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A66687 The new law of righteousnes budding forth, in restoring the whole creation from the bondage of the curse. Or A glimpse of the new heaven, and new earth, wherein dwels righteousnes. Giving an alarm to silence all that preach or speak from hear-say, or imagination. By Gerrard Winstanley Winstanley, Gerrard, b. 1609. 1649 (1649) Wing W3049; ESTC R219016 82,328 133

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libertie When slaverie began to creep in upon the Creation the Spirit might wel cry out in Lamentation Ah-dam A-dam which draws together a head of corrupted waters of covetous proud and imaginary flesh to stop the streams of the waters of life and libertie But saith the Spirit our Maker The seed from whence the Creation sprang shall bruise that Serpents head and open the dam againe and cause the waters of the Spirit which is Life and Libertie to run free againe without any stoppage This A-dam stops up the waters or Life and Libertie in a two-fold way Fir●● he ties up the Creation man in chains of darknesse within it self For there is not a man and womon ●ound since Adam's rise but the man Christ Jesus in whom the seed ruled in power but they were bound up in bondage to coveteousnesse pride imagination and to all the powers of the flesh So that the free running streams of the Spirit of life were stopped that they could not run which hath made every one cry O wretched man that I am who shal deliver me from this body of sin or death Here you see that knowledge libertie and comfort hath been stopped or dammed up within the C●eation ma● Secondly this A-dam being the power of cove●ous proud flesh he sets up one part of the Creation man to rule over another and makes Laws to kil and hang thal part of the Creation that wil not submit to the ruling part And so he is become a God ruling in the spirits own house not preserving the Creation but does set the Creation together by the ears to k●l it self to the mighty dishonour of our Maker Therefore when the people would have Saul to rule them the Spirit declared that that outward ruling power was the curse and he set him up in his wrath to be a scourge not a blessing Now whereas the Creation man should live in equalitie one towards another this A-dam hath lifted up mountaines and hils of oppressing powers and there by that dammed and stopped up that universal communitie Therefore at the first rising up of this serpentine power to enslave the Creation he might wel be declared by way of Lamenattion A-dam Adam Covetousnesse or self-love is the dam the letter A before declares that he is a preparer to miserie and is delivered by way of Lamentation Ah or A-dam Dovetousnesse or self-love is the man of sin that appears first The imagination arising from that couetous power is the woman or Eve which like the Ivie clings about the tree and so covetousnesse and imagination does beget between them a supposed joy pleasure and delight but it proves a lie These two Covetousnesse and Imagination the man and the woman of sin or A-dam and his Eve or Ivie does beget fruit or children like both Father and Mother as pride and envy hypocrisie crueltie and all unclean lusts pleasing the flesh And now the dam-head is made up strong to stop the streams of waters of life and universal libertie But in the fulnesse of time the Spirit wil break down this dam-head againe and cause the waters of the Spirit of life to flow again plentifully And herein you may see how the publique Preachers have cheated the whole world by telling us of a single man called Adam that kiled us al by eating a single fruit called an Apple Alas this Adam is the dam that hath stopped up the freedome of the Spirit within and without so that while he rules a man can have no community with the spirit within himself nor community of love with fellow creatures he does so puff them up with covetousnesse and pride and desire of Lordly rule one over another Do but look into every mean and woman and into al the actions of the world and tel me whether that first Adam be one single man as the publique Preachers tel you or is not more truly that covetous proud and imginary power in flesh that hath dammed and stopped up the way of the spirit of life and universal libertie and so he is that Father of lies and Satan that holds the Creation under bondage til the Son which is the light in the Creation shine forth and sets us at libertie And if the Son set you free you are free indeed This Son is the second Adam which is A-dam indeed that stops the streams of bondage from runing and sets the Creation at libertie again CHAP. IX WHat I have spoken I have not received from books nor study but freely I have received and freely I have declared what I have received And the Declarations of the Lord through his servant shal not be in vain The beholding and feeling of the Law of righteousnesse within me fils my whole soul with precious peace the favour of the sweet ointment and I know as this power of love spreads in al mens hearts as it wil spread for Jacob must rise Then there shall be no begger no tears no complaining no oppression but the blessing of the Lord shal fil the earth Then our swords shall be beaten into plow irons add our spears into pruning hooks and then shall the Lord be known to be the salvation of Israel and the restoration of the whole Creation I● any man be offended here let him know I have obeyed my Maker herein and I have peace in him When the Man Jesus Christ was one earth there was a sweet communitie of love between all the members of that humane body For the spirit that was within made every member a servant to the other and so preserved the whole body in peace one member did not raign over another in tyra●nie Even so when the humane body was laid in the earth the Spirit which indeed is Christ came again the second time upon the Apostles and Brethren while they were waiting for that promise at Jerusalem And as Christ then began to spread himself in sons and daughters which are members of his mystical body they did not rule in slavery one over another neither did the rich suffer the poor to beg and starve and imprison them as now they do But the rich sold their possessions and gave equality to the poor and no man said that any thing that he possessed was his own for they had all things common But this community was a vexation to Esau the covetous proud flesh and he strove to suppresse this commnuity And the Lord he gives this Beast a toleration to rule 42 months or a time times and dividing of time and in that time to kil the two Witnesses that is Christ in one body and Christ in many bodies or Christ in his first and second comming in flesh which is Justice and Jugement ruling in man I but now the 42 months are expiring we are under the half day of the Beast or the dividing of time and Christ or the two Witnesses are arising and spreading himself again in the earth And when he hath spread
two-fold sense First He is the wisdome and power of the flesh in every man who indeed is the beast and he spreads himself within the Creation man into divers branches As into ignorance of the Creatour of all things into covetousnesse after objects into pride and envy lifting up himself above others and seeking revenge upon all that crosses his selfish honours and into hypocrisie subtilty lying imagination self-love from whence proceeds all unrighteous outward acting This is the first Adam lying ruling and dwelling within man-kinde And this is he within every man and woman which makes whole man-kinde being a prisoner to him to wonder after the beast which is no other but self or upon every thing whereupon self is s●amped Secondly The first Adam is the wisdome and power of flesh broke out and sate down in the chair of rule and dominion in one part of man-kind over another And this is the beginner of particular interest buying and selling the earth from one particular hand to another saying This is mine upholding this particular propriety by a law of government of his own making and thereby restraining other fellow creatures from seeking nourishment from their mother earth So that though a man was bred up in a Land yet he must not worke for himself where he would sit down But from Adam that is for such a one that had bought part of the Land or came to it by inheritance of his deceased parents and called it his own Land So that he that had no Land was to work for those for small wages that called the Land theirs and thereby some are lifted up into the chair of tyranny and others trod under the foot-stool of misery as if the earth were made for a few no● for all men For truly the common-people by their labours from the first rise of Adam this particular imterest upheld by the fleshes law to this day they have lifted up their Land-lords and others to rule in tyranny and oppression over them And let all men say what they will so long as such are Rulers as cals the Land theirs upholding this particular propriety of Mine and Thine the common-people shall never have their liberty nor the Land ever freed from troubles oppressions and complainings by reason whereof the Creatour of all things is continually provoked O thou proud selfish governing Adam in this Land called England Know that the cries of the poor whom thou laieth heavy oppressions upon is hea●d This is unrighteous Adam that dammed up the water springs of universall liberty and brought the Creation under the curse of bondage sorrow and tears But when the earth becomes a common treasury as it was in the beginning and the King of Righteousnesse comes to rule in every ones heart then he kils the first Adam for covetousnesse thereby is killed A man shall have meat and drinke and clothes by his labour in freedome and what can be desired more in earth Pride and envy likewise is killed thereby for every one shall look upon each other as equall in the Creation every man indeed being a parfect Creation of himself And so this second Adam Christ the restorer stops or dammes up the runnings of those stinking waters of self-interest and causes the waters of life and liberty to run plentifully in and through the Creation making the earth one store-house and every man and woman to live in the law of Righteousnesse and peace as members of one houshold And in the next place I shall declare the mystery of the Spirit in a two-fold way First he makes the Creation man-kinde to see loa●h and forsake this Adam this fleshly man This devil or power of darknesse that rules in the creatures and leads them into waies that brings misery pain and death which is hell a condition of uncomfortable darknesse of the curse Secondly He makes man-kinde to see to love and delight in the Spirit Reason which is the law of Righteousnesse that made them and s●tles them in peace when in the light and power thereof they are made to forsake the flesh with all his wayes of bondage for truly when the flesh is made subject to Reason that light that inlightens every thing then it hath peace and liberty and is freed from those heart-aking pressures and sorrows which the flesh puls upon himself by his violent rash unrighteous and unreasonable actings The Almighty hath declared three methods in discovering this mystery in the compasse of six dayes or 6000 years near hand expired in every one of which he draws man-kind higher and higher into himself out of the power of the Serpent or bondage And when he alone is advanced he draws all men after him which is the finishing up of the mystery The first Method is this He was pleased to call forth Moses to be his servant and in by and through him he reveals himself to lie under types shadows sacrifices that man-kind by them might be led to see his Maker And this was the Covenant of an outward testimony which Moses a man that was mixed with flesh and spirit was Mediatour of And this Secondly did point out the Apostolical testimony which was to be manifested in aftertimes and that was to acknowledge honour and bear witnesse of the Lamb Jesus Christ that was the substance of Moses For the Apostles declare themselves to be witnesses of Christ the great Prophet that Moses said should come after him to whom every man should hearken and then leave the teachings of shadows which they receive from him Therefore say they We eat and drank in his presence we heard him speak and saw his miracles and bear testimony to the world that the Rulers of the Jews slew him and that he was raised from the dead by the Almighty power And this single appearance of the man Christ Jesus for herein the righteous Law dwelt bodily was a more spirituall declaration then the former And this types out The third Method of Divine discovery which indeed doth finish the mystery and herein the Lord takes up all into himself even into the Spirit that governs the Creation for he is in all and acts through all And all power of righteousnesse that appears in any subject is still but the Lord in such or such a discovery for as the man Christ Jesus swallowed up Moses and so the Spirit dwelt bodily in that Lamb which was spread abroad in the types And man-kind is to behold the Law of Righteousnesse in none but in that his wel-beloved Son Even so that single body is a type That the same Spirit that filled every member of that one body should in these last dayes be sent into whole man-kind and every branch shall be a joint or member of the mysticall body or severall spreadings forth of the vine being all filled with the one Spirit Christ the anointing who fils all with himself and so he becomes the alone King of Righteousnesse and peace that rules
either to kill that body it dwels in or some others that angers it But the Power of Christ the Law of Righteousnesse ruling within is not moved to any such rashnesse it is patient meek and loving and doth act righteously both to his own body and to others though they be his enemies CHAP. IV. ANd truly here lies the chiefest knowledge of a man to know these two powers which strives for government in him and to see and know them distinctly one from the other that he may be able to say This is the name and power of the flesh and this is the name and power of the Lord For these two powers are the two Adams in man-kind they are Iacob and Esau striving who shall rule in the Kingdom the flesh first Or these are the Son of the bond-woman viz. The powers of the flesh which is the serpent Devil or power of darknesse Or the Son of the free woman which is Christ the wisdom and power of Righteousnesse ruling in flesh and making it free from the others bondage And here I shall declare what I know the first Adam or son of bondage is And secondly What the second Adam or son of the free-woman is both which Powers I have seen and felt manifested in this body of my flesh First I shall shew how the first Adam in his time of rule hath suppressed and kept under the second man the anointing And then secondly how this second man in the time appointed of his rising doth kill and crucifie the first Adam daily with all his lusts and freeth me from that slavery The first Adam kils and crucifies Christ in me when I consent and make provision to satisfie my pride over humility covetousnesse over contentednesse envy over love lust before chasticy esteeming the power of an humble loving and righteous spirit towards the poorest creatute but a low and contemptible thing or the like Now Christ is crucified in me he rules not he acts not in a lively power but the first man of the flesh he governs the Kingdom my body in unrighteousnesse And Christ lies buried in this earthly tabernacle under those cursed powers in my enslaved body But then secondly When the fulnesse of time comes that it is the Fathers will that Christ the spirit of truth shal arise above the power of unrighteousnesse in me that is humility arises above pride love above envy a meek and quiet spirit above hasty rash anger chastity above unclean lusts and light above darknesse Now the second Adam Christ hath taken the Kingdom my body and rules in it He makes it a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwels Righteousnesse I shall explain these two Adams a little more First then The first Adam or man of the flesh branches himself forth into divers particulars to fetch peace into himself from objects without himself As for example covetousnesse is a branch of the flesh or first man that seeks after creature enjoyment or riches to have peace from them Pride looks abroad for honour Envy seeks the revenge of such as crosses his fleshy ends by reproch oppression or murder Unclean lusts seeks to embrace strange flesh Imagination flies abroad to devise wayes to satisfie the flesh in these desires Hypocrisie turns himself into divers shapes ye sometimes into an Angel of light a zealous Professour to compasse these ends And self-love which is ignorant of the universal power lies couching in the bottom sending those six several powers of darknesse abroad to fetch in peace to delight self that lies at home in the fleshy heart And all these powers make up but one perfect body of sin and death one Devil or one compleat power of darknesse or that whorish power called the Beast with seven heads And it is called the Beast because all those seven discoveries are of the flesh and flesh is no other but a beast and the wise flesh of man is said to be the beast the King of beasts that was to raign fourty two mo●ths or for a time times and dividing of time and then he should be destroyed by the man of Righteousnesse Christ And truly upon every head there is ten horns that is there are many branchings forth of powers from every head to satisfie self which are Kings indeed And they are called ten horns every head encountering against the five senses of the left hand man and against the five senses of the right hand man of righteousnesse and so fights against every particular spreading forth of Christ So that these Kings are not to be restrained to the Kings of the Nations though that is true such powers are enemies to Christ and they must yield up their Kingdoms unto him and those that are angry against Christ are to be destroyed But these ten horns are Kingly powers of the flesh that rules within every man leading him captive under the body of the power of darknesse for there is not the branching forth of evil in any kind to delight self but it springs forth from one or other of those seven heads all joyning to honour and advance the Beast The man of Righteousnesse Christ he is the second Adam and he spreads himself as far as the other to undermine him and to take the Kingdom that is the created flesh or the living earth man-kind out of that Devils hand For Christ is the spreading power of Righteousnesse and therefore he is called The anointing which was poured upon that humane body called by the name Iesus the Son of man and dwelt bodily there for a time but afterward was to spread in sons and daughters many bodies As the oyl upon Aarons head ranne down to the skirts of his garments if any one find rest and peace in this precious Alabaster which is the wisdome and power of the spirit he finds it not by looking upon him at a distance from him but by seeing and feeling that power ruling within the body of his flesh As thus contentednesse in all straits or poverty to live upon providence is this second Adam in thee killing thy discontented covetousnesse Humility and meeknesse is the same anointing which kils pride and loftines Love to enemies yea the law of love flowing forth to every creature is Christ in you which kils envy and rash anger Chastitie in the flesh kils uncleannesse wisdom that is pure and plain down right kils a subtil over-reaching Imagination Sincerity and singlenesse of heart the same anointing kils hypocrisie and love to others doing as a man would be done unto and so respecting the publick preservation of all creatures doth kill self-love And all these seven branchings forth of the pure spirit makes but one body Christ or one Almighty power or Mercie and Justice the holy breathing or Emanuel God in us And every one of these seven eyes or seven attributes of the Divine branches themselves forth into several horns of power to destroy the man of the flesh and to
peace and secret joy And since that time those words have been like very fruitfull seed that have brough forth increase in my heart which I am much prest in spirit in declare all abroad The poor people by their labours in this time of the first Adams government have made the buyers and sellers of land or rich men to become tytants and oppressours over them But in the time of Israels restoration now begining when the King of Righteousnesse himself shall be Governor in every man none then shall work for hire neither shal any give hire but every one 〈◊〉 work in love one with and for another and eat bread together as being members of one houshold the Creation in whom Reason rules King in perfect glory He that cals any part of the Creation his own in particular in this time of Israels return from the mistery of Aegyptian bondage is a destroyer of the Creation a lifter up of the proud covetous flesh againe a bringer in of the curse againe and a mortal enemy to the Spirit For upon Israels returne from captivity the Lord himself wil burn up the curse and restore the Creation fire water earth and air from that slavery and make the earth to be a common treasury to them all for they are but one house of Israel still though twelve Tribes And they have but one King one Law-giver one teacher amongst them all even the Lord himself who is Reason The King of Righteousnesse they are all filled with one spirit and they shall all live comfortably upon one earth and so the whole earth is the Lords And this is the inward and outward liberty which the Lord wil give to Sion And this work is begun the foundation of this spiritual building is laid and the spreading of this one spirit in every sonne and daughter and the lifting up the earth to be a common treasury wil make Jerusalem a praise in the whole earth and the glory of the earth indeed and so the Father of all things shall be honoured in the works of his own hands No man shal have any more land then he can labour himself or have others to labour with him in love working together and eating bread together as one of the Tribes of families of Israel neither giving hire not taking hire He that is now a possessour of lands and riches and cannot labour if he say to others you are may fellow creatures and the Lord is now making the earth common amongst us therefore take my land only let me eat bread with you that man shall be preserved by the lobours of others But it any man have Land and neither can work nor wil work but wil strive to rule as a tyrant burdening the Creation the hand of the Lord shall fal upon him either to destruction or torment and if his life be given for a prey he shall be made to work and eat his bread with the sweat of his own brows not of others til he know himself to be a member not a lord over the Creation and thus he shall be dealt with that hath lost the benefit of Sonship All the punishment that any one shall receive for any unrighteous act whereby he begins to bring the cause againe upon the Creation he sahll only be made a Gibeonite to work in the earth not in a prison and the eyes of all shall be upon him and the greatset offence will be this for any to endeavour to raise up some few to rule over others so to set up particular interest againe and to bring in buying and selling of land againe the sore displeasure of the Lord shall be such a peoples portion Israel is not to imprison or torment and by death or smaller punishments but only to cause them to work and eat their own bread for he or they that inflicts any other punishment upon fellow creatures is an unrighteous actour in the Creation and shall himself be made a servant to all till he by the spirit in him is made to know himself to be equal to every man not a Lord over any for all men looked upon in the bulk are but the Creation the living earth This imprisoning punishing and killing which is the practice of the first Adam ye visible to the world is the curse And it is a mighty dishonour to our maker that one part of the Creation should destroy another it was not so from the beginning but it is an honour to our maker that every part of the Creation should lend a mutual help of love in action to preserve the whole But is not this the old rule He that sheds man● bloud by man shall his bloud be shed I answer It is true but not as usually it is observed for first know That the Spirit is the man who hath determined to suffer himself to be killed and lie dead in the streets or under the several forms of Babylon government three daies or times and a half The serpent is he or the wicked man that kils the man of Righteousnesse or sheds his bloud for that space of time which is indeed the wisdome and power of the flesh killing the wisdom and power of the Spirit and ruling in the Spirits own house the heart for a time Therefore now it is declared that the Serpent or beastly power of flesh that kils the Spirit shall himself be killed by the Spirit when the Spirit begins to rise and I can tell you that the resurrection is begun for all the great fightings is between flesh and Spirit The seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head It is not for one creature called man to kill another for this is abominable to the Spirit and it is the curse which hath made the Creation to groan under bondage for if I kill you I am a murderrer if a third come and hang or kill me for murdering you he is a murderer of me and so by the government of the first Adam murder hath been called Justice when it is but the curse Besides none can call himself a man till the man Christ or Spirit rule in him for til then the greatest Lord of all is but a Beast and one Beast kils another for a man wil never kill a man therefore said the man Christ Jesus I came not to destroy but to save therefore such as kill are farr from being Saints or children of Christ for they are the children of the Serpent whose delight and work is to kill the man-child but he that sheds this mans blouds by the same man shall his bloud be shed in the resurrection Therefore O thou proud flesh that dares hang and kil thy fellow creatures that is equall to thee in the Creation Know this that none hath the power of life and death but the Spirit and al punishmens that are to be inflicted amongst creatures called men are only such as to make
the offender to know his maker and to live in the community of the righteous Law of love one with another For talking of love is no love it is acting of love in righteousnesse which the Spirit Reason our Father delights in And this is to relieve the oppressed to let goe the prisoner to open bags and barns that the earth may be a common treasury to preserve all without complainings for uhe earth was not made for a few to live at ease upon and to kil such as did not observe the Law of their own making but it was made for all to live comfortably upon and the power of life and death is reserved in the hand of the Spirit not in the hand of flesh None ought to kil but such as can make alive therefore let every one walk righteously in the Creation and trust the Spirit for protection He that makes a zealous profession of the Spirit as all professours doe and yet doth not act this universall power of Righteousnesse in labouring the earth for a common treasury is a meer self-lover and he professes but himself and is a complementing enemy to Reason the King of Righteousnesse and if stil thou saist it is the Spirit whom thou doest worship then make it manifest to the world what spirit this is that rules every where besids Reason And futher he that denies this community denies the Scriptures Likewise whether the Preachers prosessours or rich men that upholds this unrighteous power of particular propriety Therefore you dust of the earth that are trod under foot you poor people that makes both schollars and rich men your oppressours by your labours Take notice of your priviledge the Law of Righteousnesse is now declared If you labour the earth and work for others that lives at ease and follows the waies of the flesh by your labours eating the bread which you get by the sweat of your brows not their own Know this that the hand of the Lord shal break out upon every such hireling labourer and you shal perish with the covetous rich men that have held and yet doth hold the Creation under the bondage of the curse This voice of the Lord work together and eat bread together doth advance the law of Reason and Righteousnesse the rising of this is the fall of mistical Babylon the oppressing flesh the living in the practice of this La●v of love declares the Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles to be a true declaration of the Spirit and no lie He that denies the practice of this lives in a continual denial of those Scriptures Therefore your selfish tyth-taking Preachers and all others that preaches for hire with all covetous professours take notice that you are the Judahs that betraid Christ and the Pharisees that put him to death and you stil persue the murder by standing up to hinder Christ from rising and coming in sons and daughters his second time in flesh I have now obeyed the command of the Spirit that bid me declare this all abroad I have declared it and I wil declare it by word of mouth I have now declared it by my pen And when the Lord doth shew unto me the place and manner how he wil have us that are called common-people to manure and work upon the common Lands I wil then go forth and declare it in my action to eat my bread with the sweat of my brows without either giving or taking hire looking upon the Land as freely mine as anothers I have now peace in the Spirit and I have an inward perswasion that the spirit of the poor shal be drawn forth ere long to act materially this Law of Righteousnesse If man-kinde knew their liberty which their Creatour Reason hath given us none would be offended at this new Law that is to be writ in every mans heart and acted by every mans hand They that submit in love and offers what they have freely to further this work shal prosper and finde peace for they honour our Maker by lifting up the Creation in Righteousnesse They that wil not submit freely the hand of the Lord shal be as sure upon them as it was upon Pharaoh who is their type O you great Adams of the earth that cals the earth yours and looks upon others as servants and slaves to you as if the earth were made only for you to live at ease and honour upon it while others starved for want of bread at your feet and under your oppressing government Behold the King the Lord of Hosts hath sent his servants to bid you let Israel goe free that they may serve him together in community off spirit and in community of the earthly treasure Be not you more proud and hard hearted then Pharaoh your type if you be as it is like you wil for the anti-type oft times is more powerfull then the type then assure your selves plagues shal multyply and Israel shal be pulled from under your burdens with a strong hand and stretched out arm and you and all your company shal perish together The Lord hath spoke it and he will doe it All the men and women in England are al children of this Land and the earth is the Lords not particular mens that claims a proper interest in it above others which is the devils power But be it so that some wil say This is my Land and cal such and such a parcel of Land his own interest Then saith the Lord let such an one labour that parcel of Land by his own hands none helping him for whosoever shal help that man to labour his proper earth as he cals it for wages the hand of the Lord shal be upon such labourers for they lift up flesh above the spirit by their labours and so hold the Creation stil under bondage Therefore if the rich wil stil hold fast this propriety of Mine and thine let them labour their own Land with their own hands And let the common-People that are the gatherings together of Israel from under that bondage and that say the earth is ours not mine let them labour together and eat bread together upon the Commons Mountains and Hils For as the inclosures are called such a mans Land and such a mans Land so the Commons and Heath are called the common-peoples and let the world see who labours the earth in righteousnesse and those to whom the Lord gives the blessing let them be the people that shal inherit the earth Whether they that hold a civil propriety saying This is mine which is selfish devilish and destructive to the Creation or those that hold a common right saying The earth is ours which lifts up the Creation from bondage Was the earth made for to preserve a few covetous proud men to live at ease and for them to bag and barn up the treasures of the earth from others that they might beg or starve in a fruitful Land or was it made to preserve all her children Let
and more righteous acting The voice of mourning shall be heard no more the birds shall sing merrily on every bough O rejoyce rejoyce for the time that the Lord God omnipotent wil raign in al the earth is beginning and he wil be servant to the Dragon Beast and man of the flesh no longer but wil tread down that murdering power and make him his footstool This is the work of the Lord that wil stop the the mouths of all hearsay and imaginary Preachers All mouths shall be silent and not dare to speak till the power of the Lord within give words to the mouth to utter And when men that are ful of wast words are made to see they speak they know not what when they shal see they speak other mens words like Parots not their own and sometimes they speak words from their imagination which may be false as wel as true for ought they know for they have had neither voice vision nor revelation to warrant their words when they see this Then they shal be ashamed and confounded in themselves For now lip service is to be judged to death and every one shal be fetched in to worship the Father in Spirit and in truth or else they shal perish for mens words shal grow fewer and fewer their actions of Righteousness one to another more and more and there shal no love be esteemed of but what is manifest in righteous actions And this shal be the ruler that every one shal observe to walk righteously in the Creation towards all Creatures according to the Law of equity and Reason and this Law shal be writ in every ones heart and he that hath this law in his heart is marked for a son or daughter they that have it not are marked for enemies and rebels to the Father And such a one is a Cain The Kingdoms of the whole world must become the Kingdoms of the Lord Christ and this the Nations are angry at Therefore count it no strang thing to see wars and rumours of wars to see men that are put in trust to act for publike good to prove fals to see commotions of people every where like flouds of water stirred up raedy to devour and overflow one another To see Kings storm against the people To see rich men and gentry most violent against the poor oppressing the and treading them like mire in the street Why is all this anger But because the man of the flesh is to die his day of judgment is come he must give up the Kingdom and Government of the earth man-kind into the hand of his neighbour that is more righteous then he For Jacob now must have the blessing he is blessed yea and shal be blessed and Esau shal become his servant The poor shal inherit the earth CHAP. X. ANd here now is made plain That the first shall be last and the last first The powers of the flesh or Adam in me he appeared first and trampled the man-child the power of righteousnesse and peace under foot I but when the man-child begins to rise up to rule the other fals and becomes the tail the last nay must be destroyed Two Kings that claimes interest in one Kingdom can never live quietly together Light and darknesse will be fighting till the one be conquered And surely the man of Righteousnesse or that last man that appears shal be the first that shal be honoured and become the preserving and restoring power the great Law-giver that shall rule in the new heaven and in the new earth in righteousnesse Of further The first that is the worshipping of God in types ceremonies formes and customs in set times and places which are the invention of the first man which doth slight and loath the way of inward Righteousnesse for they that live in established forms are filled with dislike and willingly would ●either buy nor sell with those whom the Lord hath drawn up to live in him they cannot indure the way of the Spirit let them say and professe what they wil for he that is strict in a formal customarily way of worship knows not what it is to worship in spirit and truth or to walk righteously in the Creation but is bitter spirited and merely selfish And this power appears first in a man and makes people very zealous professours of God and Christ in preaching praying and hearing But without knowledge what God and Christ is and they know not what they do nor the end wherefore they do so And their teachers in the same forms are blind guides and poor hearts both shall fall into the ditch and be mired in their own inventions most pittifully And when you come to see your selves stick in confusion and disorder and knowing that your teachers have deceived you Then you will remember these words That the first must be last Moses though he was a good man yet he was not to enter into the la●d of Canaan which types out this to me That the first man of the flesh shall never enter into the Fathers rest Then likewise you shall see that your zeal was but zeal without knowledge and that heat in you did but carry you along to advance self not to advance the Lord And that covetousness was the Lord chief Ruler in you which being crossed grew impatient and that impatiency you called it The zeal of the Lord when experience teacheth you silence you will not be offended at these words but ashamed of your self And here likewise you may see what it is to make a Sermon for a Sermon is a speech made from the man-seer which is Chaist within for this anointing sees the Father in every thing And therefore Christ in that one body The Lamb was called a great Prophet or Seer Now that man or woman that sees the Spirit within themselves how he enlightens how he kils the motions of the flesh and makes the flesh subject to Righteousnesse and so can see light in his light this man or woman is able to make a Sermon because they can speak by experience of the light and power of Christ within them who is indeed the man Seer But now he that speaks from imagination or from tradition and not from experience of what he sees cannot make a Sermon as the publike Preachers generally do and so he is a deceiver or false Christ and false Prophet that runs before he be sent put forward by secret pride and covetousnes to get a temporal living Therfore let none speak so discontentedly against Adam the first man by Creation that they say lived on earth about 6000 years ago as though he brought in the misery upon all for the Scriptures seem to declare that there were men in the world before that time For when Cain had killed his brother Abel which in one verse Moses seems to say was the third man in the world yet in a few verses following writing of Cains punishment declares Cains own
the bottomlesse pit your very fleshly self you are deceived and you shall find that when this bottomlesse pit is opened to your view it will be a torment sufficient for from hence doth the curse spread and all that misery you are or may be capable of it is but the breakings forth of that stinking dunghill that is seated within you is that power of darkness that rules within the Creation your body If the power of Righteousnesse peace take possession and rule in you then you shall live in rest and be free from hell and sorrow death and bondage If the Lamb be the light of your heart all tears shall be wiped away and you shall be in peace But if the selfish power rule your heart then as you live now upon uncertainties in confusion and vexation so this manifestation of hell darknesse and sorrows shall multiply within you and when your body goes to the Earth you multiply the curse upon the Creation and so you enter into the body of the Serpent that must be burned and consumed by the power of the Lord Hell and the curse doth rule within c●eated flesh in every family of the earth and will rule till the feed of Abraham the blessing of the Lord come and burn up that serpent and deliver the Creation from that burden And let me tell you That this seed This blessing of the Lord is rising up in every family that lives after the flesh Whether Parents brethren or sisters they do hate grudge and persecute those in whom the blessing begins to rise up and tramples upon them like dust but out of that dust of the earth man-kind shall the deliverer come that shall turn ungodlinesse from Jacob A few years now will discover more and then that prophecy shall be materially fulfilled Then ten men shall take hold of him that is a Jew saying we will go with you for we have heard that God is with you Zech. 8. 23. The heart of man is the place wherein heaven and hell for nature and kind are both to be seen that is when the Law of Righteousnesse rules there is Christ or the Kingdom of heaven within even the manifestations of the Father appears in glory to the sweet rest and peace of that soul But when the power of unrighteousnesse rules in the heart which is the Serpent Dragon or God of this world this is hell or kingdom of darknesse for first the man sees and feels himself in bondage to his lusts and to the powers of his flesh This is death and the curse that he lies under And then secondly The man sees himself under bondage of sorrows and torment and the increase of this sensiblenesse is will be an intolerable misery As it is said That the King of Righteousnes takes delight in nothing but what is within himself and what proceeds out of himself So the Heaven of an enlivened heart is not a local place of glory at a distance from him but the seeing and feeling the Father within dwelling and ruling there and to behold the glory of that power proceeding forth of himself to which he is made subject through which he walks righteously in the Creation and in which he rests in peace Even so the souls that are lost and ashamed in their work are not tormented by any terrour without them in any local place but their hell or place of torment is within themselves seeing and feeling themselves chained up in bondage to fears terrours ●●rrows afrightments intolerable vexations and powers of lust and under all that cursed darknesse ●●till the judgement of the great day And what misery or torment doth or shall appear ●●●m outward objects it is but the breakings forth of their own cursednesse that creates misery to himself and so goes forth to fetch in torment from without For he that hath a troubled conscience turns every thing into gall and worm-wood to terrifie himself thinking every bush to be a devil to torment him he saies he sees fearfull shapes without but they arise from the anguish of his tormenting conscience within for they be the shapes and apparitions of his own caused flesh that is presented to him which comes not from any other but out of the bottomlesse pit the Serpents powr but rules and dwels within him and the sight of this is like the misery of tender flesh burning in the fire Let a man lie upon his sick bed and to the view or others the chamber is quiet yet he saith he seeth devils and flames and misery and torments Well this is but the rising up of his own unrighteous heart the flames of the bottomlesse it that appear to himself For certainly unrighteous flesh is hell the appearance or risings up of un●ighteous flesh to its own view is the torments of hell Pride lust envy covetousnesse hypocrisie self-love and the like being crossed by the spirit of Light are the particular devils that torment the soul in hell or in that dark condition Or if so be a man be tormented by visible bodies of f●ry and ugly shapes as he apprehends they be all the creatures of his own making and rods which the flesh hath made to whip and punish himself withall for a man suffers by no other but by the work of his own hands And as he hath acted envy venome and poison in strange wayes of oppression walking unrighteously in the Creation Even so when his soul comes to be judged he shall apprehend snakes scorpions toads devils in bodily shapes and flames of fire and direfull noises and pits of darknesse which are creatures of his own making or the shapes and fashion of those unrighteous turnings and windings and actings of his unrigh●eous soul that now appear in their own colours to his own torment and this is ●ell For if the flesh be righteous within there is nothing without can trouble it When the bodies of men are laid in the grave we have a word That he is either in heaven or hell Now the senses of the body are not sensible of either such But now the power that ruled in that body righteously or unrighteously is fully manifested to it felt if the power of Righteousnesse did rule Now it enters into the Spirit the great Ocean of glory the Father himself If the power of unrighteousnesse did rule now it enters into the curse encreases the body of death corruption and enmity and becomes the bondage and Burden of the Creation that ●●●st be purged out by fire If there be a local place of hell as the Preachers say there is besides this I speak of time will make it manifest but as yet none ever came from the dead to tell men on earth and till then men ought to speak no more then they know whe● I speak I speak from what I have in some measure seen within me and as I have received from the Lord in clear light within my self But is not hell the execution of