Master it wil be bitternesse in the belly as it was to him for the jealousie of the Lord shall burn hot against thee so that thou shalt cal upon the mountains to cover thee from his presence and wish that thou hadst never been born and all the sorrowes spoke of in Scripture shall overtake thee and such presumptuous sinners as thou art and thy joy shall be turned into mourning and thou shalt be cast into the everlasting fire which God hath prepared and appointed for the Serpent and his seed or for the Devil and his Angels and while thou art in it the worm of thy gnawing conscience shall never die nor the fire of Gods wrath or the sense of his anger upon thee shall never goe out and shall be a pain more intollerable then the plucking out of the right eye or the cutting off the right hand But now lest scruples should arise in others as though I writ contradictions or as though I made God changeable First to bid a sinner depart into everlasting fire and yet afterwards take him out again Now to give answer hereunto First know that this was and is the great mystery worke and counsell of God after he had made a visible creature in a pure Being distinct from himselfe his purpose being to destroy all the inventions and actings of this creature that did spring up and arise from the creatures Being as a creature and not from Gods acting in the creature and God foresaw that the first buddings of this creature would be a desire to maintain it Selfe or Creature-Being and so cast God off therefore God made him under a Law that if his creature did consent to that selfish desire he should die if not he should have lived a pure Being still though distinct from God yet under his protection as a Creator Now every thing that is in or about the Creature that is of God shall stand but every thing that is in or from the creature that is not of God shall fall and perish Therefore to proceed a little further that this truth may shine in its own beauty God does teach me to see that every action or dispensation of God is called a Spirit or an Angel and every action or aspiring principle that rise up in Adam which led him to disobedience it pleased God that it should have a Being and likewise be called a Spirit but it is a dead Being and a Spirit of darknesse quite opposite to the God of Light and Life and God gives it the name of Serpent Dragon Murtherer wicked one and unclean Spirit because it twisted it selfe into the middle of the Creation and was an aspiring to be like God but God did not make the nature of it for it was the first fruits of a created Being without God Now God is pleased to make known himself in divers dispensations in the carrying on of this great work of his As first he declares himselfe by way of a Law In the day thou eatest thou shalt die now this Law though it was holy just and good yet it was a killing word or the killing Letter for it took hold of Adams disobedience and flew him so that word Thou shalt dye because flesh for all flesh broke the Covenant in Adam and all flesh died and all humane flesh was cast under that dispensation of death and the more we stirre to climb up to God by the workes of the Law the more we intangle our selves in death for by the workes of the law no flesh shall be saved And here is two murtherers which mankind is to be delivered from before it can live again First this word of the Law which is holy just and good which ties the creature onely to acknowledge the Being of God and no other when the creature began to minde another Being this righteous Law killed him for it is not the King but the Kings Law that hangs an offender and if the rigorous Law stands still in force no flesh can be saved because every man and woman are selfish and minds a sinfull Being opposite to God therefore the condemning power of the Law is to be taken away The second murtherer is the Creatures own invention or aspiring spirit to be as God knowing good and evill or to maintain Selfe and this killed the creature and threw him under the curse of the righteous Law because this would be a Being equall with God and acknowledge another being besides God whereas there is no other righteous Being to be acknowledged but onely God or what is in God or God in it Now in the first discovery of Gods counsell and purpose to the Creature if he be redeemed this compound murtherer must be cast out of heaven by a strong hand and out-stretched arm of God so that the Being of God might be preserved the Law of God kept pure and yet fallen man redeemed As first this dispensation of death Do this and live Do not this and die must be cast out of Heaven that is out of Gods hand and God must not in the redeeming of him appeare to the creature under that dispensation for if he doe it will still hold the lost creature under death and bondage and if the creature were made pure again and left still to deale with the Law by his created strength onely as Adam was truly he would fall again for a meere created strength being distinct from God the Creator would fall again for no Being can stand pure but such a created Being as God is pleased to dwell bodily in for every opposite Being will seek to advance it selfe Therefore if God redeem his creature from death he must appeare absolutely a God of love under no other dispensation but the law of love doing all in and for the creature and thus in the Gospel he does for this is the Spirit that quickens and saves the creature and when this Word of Love was made Flesh it was the first discovery from God to assure the creature of his redemption from death and this was when Jesus Christ or God was manifested in flesh working doing suffering all things for the creature pardoning accepting and taking the creature freely into communion with God by Gods own power and for his own name sake promising never to remember disobediences any more but would blot out that hand-writing the Law of Doe and live not doe and die And now the killing letter or murderer is cast out of heaven out of Gods hand God will never have that to stand between him and his creature any more but hee himselfe who is the Law of Love even Love it selfe will dwell and rule a King of Righteousnesse in the Creature and be the Creatures wisdome strength life joy and comfort and his All in All But secondly the other murderer which is worse then this must be cast out of heaven too or else the creature cannot live and that is the Serpent or this
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
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
perfectly redeemed which River proceeded out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb take notice of that The second Dispensation for there are seven Dispensations in the whole the first I have spoken of already which was when God gave the Law to Adam as soon as hee had made him And now the second lies in that first promise or manifestation of love to the Creature and curse to the Serpent in these words The seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head and this continued from Adam till Abraham Then the third dispensation or discovery of God is more cleare then the former for to Abraham he speakes more particularly he doth not still say in generall termes The seed of the woman c. But in thy seed Abraham all nations of the earth shall be blessed and so points-out more directly in what linage and generation of mankind God would first appeare in to bruise the Serpents head and this dispensation continued from Abraham till Moses time and our Fathers embraced these promises and rejoyced in them The fourth dispensation is from Moses till God manifested himself in flesh or till Jesus Christ was born of Mary that was one of the house of David of the linage of Abraham and this dispensation is more then the former for God by types figures ceremonies and shadowes did more manifestly set forth his love to his creature and his wrath to the Serpent when the sacrifice was slain and offered God received an attonement it being a type of Gods in-dwelling in flesh or a shadow of Christ the Lamb the substance of all those sacrifices And when Achan that troubled Israel was put to death in the valley of Achor the fiercenesse of Gods wrath was turned away And I believe God doth teach us by the Prophet Hosea 2. 14. where he saith I will give the valley of Achor for a doore of hope which was the place of Achans death so when the Serpent who is our trouble is subdued and killed in the valley humane flesh then the dispensation of Gods anger is turned away from us The fifth dispensation is from the time that God was manifested in flesh in the person Jesus Christ to the time that he appeared in the flesh and person of his Saints likewise and this is more cleare then the former for Jesus the anointed was the substance of all those types and shadowes of the Mosaicall Law for now God doth manifestly appear to dwell in flesh in his creature and he hath broke the Serpents head and cast him out of heaven his creation and now this Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world that is destroyes the Serpent who is the sin that dwells in mankind for now the life of God doth visibly appear to swallow up the death of the creature and a manifest beginning to set the creature free from bondage and this dispensation of God was spoke of by the Prophets very often before it appeared that a Child should be borne a Virgin should have a son which should be called Emmanuel God with us and God would bring forth his branch and the Redeemer should come out of Sion that is the anointing that is in Sion the Church shall in Gods time go forth to heal the Nations likewise now God throws down the shadowes of the Law and drawes his creature to eye Jesus the anointed or God manifested in flesh and this is the appearance of visible Gospel or of God himself bringing glad tydings to men and so worthily deserving everlasting honour and praise from all creatures The sixth dispensation is from the time that God appeared in the flesh of Saints till the perfect gathering up of the Elect which is called the Resurrection day or the great day of Judgement And this is still more cleare then the former for though God appeared in the person Jesus Christ who was a branch of mankind yet we might still be in doubt and lie under death still if he there remain But God did not appeare in the man Christ Jesus only but in the Saints likewise according to his promise by Joel in the latter dayes I will power out my spirit upon all flesh upon my Sons and Daughters and young men shall see visions and old men shall dreame dreames and this was fulfilled in the Apostles for the same spirit of Christ was sent down upon them Acts 2. And I know saith Paul that I have the spirit of Christ And know ye not that the anointing dwells in you except ye be reprobates And again We saith Paul that have received the first fruits of the spirit we groane within our selves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our bodies Now the Apostles in their first preaching they preached Jesus the anointed or the Lamb or God manifested in flesh and this they saw and heard and they could not but speak in the name of Jesus and God commanded them so to do But when God had fully declared himself in that dispensation he sent forth his Apostles then to preach more spiritually and now saith Paul though formerly we have known Christ after the flesh that is God only manifested in that one man Jesus the anointed yet henceforth know we him no more in such a restraint for now the mystery of God which hath been hid from ages and generations past is now revealed to his Saints in these last dayes which is Christ or the anointing in you the hope of glory not only God manifested in the man Christ Jesus but the same anointing or tree of life in you likewise according to that of the Prophet A King shall reigne in the earth that is in mankind and his name shall be called the Lord our righteousnesse and again The anointing which ye have received abideth in you and ye need not that any teach you for the same anointing teacheth you of all things And truly I believe that whosoever preaches from his book and not from the anointing and so speaking in experience what he hath seen and heard from God is no Minister sent of God but an hireling that runs before he be sent only to get a temporall living therefore O England mind what thou dost leave off to imbrace hirelings that come in their own name and receive such in love whom Christ hath sent in his name and his Fathers And in this dispensation we are to note two things first when as John the Baptist prophesied it was neither light nor dark for it was between the legall worship that was falling and gospel truths that were rising upon the very parting of time between the shadowes of the Law of Moses and the appearance of Christ the Lamb who was the substance thereof and troubles and vexations began to arise in and among the strict professors of the Law so that they could not be satisfyed till they had killed Christ whom
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