made, and by his word and power were all things upheld: And the apostle saith to Timothy, If thou put the brethren in mind of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Christ Jesus.' 1 Tim. iv. 4.

And moreover the apostle said, The kingdom of God stood not in meats and drinks, but in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the holy ghost.'

And when Peter saw in his vision a 'Sheet let down from heaven, wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts and creeping things, and fowls of the air;' and there came a voice to him in the new covenant and testament, and said, 'Arise, Peter, kill and eat;' And Peter having been a Jew of the Old Testament and covenant, his voice was according to it, when he said, 'But not so, Lord; for I have neither eaten any thing that is common or unclean.' And the voice spake unto him the second time, and said, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.' Now the occasion of this was, when Peter was to go and preach the gospel to Cornelius, a Gentile, as in Acts x.

So here it is clear, that the new covenant and testament, and new and living way, is not according to the old covenant and testament, and old way amongst the Jews: For Christ doth reconcile in one, all things both in heaven and in earth.

And in the old covenant and testament, and the Jews' old way, they did observe days, months, times and years; and this they were commanded by the law. But in the new covenant and testament, and new and living way, the apostle, (that preached the new covenant, and the New Testament, and the new and living way) brought them off from the observing of days, times, months and years: And some after they were come from the observing of them, were turning again to the weak and beggarly elements, wherein they again desired to be in bondage: For saith he, Ye observe days and months, times, and years.' And the apostle said, 'I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed my labour in vain upon you.' So he was afraid of them, who had laboured to bring them out of the observing of them to Christ, and his everlasting kingdom of light, life and grace: And they to go back again into the observing of days, times, months and years, they went into that which he had laboured to bring them out of; for which he was afraid, lest he had bestowed labour upon them in vain.

So it is clear here, that the new covenant and New Testament, and the new and living way, is not according to the old.

For in the old covenant and testament, the outward Jew had his days, times, months and years, and feasts. But in the New Testament and new covenant of light, and life and grace, they came to the heavenly feast, and to the day of Christ, and are called children of his day;

and so have their bread from heaven, and keep the heavenly and everlasting feast in Christ Jesus, who abolishes the Jews' feasts of the old

covenant.

And in the old covenant and testament, God gave unto the Jews his Sabbath as a sign, after he brought them out of Egypt, though he had not given it to Adam, nor to the old world, nor to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, by command to keep, but to the Jews, and they were to keep it holy: And they were not to do their own work; no, not so much as to make a fire to dress their meat, nor to think their own thoughts; for six days they were to labour, and to do all their works in. And this law that commanded this Sabbath, which God gave unto the Jews as a sign, served till the seed Christ, the substance, came; and when he was come, they accused him and his disciples as being sabbath breakers, because his disciples gathered some ears of corn on the Sabbath day to eat. And he healed on the Sabbath day.

And Christ said unto his accusers, the Jews, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: Therefore the son of man is lord of the Sabbath, the sign, who was the substance of it.' Mark ii. 23. 27.28.

And this saying of Christ troubled the Jews, that professed the old covenant and testament, and had the Sabbath, the outward day, which was the sign in the old covenant. Now that outward day was the sign of the eternal rest and day of Christ, in his new covenant. For Christ in his new covenant doth end all the Jews' signs and shadows, and saith, 'Behold, I make all things new.' And as it is said before, the apostle's labour was to bring them off the observation of days, &c. And saith to the saints, in the New Testament and new covenant of light and grace, 'Let no man judge you in meats or in drinks, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath, which were shadows of things to come; but the body is of Christ.'

So it is clear that the apostle brought the saints to Christ, the substance of the shadows. For the Sabbath, and the new moons, and those outward things amongst the Jews, were but shadows and signs: And when the substance was come, the shadows fly away. Col. ii.

So the apostle in another place, speaks of another day than the seventh day, the Jews' Sabbath, which is the day of Christ, and saith, "We which have believed, do enter into his rest.' And again he saith, 'He that hath entered into his rest, is also ceased from his own works, as God did from his.' So the believer's rest in the new covenant and New Testament, and new and living way, is Christ Jesus, the substance, Heb. vi.

And the Jews were to keep the outward Sabbath day and sign holy, and not to gather their meat, nor kindle a fire, nor bear a burthen, nor

do their own work, nor think their own thoughts upon the Sabbath day, (the sign) in the old covenant and testament.

So the true christians and children in the new covenant of light and grace, that do enter into the rest by belief in the light, which is the life in Christ, do cease from their own works; and in Christ, their Sabbath, their rest, they bear no burthen; and in him they do not think their own thoughts; and in him they are not kindling their own fires; and in Christ they are not gathering their own meat; for he is their bread of life from heaven; so that in him they shall not hunger. And he destroys the devil and his works, which hath burthened man and beast, yea, even the whole creation; and in Christ people are over and above their own thoughts. So all are to keep the eternal Sabbath, the eternal rest, by belief in the light, which is the life in Christ, this holy day, this holy rest and Sabbath, which ends the sign, that was to be kept holy in the old covenant. For if the Jews in the old covenant and testament did not keep the Sabbath holy, they were to be stoned to death with outward stones; but they that do not keep in Christ, by belief in the holy rest, he, the top and corner stone, falls upon them, and grinds them to powder, and stones them to death with the heavenly stone, that keep not in Christ, the holy, eternal, everlasting rest and Sabbath.

So here the new covenant is not according to the old; for the old had an outward temporal day; but they in the new covenant have the substance, Christ, and his eternal day, and enter into his everlasting rest, by belief in his light, which is the life in him.

And the Jews in the old covenant and testament, and in their old way, had outward helmets, shields and swords, and carnal weapons, and armour. But Christ, in his new covenant and testament, who is the new and living way, he saith, He came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them.' Though he was the king of kings, and lord of lords, yet he was far off from giving any precept or command to his disciples to destroy men's lives: When some would have had fire to come down from heaven, to consume them that would not receive him, he turned about and rebuked them, and said, 'He came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them.'

And such men as would have been plucking up the tares, Christ, the king of kings, would give them no commission, no, not so much as a license; but said, 'Let the wheat and tares grow together till the barvest, which was the end of the world; and then his father would send forth his angels, which should be the reapers, and they should sever the wheat from the tares,' &c. And Christ gave a reason wherefore he would not give a commission to men to pluck up the tares, lest they in their blind zeal should pluck up the wheat also with the tares.

And so Christ, in his new testament and new covenant, who sent forth his twelve disciples, and after his seventy, to preach the gospel, he did not send them with any carnal weapons or armour, or any carnal set maintenance, or tithes, as was in the old covenant; nay, they were not so much as to take a bag or a staff to defend them.

So the King of kings was far off from giving them commission or licenses, to beat people into his religion, way, and worship, church, or belief, with carnal weapons: but saith, He that believes, is saved; and he that doth not, is condemned already;' and that was punishment enough. And therefore the apostle Paul saith, The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual.' Mark, spiritual, in the new covenant and new testament, and new and living way; but carnal, in the old covenant and old testament, to the outward Jews in the old way.

And the apostle plainly saith, we in the new covenant and new testament, and new and living way in Christ Jesus, wrestle not with flesh and blood; who came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them; but they wrestled with spiritual wickedness and rulers of darkness, &c.

And in another place the apostle tells the saints in the new covenant, that their weapons and armour were the shield of faith, which is the gift of God, which Christ is the author and finisher of, that saves men's lives; and the sword of the spirit, the word of God; and the helmet of salvation, that preserved their head; and the breastplate of righteousness, that kept evil out of their breasts and hearts; and their loins were to be girt with truth; and to be shod with the preparation of the everlasting gospel of peace.

And these are Christ's ministers of the spirit, and believers, and true christians, that stand in this armour, and have these weapons, and follow Christ, and fight under his banner of love, with his spiritual armour and weapons, in his new and living way, and new testament, and new covenant of grace and light; and follow not the Jews in their carnal armour and weapons, and signs, and shadows; for the substance is come.

So the new covenant and testament, and new and living way, are not according to the Jews' old covenant and testament, and old way, which served till the seed Christ came. And all those signs and shadows in the old covenant, upheld with their outward weapons and carnal armour, have done their service to hold up their signs and shadows; but Christ is come, and hath abolished them.

And so it is clear, that the new covenant and new testament, and new and living way, are not according to the old covenant, and old testament, and old way amongst the Jews, as was said before.

And in the old covenant, and testament, and old way, the Jews were VOL. VI.

7

to swear, and to perform their oaths unto the Lord; and not to swear falsely.

But in the new covenant, and testament, and new and living way, Christ the son of God saith, Swear not at all, but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these, cometh of evil.' Matt. v.

And the apostle James in the new covenant, in his general epistle saith, Above all things, [mark, above all things] my brethren, swear not,' &c. So these are the brethren in the new covenant, and testament, and new and living way, that are not to swear at all. And further he saith, They were not to swear by heaven, nor by earth, nor any other oath; but let your yea, be yea, and your nay, nay, lest ye fall into condemnation.'

So it is clear, the command in the old covenant and testament, which Christ calls the old time, in which they were not to forswear themselves, but to perform their oath to the Lord; so they did not go into evil and condemnation that did swear truly, and perform their oath to the Lord in the old time, and old covenant; but they go into evil and condemnation, that swear at all in the time of the new covenant and testament: for Christ, who is the oath of God, he fulfils the oaths of the old, and takes away and abolishes the oaths of the old covenant, and sets up yea and nay instead of them.

And now, if you should object, that Abraham, and Jacob, and Joseph, and Moses, and the prophets, and the angels swore: Christ the son of God is greater than Moses; who said Before Abraham was, I am;' and he reigns over the house of Joseph and Jacob, and fulfils the prophets; and he saith, Swear not at all:' and Christ the great prophet, whom God had raised up, is to be heard in all things.

And as for the angel's swearing, it is said, I bring forth my first begotten into the world, let all the angels worship him,' to wit, the son of God, who saith, Swear not at all.' And 'This is my beloved son,' saith God, hear ye him.'

And in the Old Testament it is said, 'That unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear, saith the Lord,' in the old covenant and testament. Isa. xlv. 23.

But in the new covenant and testament the apostle quotes Isaiah, and saith, Every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to God.' Rom. xiv. 10.

So here it is clear, that swearing was allowed in the old covenant and old time, but confessing in the new covenant and new time.

And it is manifest, that Christ hath taken away all swearing in his new testament and covenant: for all swearing hath been since man fell from the image of God; and Christ renews man and woman up into