of the letter but of the spirit for the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life Now the Apostles received their Knowledge immediately from the Lord Christ and also of the Spirit for the Holy Ghost was given to be in them by which they also understood things to come and by the Spirit they were made able Ministers not of the Letter but of the Spirit for all the Gentiles when they were first to be called in had he then Preach'd the Letter of the Law to them they then had thereby all been Condemned But the Apostles were upon the first Publication of the Gospel to Preach Remission of Sins by Christ to every one that would turn from their evil way and by that turn they were to live in obedience to the Letter of the Word And in that he saith they were made able Ministers of the New Testament was in that the Holy Ghost was then given as a Witness to their Testimony to confirm the Truth of their Word and likewise they did Administer the Spirit for 〈◊〉 the laying on the Hands of the Apostles the People received the Holy Ghost Acts 19.6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them the holy Ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied So also Acts 8.17 But should any Man now pretend to Preach such Doctrin of Administring the Spirit and not the Letter of the Word the People had good reason to believe that Man was out of his Senses But some have given such a turn to these Words of the Apostle from hence pretending they are not to take the plain Letter of the Word as it is spoken but according to the Spiritual Interpretation which they have put upon it the which has been according to their own Fancy And so by leaving the plain Letter of the Word in what God hath declared promised and sworn to are thereby fallen into these great and dangerous Mistakes for the Scripture admits of no other Spiritual Meaning than what is there specified which is that we perform not the Letter or practical part of the Word to be seen of Men but in sincerity of Heart so as to Worship God in Spirit and Truth But in the Word there are many Figurative Speeches which admits of no other Interpretation than what can be made out from the Word leaving nothing therein to contradict what we say And likewise some have got another way to uphold their false received Notions which is that God speaks after the manner of Men and according to Man's Understanding and if so how doth any Man dare to open another â—…ay for Man to understand of God than what God thought fit for Man's Understanding But there is no such thing said of God throughout the Word but St. Paul to 〈◊〉 the Covenant said that he spake after the manner of 〈◊〉 though it be but a Man's Covenant yet if it be confirmed no Man disanulleth it Gal. 3.15 But our Reformers had done well if they had said there was a great Secret in the Word which as yet they understand not and that it was not to be medled with till the Lord did give more Light according to his Promise before the time of the end and not to have set the Scriptures by their mistaken Interpretations at an unreconcileable Difference as they have done or it would have been much better to have thought that when the False Teachers had ingross'd the Word into their own Hands that they might have put in some words to make the New Testament appear to contradict the Old in what God had positively Promised and Sworn to therein seeing that God had intrusted Man with the Word for his Posterity as Adam was intrusted with Eternal Life for his Posterity the one being forbidden to Eat of the Tree and the other that they should neither add to nor diminish from the Word Gen. 2.16,17 Deut. 4.2 Rev. 22.18,19 But as a Reverend and Worthy Dr. said That when the Reformers first came out of Popery they did plainly see that the Papists were wrong but they themselves did not understand how to come right and indeed in losing the true meaning of the Word it was a hard matter so to do But now God according to his Promise has caused Light to break forth at Evening time Zach. 14.7 And has removed the occasion of Mistakes that thereby Knowledge might be increased whereby the God of Truth is made plainly appear to speak Truth as he is Truth and that he will do in all things according as he has said who having employed and enabled a weak Worm to vindicate his Truth and Justice to the Glory of his Name and the Comfort of Mankind Now such as will stand up to vindicate their false received Notions thereby to make the God of Truth a Lyar let them take what will follow for their Pains I am sure that the honest Heart will be glad that the Truth of God's Word is made plain and his Honour therein Vindicated I understand that some of the Honourable of the Clergy of the Church of England are well-wishers to the Truth and the soundest in the common Faith in the Knowledge of which is our Interest are part of the French Protestants part of the Church of England the Danish and Swedish Ministers and the Baptists that acknowledge that Christ Died for the World I am not to speak for Favour or Affection but as the Truth is in Jesus according to the Gospel A Papist told me that the Church of England gave the Sacrament as the Body and Blood of Christ the which I denied for though they give indeed the Bread and Wine in the words of Christ yet they do not give it as his real Body but as his Figurative Body as Christ did when he was setting whose with them at the Table for the Lord was no otherwise broken in the Sacrament than he was Slain in the Paschal Lamb yet he was said to be Slain in that Sacrifice but what great Mistakes has it caus'd the Christians to be in because they and we have lost the right Apprehension of the Scripture way of speaking XVIII An account of the Lord's five times Hiring Labourers into his Vincyard WHereas the Lord saith Matth. 20.1,2 ' The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Man that is an Housholder which went out early in the Morning to Hire Labourers into his Vineyard and when he had agreed with the Labourers he sent them into his Vineyard ' In the first place we are to take notice by the Comparison that every time the Lord hired Labourers to work in his Vineyard he came forth from Heaven and Hired them that is Agreed or Covenanted with them himself as with Noah and likewise with Abraham and also with Israel in the Wilderness and so Christ when he Established the Gospel the Agreement was that all that were Hired were to Work in the Vineyard and to have a Reward for their Labour And at the last time when the