemy and of their Cities and when they were forbid to go then they would go and fight with