Their outward law, as written and engraven in tables of ftone, was but a fhadow of the inward law, which God puts into the children of the new covenant, infomuch that they need not go outwardly to learn the knowledge of God, or his will or law; but the inward Ifrael find it inwardly written within. There the ifles who wait for the law of the Spirit of life, for the law of the Meffiah, receive the miniftration of the law (in the Spirit and power of the Meffiah) which they wait for.

Their outward mount Sion, on which the outward temple was built by Solomon, that wife king, that righteous king, that peaceable king, was a figure of the inward mountain, whereupon the inward houfe is built in the days of the gospel, in the days of the Meffiah: and to this mountain are the fpiritual people to come up and worship. And this is the Sion and Jerufalem (even inward and fpiritual) from which the law and word of the Lord go forth in the days of the Meffiah: and the fpiritual house of Jacob combine or agree together to walk in the light of the Lord, who fends forth his light and truth, and leads them to his holy hill, and to his tabernacles.

Their outward tabernacle and temple, fanctified by God for him to dwell and appear in, was a fhadow of God's inward dwelling-place in man; I will tabernacle in them. God dwelleth not in houfes or temples made with hands; that is not the place of his reft, as faith the prophet Isaiah: but the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity, whose throne is in heaven, and the earth his footstool, he dwelleth alfo with him that is of an humble and contrite spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the spirit of the contrite ones.

Their outward fabbaths were not the lafting fabbath or rest of the gofpel, but given them for a sign; but the day of redemption from fin, the day of refting from fin, the day of ceafing from the works of the flesh, the day wherein God is all, and doth all by his Spirit and power inwardly, and wherein he alone is exalted: this is the day of rest which the Lord hath made for the spiritual Ifrael, and which they are glad of and rejoice in.

So their incenfe and facrifices were not the lafting incenfe and facrifices, but shadows thereof. The prayers of the faints, when God pours out the spirit of prayer and fupplication upon them, and they pray to him therein, that is the incenfe. Let my prayer be directed before thee as incenfe, and the lifting up of my bands as the evening facrifice. And this was the incense and pure offering, which in every place was to be offered up to God's name among the Gentiles, when his name fhould be great among them, as Malachi foretells. And, what faid David of old, when God's Spirit and the holy vifion was upon him? Sacrifice and offering thou didst not defire; mine ears haft thou opened: burnt-offering and fin-offering haft thou not required. Then faid I, lo I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me: I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is in the midst of my bowels. The facrifices

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of God are a broken Spirit (rent your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God); a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. The offering praife to God from a fincere heart, and the ordering of the converfation aright, thefe are the facrifices well-pleafing to God; for facrifices were not the thing which God mainly required of outward Ifrael, but this, OBEY MY VOICE: and obedience is more acceptable than all other facrifices, and to hearken than the fat of the choiceft rams.

Befides, thofe outward facrifices could not remove or take away fin from the confcience, but he that came to do the will, and to put an end to thofe facrifices and oblations, which were but outward and imperfect; he doth both wash and take away fins from within, and alfo bring in everlafting righteoufnefs, where his light fhines, and his pure life fprings inwardly in the heart.

And this is the fubftance of all the fhadows, even the light eternal, the word eternal, the Son of the living God (who is Light as the Father is Light) the word nigh in the mouth and heart, the word of the new covenant; the which Mofes directed your fathers to, Deut. xxx. and by which the Lord fpeaketh, and hath spoken throughout the world, Pfal. 1. 1. and teacheth every man that hearkeneth to his voice, to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with his God, as it is expreffed by the prophet Micah.

Now to you Jews, of the outward line of Abraham (whofe return to the Lord my foul most earnestly defireth after, and for which I have most vehemently and wrestlingly prayed to the Lord) are fome few weighty queries upon my heart:

Query 1. How came David to pant fo after the living God, like the hart or hind after the water-brooks? Was it not from the quickening virtue of this inward word, which Moses the man of God had directed the mind to? Read Pfal. cxix. and fee how he breathed for quickenings from this word, on which all depends. And if ye come to experience this word, and the quickening virtue of it, and follow the Lord on therein, ye will foon come to know the day of the Meffiah, and the glory of his kingdom, which is not outward, tranfitory, and of a perishing nature; but inward, fpiritual, and everlasting (as David well knew, and spake sensibly of, Pfal. cxlv. and elsewhere.)

Query 2. What are the waters which every thirsty foul is invited to? Are they not the waters of the Meffiah? are they not waters that flow out of the wells of falvation? Ifaiah xii. Do not the fpiritual Ifrael draw fpiritual water out of the wells of the Saviour in the days of the Meffiah? What is it to come to these waters? Oh! that ye experimentally knew! But this I will tell you, from true and certain experience, that if ye come to take notice of this word of life, which God hath placed nigh in your mouths and hearts, to feparate between the evil words and evil thoughts of the enemy's begetting and bringing forth, and the good words and good

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thoughts of God's begetting and bringing forth, and incline your ear to it, and come from that which it reproves in you, and draws you from to itself, your fouls fhall foon come to live; and he that gives you life, will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the fure mercies of David: but ye must ftill mind him as a witnefs, and leader, and commander, inwardly in your hearts, that ye may be preserved in the covenant, and enjoy the bleffings of it; fee Ifaiah lv.

Query 3. Did not the Meffiah come at the fet time, at the time fet by the Holy Spirit of prophecy? Did he not come in the prepared body to do the will? and did he not do the will? And after his obedience to his Father, was he not cut off, though not for himself? And after his cutting off, were not ye made defolate? why were ye made defolate? why did fuch a stroke come upon you as never before? Oh! confider it! Read Dan. ix. 24. to the end of the chapter, and let him that readeth understand.

Query 4. What was that curfe, and on whom did it light? Let their table become a fnare to them, &c. Pfal. lxix. Was it not on those that gave gall and vinegar to the Meffiah to drink, whom David was a figure of, and fpake in Spirit concerning? Whofe eyes are always darkened? Doth not the veil lie ftill on your whole nation? Do ye know the inward mountain, where the veil or face of the covering is destroyed? in the inward day and light of the Meffiah it is destroyed. There that which veils the noble eye of the mind is known, and alfo that which deftroys and removeth it. To what purpose is it for you to read Mofes and the prophets, when the veil is fo upon you, that ye cannot fee what is to be abolished, and is abolished by the dawning of the glorious day of the Meffiah, and what is to remain and never to be abolished? There is a Jewship, there is a circumcifion, there is a fabbath, there is a reft, &c. for the inward and fpiritual people, which is to remain and never to be abolished.

Query 5. Who were thofe that God would hide his face from, and fee what their end should be, because they were a froward generation, children in whom was no faith? Who were they that moved God to jealoufy, and provoked him to anger? And what was the people and foolish nation he would provoke them to jealousy and anger with? Deut. xxxii. Was it not the fpiritual, the holy nation inwardly, the true Jews, whom God took from among the Gentiles, whom he appeared among, and was a God and a Father to, when he caft off and forfook the Jews outward, and left them to be a defolation?

Query 6. Who are those that shall be hungry when God's fervants fhall eat? and thirsty, when God's fervants fhall drink? and afhamed, when his fervants fhall rejoice? Are not your fouls hungry and parched for want of the fpiritual fuftenance, which the living God fatisfieth his fervants with, making a feast of fat things to them on his inward holy mountain? And are not ye afhamed of your expectations of the Meffiah, while the fervants of the Lord rejoice in him, their Prince and Saviour, and witness him daily a leader'

a leader and commander to them? What is the people whom the Lord hath flain and made defolate? (Are not ye a flain people to God, alienated from his life, Spirit, and power, dead in your literal notions and obfervations?) And what are the fervants of the Lord, whom the Lord hath called by another name, even a name that ye never knew? fee Ifaiah lxvi. And confider, how all your day God fpread out his hand to you, and ye were rebellious, and would not hear; and now night is come upon you, and your wifitation, as fuch a people, is and hath been long ended.

Query 7. Did not God fignify by the prophet Malachi, that he had no pleasure in you, nor would accept an offering at your hand? And did not he alfo fignify the chufing of the Gentiles in your ftead; that the called among the Gentiles fhould be his people; and his name which had ye phaned, fhould be great among them, and their incenfe and pure offering in every place be accepted, even from the rifing of the Sun to the going down of the fame? read Mal. chap. i.

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Query 8. Now the inward people, and the inward covenant, the new covenant, are brought forth, fhall ye ever be owned or regarded as an outward people, according to your outward covenant any more? Will not all fuch expectations fail you for ever? Ye have looked, from generation to generation, for the coming and appearing of the Meffiah outwardly, after an outward manner: but his coming and appearance is inward; and he fetteth up his kingdom, his everlasting kingdom in his faints, and in their hearts he ruleth inwardly; and the Meffiah, the feed of the woman, bruiseth the head of the ferpent there. Oh! that ye knew the fubftance! Oh! that ye knew the word of life in the heart, and were turned to it, and daily faithful and obedient! that ye might feel it crufhing and dafhing the power of fin and corruption in your hearts! This is the confolation, hope, and joy of the inward and fpiritual Ifrael! Oh! that ye might be made partakers thereof; and that your long outward captivity and defolation might at length end in inward freedom and redemption! Amen.

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Somewhat of Concern to the Jews Spiritual, who are of the Seed of ABRAHAM spiritually, or according to the Faith, and gathered in this Day of GOD's Power, to the true and everlafting SHILOH.

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HE Scepter fhall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between bis feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him fhall the gathering of the people be, Gen. xlix. 10.

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Old Jacob, in the fpirit of prophecy, faw that Judah was to have the fcepter, the kingly power; and it was not to depart from him, it was to be his right, and the lawgiver was to be between his feet, till Shiloh came then the right was Shiloh's to reign, and to give laws to his people, whom he fhould gather out of the kingdom of darkness, and from Satan's power, into his own inward, fpiritual, and everlasting kingdom. This was the true king, God's king, whom he would fet upon the holy hill of fpiritual Sion; and all the holy, inward, fpiritual gatherings of all people, scattered from the holy, living power, must be to him.

I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more, until he come whofe right it is, and I will give it him. And his dominion shall not pass away, or the fcepter and lawgiving power fhall not pafs away from him, as it did from Judah, nor fhall his kingdom ever be destroyed, Dan. vii. 14. but God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he fhall reign over the houfe of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there fhall be no end.

Query. But who are the people that shall be gathered to him?

Anfw. The people that fhall hear his voice, and come at his call, that fhall receive the inftruction of wisdom, and feel the drawing power and virtue of the Father, in the day of his power. It is written in the prophets, All thy children fhall be taught of the Lord. And every one that is taught and learneth of the Father, cometh to the Son, cometh to the Meffiah, cometh to the Shiloh, to the Word eternal, to the Word of life in the heart.

Query. Was not the Meffiah promised to the Jews, to come of them, and to be appropriated to them?

Anfw. He was promised to them, and to come of them; but not to be appropriated to them: but he was to be the univerfal Saviour to all that fhould come under his enfign and banner. He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and he shall sprinkle many nations, &c. And God promised that he would give his Son (his elect choice fervant) for a light to the Gentiles. Query. Were the Jews then excluded?

Anfw. No; they were to be gathered to Shilch, as well as others. Nay, the Lord had a special regard to them; the gofpel was firft preached to them; they had the first offer, or the first call to the fpiritual glory; they were the children of the prophets, and of the covenant of God made with their Fathers; unto whom God having raised up his Son Jefus, fent him to bless them, in turning away every one of them from their iniquities. And the whole nation, turning from their iniquities, fhould have been gathered by him, and should have enjoyed the bleffing of his day and kingdom. Yea, the first gathering was from among them, and the firft glorious gofpel church was at Jerufalem, where the Spirit and power of the Lord Jefus did moft eminently and wonderfully break forth, and great grace was upon them all. But the nation was not gathered to Shiloh, nor did come under his Scepter and government; but only a remnant of the nation. So these beVOL. II.

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