Comforter the Spirit of truth first to wait for him and then to receive light or his law of Life from him And this is Gospel or New Covenant even that which the Spirit speaks or writes in the heart and this hath power in it and saveth whereas the letter killeth Now consider seriously whither should a believer go for this laws to which Covenant to Moses his Covenant or to Christ's Covenant Secondly That all these Commands being holy and good are to be loved and in love to be observed c. Ans. All the Statutes and Judgements and Ordinances and Precepts of the Lord are holy and good and are to be loved but each is to be obedient to that which God requires of him and to have recourse to that ministration for the law of God to him under which God hath set him He that believes he that hath received the Spirit is to have recourse to the law of Faith and to the Spirit for his light or law he who was under the law of Moses was to have recourse to the law of Moses for the law of Moses spake to them who were under it in his family giving forth the precepts or commandements of that dispensation to them who were under his Testament Heb. 9.20 And Christ speaks to his family by his Spirit whom his Disciples are to hearken unto and not to grieve him or quench his motions or despise his prophesyings but give diligent heed thereto untill the day dawn and the day-Star arise in their hearts Now to obey in love doth not make the distinction of the ministrations for love belongeth to each ministration The Jews in their day were to obey the law in love and to have it in their hearts Deut. 6.5 6. But this makes the difference the Jews were to seek to the letter for it the Disciple is to receive it from the Spirit for he is to begin in the Spirit Gal. 3.3 Whereas the Jews beginning was in the letter And this is obedience in the newness of the Spirit when the law is received fresh from the Spirit who both writes new things and brings to remembrance old things livingly and powerfully but to go to Moses ministration and learn it there and get it into the heart from thence that 's according to the old ministration or Covenant which was given in the letter to the Jews as may appear in that place last cited Deut. 6.5.6 Thirdly That in the same spirit and love that we have the Lord for our God c. in the same we are to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy Ans. The Lord teacheth believers to know him to be the only true God c. by the Law of the Covenant of life in Christ Jesus which he ministers to their Spirits in the Spirit whereby he teacheth them so clearly and effectually that they need not run back to the Tables of Moses his Covenant from thence to teach one another to know the Lord but they shall all know him from this teaching from the least to the greatest yea and I may add this This Covenant by its ministration teacheth more clearly then the ministration of Moses his Law in the letter could teach Heb. 8.10 11. They that have been with Moses and have learned the Law of him under the ministration of his Covenant have yet need of coming to Christ but they that have been with Christ and have learned the law of his Spirit by the teachings of the new Covenant in their hearts have not need of being sent back to Moses Moses pointeth forward to Christ but Christ even in the flesh sendeth not his Disciples from his own dispensation back to Moses though he also established the dispensation of Moses for its season but pointeth them forward to the Comforter or to his appearance in the Spirit And this is the mark of a Christian which it is the intent of the letter to direct him to and not for him to fix in the letter as men have done since the Apostacy from the Spirit This Argument is further inforced thus because he that said the other said this in the same Law and Spirit Ans. It is true he that said the other by Moses to the Jews said this also to them and they were strictly bound thereto but that which binds the Disciple is the ministration of the new Covenant where Christ writes this Law in the minds and spirits of his people by which they are bound and such as as are out of that the Lord when he cometh to examine them concerning their faith and obedience will say to them Who hath required this at your hands Were ye children of the New Covenant Did ye receive the Spirit had ye a measure of faith given you were ye new creatures Why did ye not keep to your rule Why did ye not wait on the Spirit and receive the Law from the New Jerusalem from whence it issues forth to the family of believers The Jews were to be taught by precepts and Judgments from Moses but all thy children shall be taught of the Lord It is said yet further So that if thou keepest the other and not this thou art a transgressor of the ROYAL LAW OF LIBERTY Ans. What is the Royall Law what is the Law of Liberty Was the law as it was administred by Moses the Royall Law or is it the Royall Law as it is administred by the Son who is the King of Saints and writes his law in their hearts as their King Again was the law which Moses administred to the Jews a law of Liberty or a law of bondage did not the ministration on mount Sinai gender to bondage Gal. 4.24 but in the ministration of the law by the Spirit is life and liberty ver. 26. and 2 Cor. 3.17 And this very law Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self is Royall and a law of pure liberty and there is no bondage in it thus administred but let any man now read it in the letter and strive to obey it to the utmost he can he shall find it weak through the flesh accusing and in bondaging him And this is the reason that Christians so mourn in their prayers even as persons in bonds because they know not the Royall law of liberty because they feel not the love which the Spirit begets but strive to get the letter into their hearts and to answer the Commands in the letter with what love and obedience they can come at and this through not seeing into the true Covenant and ministry of Christ they call obeying in the Spirit The testimony of Jesus Rev. 12.17 is the Spirit of prophecy chap. 19.10 and his Commandements come fresh from that Spirit of prophecy which are to be taken heed to till the day dawn and the day-star arise and then a fuller ministration is witnessed then that of prophecy even the shining and appearing of that which was prophesied of which every believer is to wait for in the prophesies of
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 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
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
them What should I mention the time of the Judges and of the Kings how often the Lord made them smart by their Enemies in their own Land how often he gave them up to Captivity out of their Land even till at length that great Captivity of Babylon befel them and since that a greater Captivity and Desolation than that of Babylon Consid. III. Whether God having tryed this People even to the utmost by that Covenant which he made with them by Moses in Mount Sinai may ever please to try them so any more Or if there yet remain any Mercy or Love from God towards them whether it is not to be expected another way and upon another account This is very necessary and profitatble for them to consider that they may not be looking that way for Mercy and Favour from God in which it is never to come and so have their eyes and hearts diverted from that way according to which it is to come for this must needs put them back exceedingly if their eyes be looking out one way and the Love of God hath chosen another channel to run towards them in This may make them refuse the very Mercy Love and Redemption when it comes suspecting it not to be it because it comes not in the way and after the manner that they look for it Now God hath expresly said that when he shall be pacified towards them and shall look again upon them with an eye of Favour to do them good it shall not be by their Covenant which could never last but was still broken on their parts but by his own everlasting Covenant which he would establish to them Ezek. 16.60 c It would therefore diligently be enquired by them What Covenant it is which is called their Covenant vers. 61. And what Covenant it is which is called Gods Covenant vers. 62. That they may withdraw their eyes and hopes from the one from whence their Redemption Recovery and Mercy cannot come towards the other from whence it is to come To which Query for their sakes it is in my heart to return this Answer Answ. Their Covenant is that which they entred into with God the Covenant that their hearts chose to unite with God by and that was to this effect That if God would shew them his Will they would obey it Go thou near said they to Moses and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it Deut. 5.27 Thus they thought but the Lord knew otherwise for O saith the Lord that there were such an heart in them c. vers. 29. and Moses knew otherwise he knew that they would corrupt themselves and that evil would befal them in the latter dayes Deut. 31.29 But Gods Covenant was the free Covenant he made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob the Covenant of his Grace the Covenant of his free Love whereby he was able to reach them in Egypt upon the cry of the Seed in them in the midst of their Idolatries and to bring them out and do them good notwithstanding their stubbornness and stiff-neckedness even before the other Covenant was made This Covenant of Love was Gods Covenant This is the Covenant God remembred to them in the days of their youth while they were young and tender and not yet grown up to be a people under the other Covenant and this is the Covenant which lasts for ever which is not founded upon their obedience but on God's free Love to them for his own Name sake and for their Fathers sake with whom he freely made it Quest What doth this Covenant contain Answ. Putting his Fear in the Heart writing his Laws in the Mind pouring of pure clear Water upon them to wash away the pollutions of their inward parts circumcising the filth of the Heart healing the backsliding Nature by creating of a right Spirit within and keeping of the created Spirit right by the presence of that Spirit which created it See Jer. 31.31 32. Ezek. 36.25 c. Hosea 14.4 This is God's Covenant this is the new Covenant which is to be made with the House of Israel and Judah when God redeems them and they can never be redeemed but by this Covenant but are to remain desolate until the Spirit be poured out from on high upon them Isai. 32.15 until their Hearts be circumcised to love the Lord their God untill his fear be placed there and they thereby caused to walk in his ways As therefore they receive the Spirit are brought into the fear have the Law written in their minds and become subject thereto so will they tast of this Covenant be brought into Redemption by it and become a glory inwardly and outwardly also upon the Earth Quest What is the way for them to have the fear of God put in their Hearts to have their Hearts circumcised to receive the Spirit and his Laws into their minds and so to come into this Covenant Answ. There is no other way but that to which Moses himself directed them after God had made the other Covenant with them and tryed them long by it together with many Temptations Signs and Wonders both before and after it and seeing by all these they had not had an Heart to perceive nor Eyes to see nor Ears to hear Moses at length directs them to another Covenant the Word whereof would give them Eyes to see and Ears to hear and an Heart to understand Which Covenant was a Covenant besides the former Deut. 29.1 And was indeed the Covenant concerning Life or Death eternal chap. 30.15 the other being but a Covenant of their outward state made with them after their coming out of Aegypt upon their deliverance there from and according to their choise to become a People to God according to it This Word Moses tells them was near them nearer then that which was spoken by God on the Mount and afterwards written in Tables of Stone The voyce of this Word and the Commandment thereof was nearer that they need not seek anywhere abroad for it but only listen at home to hear its speech obey it in the faith and live for ever Deut. 30.11 c. This is the way for them and all Men to come into this Covenant and there is no other There is a Light shining in the Darkness of Mans heart which Springs up in him and casts forth it's rayes to discover and draw him out of the Darkness Now as this Light is felt loved understood in Spirit hearkned and cleaved to in the pure Faith which it begets that which cleaves to it is drawn out of the darkness by it into the Covenant of the pure eternal Light where God is and whither all they are translated who are drawn to him in and by this Covenant as they are kept preserved and continue in the Faith Love and Obedience of it Now I would yet put these few