of which God in all ages of the world is pleased to choose some to be Members of his Son or Citizens of Sion and hath appointed in his Councel that mankind shall increase in the world and act a while and then return to dust and one generation passe away and another come in the place but when the elect are gathered as wheat into Gods store-house and the City made compleat and the chaffe burned in the fire and none enters into the City but such whose names are written in the Lambs book of life and none enters into the lake of fire but such as are not writ in the Lambs book so that Gods will under this dispensation is done then followes immediately the great day of judgment or the resurrection of mens bodies out of the graves And this day of judgment is the 7. dispensation of God and this day windes up the whole mystery of God and makes the eternal councel of God compleatly manifest and true That the Serpents head is bruised and the whole creation Adam redeemed from the bondage of death and in this dispensation we are to mind two things First in this great day of the Lord he raises up the bodies of believers and unbelievers out of the dust again wherein he hath reserved them all the time of the battel between the anointing and the Serpent as a man would keep his jewels in a box for an appointed time Secondly God brings every man to judgement and rewards every man according to his work some rises to the resurrection of life and others to the resurrection of losse and death and the bookes were opened as John writes that is first the book of the mystery of iniquity or the nature of the Serpent in flesh laid open and made manifest to be a power and spirit of darkness that strived to be a being equal with God nay above God but being weighed in the ballance it is found too light And then the book of the mystery of God or the anointing of God in flesh this is made manifest and laid open to be the great power of God and the spirit of truth which hath advanced God to be the only one infinite being even God all in all and that besides him there is none And then another book was opened that is the book of life and death or the book of the Law and of Judgment which gives the sentence Come ye blessed inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world and to unbeleevers Go ye cursed into everlasting fire And now every man is judged according to his works the anointing or the righteous one is rewarded with life and all they in whom the anointing did dwell who are the elect City and spouse of Christ are called blessed and taken up into Gods Kingdome that is into love never to fall again But the Serpent the wicked one is rewarded with death and all those disobedient ones in whom the Serpent dwelt are cast into the everlasting fire prepared for the Devill and his Angels this is a second part in the day of judgment which is a trying of every mans work and the establishing the City which is the Lambs wife in perfect glory and in justly condemning the rest and here God is glorified in the salvation of believers and in the damnation or losse of unbelievers for his work stands and abides triall but mans work suffers losse and is ashamed But this is not the end for as yet the Son hath not delivered up the Kingdom to the Father for he must raign till all enemies be subdued but death curse and sorrow is not yet quite subdued for it raignes over part of the Creation still even over those poor creatures that were lost or that did not enter into the City but were cast into the lake of fire The Serpent as yet holds a power for there is part of Gods work not yet delivered from his bondage And the Serpent would be glad and it would be some ease to his torment if any of Gods work might die and perish with him As I have heard some say that they would be content to suffer the misery of a new war in England so that such as they mentioned might suffer as well as they this is the spirit of the Serpent I but the Serpent only shall perish and God will not loose a hair that he made he will redeeme his whole creation from death The spirit of darknesse cannot beare this speech therefore reader observe thy heart as thou readest it will either close with a tender spirit of pitty and love herewith or else swell and fret against it Therefore in the third part of this great day of judgment after the City work is finished and the triall over then does the tree of life God himself that dwells in the City and is the light and life and glory of it send forth dispensations or Angels bringing love to heale the Nations and to bring their glory into the City likewise that for the present lies under the dispensation of wrath and throws the Serpent that deceived them death and hell into the Lake but there is no mention that the nations are cast therein in this last casting in for they are redeemed from it as the tree of life brought forth fruit every change of time and age of the world to heale the elect the lost sheep or City so in this last and great day it brings forth leaves to heale the Nations or such as were not of the City their turne to receive mercy comes though it be at the last houre And then all Israel or whole creation that groaned under the bondage of death shal partake of the glorious manifestation of the Sons of God for now the deliverer comes out of Sion and shall turne away ungodlinesse from Jacob Therefore saith John I saw a pure River of the water of life cleare as Cristall proceeded out of the throne of God and the Lamb Now I conceive clearly that this pure River is the whole creation mankind fully and compleatly delivered from death and curse as in that 3. verse And this pure redemption proceedes from the throne of God and the Lamb that is from the judgment seat of God judging condemning and bruising the Serpents head and so setting his own work mankind free from that death and bondage I shall mention one Scripture more that countenances this truth And I looked and behold a white cloud and upon the cloud one sate like the Son of man having on his head a Crown of gold and in his hand a sharpe sickle And another Angel came out of the Temple crying with a loud voice to him that sate on the cloud saying thrust in thy sickle and reape for the harvest of the earth is ripe and he that sate on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth and the earth was reaped And then another Angel came out of the
THE MYSTERIE OF GOD Concerning the whole Creation MANKINDE TO BE Made known to every man and VVoman after seaven Dispensations and Seasons of Time are passed over According to the COUNCELL of GOD Revealed to his Servants By Gerrard Winstanley Psal. 145. 13. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and thy Dominion endureth throughout all generations Rom. 11. 26. And so all Israel shall be saved as it is written There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer that shall turn away ungodlines from Iacob London Printed by I. C. for Giles Calvert at the Black-spread-Eagle at the West end of Pauls 1649. To my Beloved Countrey-men of the County of LANCASTER DEar Country men when some of you see my name subscribed to this ensuing Discourse you may wonder at it and it may be despise me in your heart as Davids Brethren despised him and told him it was the pride of his heart to come into the Battell c. but know that Gods works are not like mens he doth not alwaies take the wise the learned the rich of the world to manifest himself in and through them to others but he chuseth the despised the unlearned the poor the nothings of the world and fills them with the good things of himself when as he sends the empty away I have writ nothing but what was given me of my Father and at the first beholding of this Mystery it appeared to be so high above my reach that I was confounded and lost in my spirit but God whom I believe is my teacher for I have joy and rest in him left me not in bondage but set me at liberty and caused me to see much glory in these following truths and when God works none can hinder It may be some things herein may seeme very strange at the first reading and you may crie out an error an error for this is usuall when the flesh cannot apprehend and be are a truth of God it brands it for an error and rejects it as a wicked thing as the Jewes because they could not behold God in Christ did breake out in bitternesse of spirit against Christ calling him a deceiver and that he preached blasphemy and error never rested till they had killed him our Lord Christ told his disciples that he had many things to speak to them but they were not able to bear them as yet And this I speak in experience that many truths of God wherein I now see beauty my heart at the first hearing rose against them and could not beare them and therefore if what I have writ meet with such hard entertainment in any of your hearts it is no wonder for I know that the flesh that is in you lusts after envy but it is part of your bondage which God will deliver you from in due time You shall finde that I call the whole power of darknesse by the name Serpent which dwells in and hath taken every man and woman captive and that God through his Sonne Christ will redeeme his own workmanship mankinde from it and destroy the Serpent onely but do not count this a slight thing for when God lets you see into the Mystery of this iniquity in the least degree of it it will prove too hard for you and you will be nothing but death curse and misery Therefore as you desire that God would manifest love to you and make you free be not offended to hear that God who is love it self hath a season to manifest his love to others that are lost and quicken them that were killed while you were made alive and that fell further under death when you that were lost are redeemed an houre or two before them Iesus Christ shed his bloud wilingly for them that did put him to death and the Saints of God rejoyced that Paul their bitter persecutor was received to mercy with themselves Why then should you be offended and thinke you are miserable if your persecutors and enemies should in Gods time be delivered from under the curse and partake of the glory of the City together with you It is much for the glory of God for him to redeeme not part onely but all mankinde from death which his own hands made it is his revealed will so to do therefore let it be your joy that the will of your Father is and shall be fulfilled and do not thinke the Saints are made unhappy and God dishonored if he heale them that were lost and that did not enter into the City in the beginning of the great day of judgment for as he is honored in saving you of the Citie that were lost so he will be honored in redeeming these that lye under the power of the second death and that entred not into the City seeing there was no difference between you and them till the will of God made the difference in taking you at the first and leaving them till the last houre for Christ gave himself a ransome for all to be revealed in due time God doth not reveale his love to all at one time but when he will and God hath some thing to do after the resurrection as he hath and will yet do much before that day Well I leave not questioning but if any of you be unsatisfied with what I have writ that you will speak to me and I hope God will be my wisdom and strength to confirme it since I had writ it I met with more Scriptures to confirme it so that it is not a spirit of private fancie but it is agreeable to the written Word Farwell Your Country-man that loves the life of your Soule Gerrard Winstanley These Particulars and such like are contained in this Discourse VVHat Mankinde was is and shall be What the Serpent is that caused Adams fall and whence he sprang The Serpent is not Gods Creature What the bondage of death is that Adam or all mankind lies under What the good and what the bad Angels are God hath cast the twofold murderer out of heaven and what that is God will subdue the Serpent not under part but under the whole Creation Mankinde When all creatures except Man are to be dissolved into nothing Seven Dispensations which God will have Mankind to passe through before he subdue the Serpent under the feet thereof and what they are The Citie Sion or the Elect are in gathering up to God in six of those dispensations in every season of time and in the seventh the mystery of God shall be finished and not till then The Citie Sion or the Elect shall first be taken up to God afterwards they that were cast into everlasting fire while the Elect were in gathering shall be redeemed and partake of the glory of the Citie What is meant by everlasting fire and the word for ever and ever so often used in Scripture God is honoured in the salvation of Beleevers and in the losse and shame of unbeleevers Gods judging the serpent is mankinds redemption What the
senses therewith and so brake the Law and Covenant of God fell from his purity and died according to the word of his Maker That in the day thou eatest thou shalt dye And all the faculties and powers of that living created Being Adam are now become absolute rebellions and enmity it selfe against the Being of Godlâ—… And that garden of pleasant plants Adam is become a stinking dunghill of weeds and brings forth nothing but pride envy discontent disobedience and the whole actings of the spirit and power of darknes And if the creature should bee honoured in this condition then God would be dishonoured because his command is broke and yet the creature remains glorious therefore he died And if so be the creature be utterly lost and perish and this garden should never be so dressed as to bring forth fruit to Gods delight then likewise God would suffer dishonour because his work is spoyled in his hand and there is no hopes of recovery But the work of God shall be restored from this lost dead weedy enslaved condition and the fruit of the created Being shall utterly perish and be ashamed And things being thus considered God is pleased to lead us to see a little into these two mysteries First the mystery of Iniquity or work of the Serpent which was the aspiring fruit of pride and selfe-love that sprung up in the created Being to be as God and so to be an absolute Being of himself as God is an absolute Being of himselfe and so this selfe-honouring would sit in Gods Temple that is the humane Nature which God made a Garden for Himselfe to walk in and if that Spirit of Self-love could not be destroyed and the Humane Nature recovered from that bondage God would suffer much dishonour because he being glorious and happy in himselfe hath made a creature to be a vexation and scourge to him and cannot subdue it And this mystery of iniquity or power of darknesse hath does and will fight against the Being of God till it be taken out of the way and quite subdued as the Father hath promised he will subdue it under the feet of his Sonne the Humane Nature Then secondly God leads us to the mystery of himselfe and makes us able to see into the knowledge of that great work that hee is in working and that is to destroy this Serpent out of the flesh and all Beings that is enmity against him and to swallow up his Creature Man into himselfe that so there may bee but one onely pure endlesse and infinite Being even God himselfe all in all dwelling and walking in this garden Mankinde in which he will plant pleasant fruit trees and pluck up all weeds Cant. 4. 16. Since Adam fell to this present day wee see the wisdome power and affection that dwels and rules in Man leads him any way either to just or unjust actions so that Selfe may be preferred not caring whether God be honoured yea or no Now the mystery of God is this hee will destroy and subdue this power of darknesse under the feet of the whole Creation Mankinde and every particular branch Man and Woman deliver him from this bondage and prison and dwel in his own House and Garden himselfe so that the wisdome power love life beauty and Spirit of truth that dwels and rules in Man may be God himselfe even the Lord our Righteousnesse and no other being or power but himselfe And as God did dwell bodily in the Humane Nature Jesus Christ who was the first manifestation of this great mystery of God so when his work is compleated he will dwell in the whole Creation that is every man and woman without exception as he did dwell in that one branch Jesus Christ who is the pledge or first fruits And therefore you shall finde that when Adam had broke the Covenant and died by the Law God did not denounce an utter destruction without recovery to the Creation Mankinde which was his own work which his own wisdome and power did produce and bring forth But he pronounces the finall curse against the Serpent or mans work which was the fruit that sprung up in and was acted both inwardly and outwardly by the Creation or created Being in rebellion against the Being of God Therefore sinne is properly mans owne act The words of the Father run thus speaking to the Serpent I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heele So that the Serpent must be killed for bruise his head and he dies Now the curse that was declared to Adam was temporary That he should undergoe sorrows and suffer a bruising in his out-member but not a killing though Adam had killed himselfe so that he hath brought himselfe under the bondage God will not strike him now he is downe and make his death without recovery but God will destroy death and quicken Adam or Mankinde againe that we may all see our salvation is from God though our misery was from our selves that so whosoever glories may glory onely in the Lord And now by the way mind one thing That when this Serpent rules and causes the creature to act such actings become the creatures losse shame but when God acts in the creatures life glory and redemption to advance selfe and deny God is the creatures death But to deny self and to acknowledge God is the creatures life before Adam acted Rebellion this aspiring spirit of pride to be as God led the humane nature to disobey God And ever since the fall the same selfish spirit leads every man and woman captive at his will and inslaves them in that prison and bondage and darkness to walk in wayes directly contrary to the God of light and yet many times perswades them that they do God good service let a man read hear study preach pray perform actions of Justice yet if God be not mercifull to the man this power of darkness will deceive him making him to conceit or think he pleases God when the truth is he serves but selfe all the time it is so full of secret strong delusions Therefore I say the mystery of God is this God will bruise this Serpents head and cast that murderer out of heaven the humane nature wherein it dwels in part as in the man Christ Jesus And he will dwell in the whole creation in time and so deliver whole mankind out of that bondage This I see to be a truth both in my own experience and by testimony of scripture as God is pleased to teach me As first by experience I shall instance in my self who am a branch of Adam or part of the humane creation And I lay under the bondage of the Serpent my own invention as the whole creation does from Adams fall and I saw not any bondage but since God was
pleased to manifest his love to me he hath caused me to see that I lay dead in sin weltring in blood and death was a prisoner to my lusts for though through his grace I saw pride covetousness envy uncleanness ignorance injustice and the whole body of unbelief working and ruling in me yet I was ashamed men should know it this selfish spirit sought to hide himself so close and still made provision to have the will of these lusts satisfied in me And before God manifested his love to me I delighted in the favour of these weeds but since God revealed his Son in me he lets mee see that those things wherein I did take pleasure were my death my shame and the very power of darkness wherein I was held as in a prison so that although I felt this deadly body or wicked one act within me and although I have been troubled at it sighed and mourned strove against it and prayed against it yet I could not deny self and the more I used meanes to beat him down as I thought the more did this power of darkness appear in me like an overflowing wave of wickedness drowning me in slavery and I saw I was a wretched man wrapped in misery I mourned that I was so rebellious against God and I mourned to see I had no power to get out of that bondage of selfishness And so I continued till God was pleased to pul me out of selfish striving selfish actings made all meanes lie dead before me and made me dead to such means as I made use of and thought that deliverance must come that way And so made me to lie down at his feete to waite upon him to acknowledg that unless God did swallow me up into his own being I should never be delivered for I saw that the power within me strived to maintain its being against the being of God and all that while I was a stranger to God though among men I was a professor as I thought of God But now God hath set me free from that bondage so that it rules not though sometime it seemes to face me like a daring corquered enemy that cannot hurt And likewise God causes me to see with much joy and peace of heart into this mystery of himself that his eternall councel which was grounded upon the Law of love himself was not to destroy me nor any of his own creation but only the Serpent which is my work or the first fruit that sprung up out of the creation which is our bondage and that he himself will become my self and liberty and the life and liberty of his whole creation And in these two things he hath caused me greatly to rejoyce First I see and feele that God hath set me free from the dominion and over-ruling power of that body of sin It raines not as a King though sometimes it appeares creeping in like a slave that is easily whipped out of doores by strength of God Secondly I rejoyce in perfect hope and assurance in God that although this Serpent or murtherer do begin by reason of any temptation or outward troubles to arise and endeavour to act in rash anger in pride in discontent or the like as sometimes it does yet every appearance of this wicked one in me becomes his further ruine and shall never rise to rule and enslave me as formerly for God thereby takes the occasion to call me up higher into himself and so makes me to see and possess freedom in my own experience from him every day more and more I am not still a captive in a being of darkness distinct from God but God hath freed me therefrom and taken me up into his own being so that now his wisdom his love his life his power his joy and peace is mine I glory here I can glory no where else And here I wait upon God with a sweet peace under reproaches under losses under troubles of the world being that dispensation of his patience which God will have me wait upon him under till I partake of the full enjoyment of this inheritance which I have fully in hope and assurance but in possession but in part And as God is pleased thus to deal with me or with any branch of Adam in the same kind so he hath caused me to see and to rejoyce in the sight that he will not lose any of his work but he will redeem his own whole Creation to himself and dwell and rule in it himself and subdue the Serpent under his feet and take up all his Creation Mankind into himself and will become the only endless pure absolute and infinite being even infinitely for ever all in all in every one and in the whole that no flesh may glory in it self but in the Lord only But this mystery of God is not to be done all at once but in severall dispensations some whereof are past some are in being and some are yet to come but when the mystery of God is absolutely finished or as the Scriptures say The Son hath delivered up the Kingdom to the Father this will be the upshot or conclusion that Gods work shall be redeemed and live in God and God in it but the creatures work without God shall be lost and perish Man Adam or whole Creation of Mankind which is Gods work shall be delivered from Corruption Bondage Death and Pain and the Serpent that caused the fall shall only perish and be cast into the lake and God will be the same in the latter end accomplishing what in the beginning he promised that is to bruise the Serpents head and subdue him under the feet of his Son the humane nature wherein he will walk as a Garden of pleasure and dwell himself for ever I shall now in the next place mention some Scriptures as a Testimony that does countenance this truth that God will not lose any part of his Creation Mankind but will redeem and preserve it both in particular in whole and will destroy nothing but the Serpent that wicked one that would be a being equall to or above God but Gods work shall stand and the creatures work shall perish and suffer losse The first Scripture I shall mention is 1 Cor. 3. 13. Every mans Work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is That is whether it be of God or of the Serpent If any mans work abide he shall receive a reward that is he shall live in God and God in him because God in the man was the strength of his work If any mans work shall be burned he shall suffer losse but he himself shall be saved mark this yet so as by fire not by materiall fire of purgatory but by the bright and clear coming of God into this man whose indwelling presence like fire burnes up the stubble of
mens own inventions and purges the drosse from the gold divides between the marrow and the bone that is makes a separation between his own work and mans work So likewise Rev. 20. 10. And the Devill or murderer that deceived the Nations was east into the lake of fire and brimstone and v. 14. And death and hel were cast into the lake of fire the Nations were not cast in at this time for this Scripture I believe points out the great day of Judgment when Nations shall be delivered out of that fire and there shall be no more curse death sorrow nor pain lie upon any part of the Creation but all teares shall be wiped from its eyes and the Serpent only shall perish in the Lake for after that the City-work is finished and the number of the Elect gathered in and established in glory then the dispensations of God who is the tree of life send forth a healing vertue to the Nations and then the Nations likewise that are saved or those that were lost while the City or Elect was in gathering do now bring their glory into the City likewise for every man shall be saved saith God through Paul without exception though some at the ninth houre some at the tenth houre and some at the last houre and this salvation of every man or the making of the whole creation a pure River of the water of life cleer as Cristall proceeds from the throne of God and the Lamb that is from the judgment seat of God judging condemning and killing the Serpent and so restoring his own creation to purity and life So likewise 2 Cor. 5. 4. For we in this Tabernacle do groane being burdened not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life By mortality here is not meant the laying of the body in or raising of it out of the dust or grave but it is the very death which Adam by disobeying fell under and that is the death of his purity or pure being which is a falling from God into a being directly opposite to the being of God as rottonness of flesh is death to soundness of flesh darkness is the death to light for whereas before the fall Adam knew God loved and acknowledged God and was in every part so pure as God said Behold it is all very good but after the fall he became envious proud disobedient full of all lusts and concupiscence of evill even as we find by experience our bondage and so from a friend he fell to be enmity against God of a pure creature he became unclean and of a Child of Gods delight he fell to be a Child of wrath and of a pure garden he became a stinking dunghill and this is the death or mortality which not only Adam in particular but all the branches of Adam men and women lie under Even under a corrupt Being Now this rottennesse or death under which the whole Creation is fallen and lies in bondage too it is that Serpent or power of darknesse which Paul desires might be swallowed up of life that is that God who is life would be pleased to come and dwell in him and in his creation and so cast out that mortality or strong man that is so strongly armed and this is the Serpent that God hath pronounced the dreadfull curse against for this is mans work and it must bee destroyed I conceive God calls it mans own invention because it was the first fruit that the creature brought forth after he was made and left to himselfe even this aspired and sprung up in him to which he gave consent to promote Selfe and become as God I shall onely mention one Scripture more though I beleeve I could bring above a hundred Scriptures that doe countenance this truth And if you seriously minde what you read you shall finde that this is the Royall blood that runs through the golden veines of the writings of the Prophets and Apostles It is Rom. 8. from vers. 19. to 26. but for shortnesse sake I shall mention onely the 21. and 22. verses Beeause the creation it self also shall be delivered as well as we that are members of the elected Citie from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God For we know by our experience that the whole creation of which we are branches groaneth and travelleth in pain together untill now By Creature or whole Creation I see it to be a cleare and soul-comforting truth to be only mankinde for whose use or for the time that God hath determined to finish this great designe to make his garden Man a garden of pleasure to himselfe when he hath plucked up all the weeds and so husbanded the ground that weeds shall never grow again I say all the time God hath made all other creatures for mans use or rather to serve his own providence while he is in working this great mystery about man and when the work is finished then all other creatures shall bee dissolved into nothing as at first for as God is a Spirit he delights in spirituall things but these outward creatures were made for the pleasure profit and use of man while he is carnall and stands in a Being distinct from God and when man is made spirituall and swallowed up in life or taken up into the Being of God there will then be no more use or need of these outward creatures as Cattell Corn Meat Drink and the like nor of Sunne Moon nor Starre nor of Creature-light either literall or mysticall for God and the Lamb shall dwell in the Citie and in the whole Creation and be the light thereof as the Lord Christ said In that day you shall know that I am in my Father and you in Me and I in you And labour not for the meat that perisheth but for that which endures to eternall life Some may say If this be true that God will save every one then I will live and take my pleasure in sin and eat drink and be merry and take all delights while I live for I am Gods workmanship and he will not lose his own work I shall be saved But if he will not lose his work yet thy work shall perish think upon that and truly I beleeve that the Serpent in thee will make such a merry conclusion and cry down this truth of God for an errour presently in others because it beares testimony of his destruction as the Jewes called Christ a deceiver or a man of errors and killed him because he bore witnesse that their deeds were evill Well make that conclusion and take liberty to sin yet for all that know thou enslaved creature that thou shalt be brought to judgement and thou shalt not escape punishment for though sinne be sweet in thy mouth as it was in Judas to take the 30 pieces of silver and to act treachery against his
aspiring spirit in him to promote Selfe for so long as the creature acknowledges any other being but Gods he is lost and truly I think none can be ignorant of this that the spirit of selfishnesse is in himself and in every man and woman therfore it must be cast out of this heaven Mankinde before it can live again to God When Jesus Christ or God in Man appeared then the word of Love was made flesh That the seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head And when Jesus Christ fought the great battell or rather God and the Serpent did fight in heaven that is in the creation the man Christ Jesus and God or the anoynting prevailed he cast the Serpent out of heaven out of that humane flesh which he took up as a part for the whole or as an earnest of the Fathers love to all the rest for I beleeve that all temptations that Jesus Christ met withall for in all things he was tempted like unto us they were but the strivings of the Serpent as he did strive in Adam that fell to maintain its being opposite to God but Jesus Christ or the anoynting in flesh being not a created power but the power of God in that created humanity did not consent as the first Adam did for he with strong hand resisted the whispering of the Serpent and would acknowledge no other Being but God and so prevailed and cast the Serpent out of flesh and hath obtained a legall power to quicken whom he will or to cast the Serpent out of what man or woman he will so that it is this anoynting that sets us at liberty from the bondage of sin and the Serpent and he himselfe becomes our life and strength and the Lord our Righteousnesse And when Michael our Prince had prevailed over the Dragon then there were voyces and Songs heard in heaven that is in the creation Mankind Now is come salvation and strength and the Kingdome of our God and the power of his Christ for the accuser of our Brethren is cast down which accused them before God day and night This song I conceive was sung by the Elect the Citie Sion or Saints of God who are first enlightned and they sing Glory to God in the name of the rest that shall be redeemed for the Serpent that accused the Creation before God is cast out in part for the whole or a part for an earnest peny to the whole So that now mark The Law of God that did accuse and condemne the offending creature this is cast out of Gods hand and hereafter he will be a God of love in an intire dispensation of love I speak as God doth manifest himself now under the Gospel and as he ever will be when the creature is perfectly redeemed And the Serpent which is the Sting or Worme to the Creatures conscience because it was still acting a self-being opposite to God and then accusing the creature before God day and night by the force of a condemning Law for disobediences which is the creatures bondage and misery for the spirit of sin within this enslaves him and the condemning Law this casts him from God and so throwes the sinner under utter darknesse and sorrow I but for the creatures comfort this Serpent is cast out of heaven the Creation likewise and though for the present many poore creatures lie under the bondage yet the time is drawing neer that they shal be delivered and the wicked one himselfe the Serpent shall be cast into the Lake and perish for ever Indeed the Serpent would have Gods created work to die with him for he knowes he must dye irrecoverably but God will redeem his creature and the Serpents head only shall be bruised which will be his death Well this two-fold murderer is cast out of Heaven that is the condemning Law is cast out of Gods hand by Jesus Christ the Law of grace and love and the Serpent is cast out of the creation in part and shall be cast out of the whole when the Mystery of God is finished by the power of the same anointng Jesus Christ for God the Father is reconciled and he hath taken the creature into fellowship with himselfe For God was in the Man Christ Jesus reconciling the world that is mankind to himself not imputing their sins to them Now this Mystery or work of God is finished fully and compleatly in a two-fold sense but not in a third as yet and when this third term is finished then the whole work is finished and not till then First in Gods everlasting counsell and purpose this worke was done from all eternity before the foundation of the world was laid and God declared so much when he uttered this word I will put enmity between thee and the woman between thy seed her seed he shall break thy head and thou shalt bruise his heele Here the Curse and Death is sealed up to the Serpent but here is Mercy and Redemption sealed up to the creature the creature shall bee redeemed but he shall goe through bruisings or pain Secondly it is compleatly done in action in the pledge and earnest-penny When God was manifested in flesh in the Man Christ Jesus who was born of a woman And this is the first fruit of the Fathers love manifested and sealed up to the whole Creation Mankinde that as he dwels bodily in that part of humane nature Jesus Christ so in time according to his own counsell and pleasure hee will dwell bodily in the whole creation likewise therefore saith Christ I goe to my Father and your Father to my God and your God and he doth not onely speak to his twelve Disciples but to all others that shall beleeve through their word And when the Kings of the Earth and the Nations are healed by the leaves of the Tree of Life and so bring in their glory into the City Sion as it shall be in the latter end I beleeve there will not be a man that partakes of humane nature nor woman neither that shall not partake of faith so beleeve in God through Christ the anointing that fils all and is all in all But now in the third sense the worke is not yet compleated in the whole Creation for God is pleased to doe this worke in length of time by degrees calling some at one houre and some at another out of the Serpents bondage and the times and seasons God hath reserved to himself Therefore in the further clearing of this Truth God is pleased to shew forth six dispensations or discoveries of himselfe more which he will have the creature to passe through before he finish his work to cast the Serpent Death and Hell into the Lake and before he himselfe appeare to be the Tree of Life on each side and in the middle of the pure River of the water of Life which I conceive is the whole creation Man
altar and cryed in the same manner to him that had the sickle as you may read By a white cloud I conceive is meant the City Sion or spouse of Christ that is arayed in pure and white in whom there is no spot for she is perfectly redeemed by him that sate upō this white cloud is ment the whole anointing or the great manifestation of God in one person Jesus Christ And the severall Angels that cryed one after another are severall dispensations or discoveries of God that proceed from Christ at several times and seasons Therefore the City being made white now the manifestations of Gods love begin to appeare towards the earth or nations which entred not into the City now the time and season requires that the sickle of Christ should be thrust into the earth that is that the brightness of Jesus Christ the Lamb might appear and shine forth upon the Nations also as it did shine upon the City And we see the conclusion in the 20. verse And the wine-presse was troden without the City mind that and blood came out of the wine-presse even unto the horse bridles c. This phrase I conceive points out the utter ruine and destruction of the Serpent that held the earth or Nations which were without the City in bondage But now the anointing or the great dispensation of the love of God hath reaped the earth as well as the City and destroyed the Serpent there as well as in the City the wine-presse or the bruising of the Serpents head and shedding his blood was without the City and so both City and Country City and whole earth of mankind is made a pure River of the water of life which proceeds from the throne of God and the Lamb But here arise 3. scruples First is not God changeable saith one In saying go ye cursed into everlasting fire and yet afterwards takes them out againe I answer this fire is the dispensation of Gods wrath and it is everlasting without end to the Serpent it was prepared for him and his Angels and though God bid the unbeleevers depart into it yet he did not say you shall lie there and never be redeemed But the scruple lies in the word everlasting which I as well as you have taken it to be a misery without end to the creature But I answer that in scripture phrase every dispensation of God was called an everlasting time as in the day of Moses every service in the Temple that Aaron was to perform God said it should be a Statute and a Law for ever which notwithstanding ended to be a Law in the beginning of the next dispensation or the appearance of Christ in the flesh and so though God send unbelievers to lie under the dispensation of his wrath and call it everlasting fire it is but for the time of his dispensation while he is finishing City work and judging and rewarding every man that is the Serpent and the anointing according to their works and after this comes in their healing time and season and these times and seasons the Father hath reserved to himself the Son knowes them not A second scruple is this Shall a man be ever delivered out of hell out of hell saith some there is no redemption I answer first that there is no Scripture as saith out of hell there is no redemption therefore the scruple is raised upon it without ground indeed the Prophet speaking how that the living praise God and the dead cannot hath these words in preferring life before death The grave cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate thee they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth But secondly to answer more directly let us consider what hell is and then whether any shall be delivered out that is there Hell is called death or a condition below life and this is twofold either a death of purity far below the nature of God or a death of sorrows which is a condition far below the comfort and joyes of God Now every man and woman as they are branches of Adam have no purity in them and therefore are in a hell far below the life and nature of God and likewise they are unavoidably subject to the sorrowes of that death as an effect following the cause therefore unavoidably subject to a condition far below the comfort and joyes of God This is the condition of every man and woman and they have no power for to deliver themselves for God only is our Redeemer And then it followes that a man may be in hell and yet may be delivered out for as in all this discourse past it appeares that as we spring from Adam we do all lie under the bondage and death and power of the Serpent which is one part of hell and yet God delivers his elect from out of it and therefore it followes cleare that if men are capable of so much mercy being Gods creatures as to be delivered from sin and death which is one part of hell or of a condition below God they are capable to be delivered through the mercy of the same God from the sorrowes and paines that follow sin both which are but the bondage of the Serpent which God will deliver his creature from this twofold death is the Serpents head which God will bruise A third scruple is concerning the day of Judgement Some think it is but one single day of twenty foure houres long nay some make it lesse but the length of the twinkling of an eye because the interpretation of Scripture runs thus That in the twinkling of an eye at the sound of the last Trumpet the Dead shall be raised up to judgement But to answer this phrase Twinkling of an eye it onely shewes that the day of judgement is very short in comparison of the dayes by-past like that in Rev. 8. 1. And there was silence in Heaven for the space of half an houre which is not a direct halfe houre according as men account but it declares a very short time Therefore I conceive this is not a single day of 24. houres but a longer time while the Judge sits upon the judgement seat judgeing the Serpent so long time it is called a day of judgement because that is the work of this day or tearm of time or the full length of that dispensation as formerly it was called the Day of Moses which was the time while that dispensation of the Law continued in force whereof Moses was the Mediator and so Abraham desired to see my Day saith Christ and saw it that is the day and time that Christ reignes as King in the power and law of Love in and over the Saints and this Paul calls the Day of Christs rest And this in the truth of it is that which we call the Sabbath Day or Day of a Christians rest and it is not one day in seaven still typicall as the Jewish Sabbath was but it is the
constant reign of Christ in and over the Saints which is their rest and which indeed is the substance of the Jewish typicall Sabbath as David saith Let the earth rejoyce the LORD reignes And a King shall reigne in the earth saith Jeremy and his name shall bee called The LORD our Righteousnesse Now Christ or the Anointing doth not reigne one single day in the seaven in his Saints but every day constantly which is the substance of the Jewish single Sabbath therefore I wish that the Gentile-Christians could understand that what the Jewes did in the type these are to perform in the substance and it is not for the Gentiles to worship in Types as did the Jewes Again the time of the indignation or while God suffers the Beast to reigne is called The Day of the Beast and God hath given her three Dayes and a halfe to tread the holy Citie under foot or the space of 42 moneths which is three shapes three discoveries of the reigne of the Beast or three degrees and half of the Serpents reformation from bad to worse from open prophanenesse to close hypocrisie and not the single dayes of a week And so here it is called the Day of Judgement from the work and businesse of the day or full length of that Dispensation so that the great and generall day of judgment from the time that the bodies of beleevers and unbelievers are raised out of the grave till the Son deliver up the Kingdome to the Father I beleeve is a long time of divers yeares the full length or shortnesse of it God onely knowes and reserves the time and season of that secret to himselfe but it is called the day of judgement while the worke of judgement lasts as in our language it is called the Day of Assizes though the Sessions or businesse continue divers dayes Now all this day the condemned creatures lie under the dispensation of wrath under the curse and under weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth for anguish and this Hell Sorrow or Punishment or Death is everlasting because it continues the full time of the dispensation the worm never dies all the time the fire and sense of wrath shall never goe out all the time the fire of lust shall still be burning and the smoak of blasphemy shall ascend upward and they shal have no rest day nor night and the fire of Gods wrath shal still be scorching and consuming which shall be an intollerable pain to the creature Therefore if any man or woman take liberty to sin let them know this is a truth they shall be condemned and die and depart into everlasting fire and punished in that Hell lie under the dispensation of wrath and lie at Gods mercy for delivery so that those that will not now wait upon God in his time of long-suffering or in the dispensation of his patience they shal wait upon God whether they will or no in the dispensation of wrath in sorrow which is intollerable which is the second death The first death I conceive and I clearly see a truth in it is Adams death or Adams bondage to the Serpent the second death is the Serpents death after God hath judged him which is to lie under the wrath of God without end Now he that hath part in the first resurrection that is to be delivered from the bondage of the Serpent and raised up from the death of sin and so made alive to God through the Anointing over such a man the second Death or the endlesse dispensation of wrath which is prepared for the Serpent shall have no power But if a man have not part in the first resurrection and so enter not into the City new Jerusalem he shall then tast of the second Death which is the everlasting fire prepared for the Serpent his seed and it shal have power over him and he shall lie under it for ever that is till the dispensation change or till the mystery of God be finished that the Serpent Death and Hell is subdued and cast into the Lake and the whole Creation be set free and the Son deliuer up the Kingdome to the Father and God become all in all as at the beginning he was before any opposite power appeared against him But doth not God sit upon the Throne of judgement before this great day of Judgement appear Yes God the Lamb have sate upon the judgement seat or Throne ever since Adam delighted in his own fruit or consented to the Serpent and God hath been judging the Serpent and bruising his head in every dispensation of his ever since that time and casting the Serpent that strong Man out of his Elect. And by the powring out of the seven Vials and the sounding of the seven Trumpets declares how God hath been subduing the Beast the Whore and the false Prophet which hath been the severall appearances of the Serpent under those names by which he hath made warre with Christ and his Saints so that God hath been about this work of judging the Serpent long before this day of judgment came Then it seemes God hath two judgement dayes No it is all one for from Adams time till the Son deliver up the Kingdome to the Father God hath sate upon the Throne judging the serpent but it pleased God so to establish his counsell that he would not finish this mystery in a short time but in severall degrees of times and seasons which he hath reserued in his own power And this great and last day is the conclusion of this work that the serpent shall be subdued under the feet of the whole Creation and be destroyed everlastingly as it is written Judgement begins at the House of God and if it begin at us saith Peter who are his Temple his little Flock his Royall Nation his peculiar people what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel Why truly they must come to judgement too but in the last day or in the end of time so that it is not two judgement dayes but all one day And so to wind up all I shall desire men to mind one thing That though God hath in Scripture declared seven great dispensations or discoveries of his Counsel and each one clearer then the other yet in every one of these God sends forth severall other dispensations or Angels for the carrying on of the work of that time or season which are discoveries of his glory for whatsoever comes from God is a Spirituall power not a dead work but a living As whatsoever came first from Adam it was a spiritual power as pride discontent envie and the whole body of unbeliefe which slighted the being of God and seekes to preferre a Creature-being before him This discovery of Adam was a spiritual power which is the very bondage which all creatures lie under and it is an unclean and dead power but not a living power But whatsoever comes from God