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
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
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
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
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
that Israel of old were trampled upon by the Gentiles that were not in covenant And hence it is that the Beast must tread the holy City under foot 42 moneths That in the day of judgement it may be said that the Serpent had faire play given him hee had all advantages he had a long time given him to ingage warre I but God did beat him with his own weapons and encounters with all the temptations malice and hypocrisie of the Serpent by the faith and patience of his Saints and thereby fairly destroyes him himselfe may be judge But in the latter dayes when the time times and halfe drawes to an end then God sends forth severall dispensations or Angels as assistances to this sixth and great Dispensation to poure out Vials of wrath upon all the glory of the Beast and curses all his glory by seven degrees and sounds forth seven Trumpets of glory to God one after another which implies perfection of ruine upon every particular blasting cursing or downfall of the Beast And when these dayes appeare then the rage of the Serpent increases because his time growes short and his violence wrath reproach oppression provocations and murders against the Saints are multiplied and times grow very bad for now iniquiry abounds and the love of many in whom the Serpent dwels waxes cold and extreamly bitter and mad against the Saints in whom the anointing dwells so that they gnash their tongues with vexation of spirit and the smoak of their torment ascends upwards towards God and his Saints that are above not so much downward to such like themselves and that for ever and ever By the doubling of this word ever and ever he declares that this misery continues untill the sixth Dispensation be ended that is the one for ever and all the time of the great day of judgement that is the second for ever and so they have no rest day nor night who worship the Beast and his Image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name here is the patience of the Saints here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus for truly the faith and patience of the Saints are tried to some purpose while the Beast thus rages and swels with malice against them And I beleeve it will appeare more generally visible in time to me it appears very plain that the great bitternesse envy reproachfull languages and expressions of malicious wrath in and among men and women in these dayes against others whom they brand Sectaries by severall names will prove part of the smoak of her torment and part of the restlesnesse of her Spirit day and night which is the beginning of her sorrowes for this is the raging Sea that casts out its own shame and men in whom the Serpent dwels speak evill of that they know not Now all the time of this sixth Dispensation God is declaring his great power in pulling what fire-brands he will out of the Serpents hand and he will take here one and there one as he pleases himself And let the Serpent put forth all his wit and power he shall not hinder the salvation of one man or woman whom God hath chosen and purposes to deliver from his bondage but he will save under every dispensation whom he will and bring them into Sion Neither shall the Serpent nor any of his seed ever attain communion with God by all his wit learning study actings and power but he shall perish and all creatures in whom the Serpent reignes and acts shall be lost and ashamed in their work yet every man shall be saved in the end yet so as by fire And here mind two things First God is honoured in the salvation of beleevers because he hath undertaken to pull them out of the Serpents hand and to bind that strong man and to bring in the Citie to himselfe and to appeare in them first therefore it is said That judgement begins at the House of God first that is God judges condemnes and casts the Serpent out of his elect and saves the whole and every member of that Citie before he judge condemne and cast the Serpent out of them that did not enter into the City but were without because their names were not written in that Lambs Book of life Now for God to save some at one houre and some at another both when he will and whom he will and those scattered sheep of the House of Israel whom God hath chosen these shall enter into the Citie though all the wit and power of the Serpent strive to hinder them from entring And those whom God hath not chosen shall not enter into the Citie though all the learning study and selfish and meritorious actings of the Serpent strive to enter in never so much It makes much for the honour of his Wisdome Power and Name Secondly God is honoured in the losse death or as the word is interpreted damnation of unbeleevers for faith or the anointing which is born of God and whereby the Saints overcome the World is the power of God dwelling and ruling in Man And unbeliefe is the Serpent which is born of the flesh and persecutes Christ till the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled and this power of darknesse is that which dwels and rules in the children of disobedience Now both these are grinding at the Mill and are at work for life in humane flesh and it advances the glory of God That they shall live in whom his Divine power dwels though they be full of weaknesse in themselves and though they be compassed about with divers temptations being despised of all and regarded of none but are the weak the poore the foolish things of the world And it makes for the glory of God that unbeleevers in whom the power of the Serpent dwels shall die though they have all advantages and means outward as may be and though they strive much by learning study actings as Israel of old did who attained not to righteousnesse though he sought after it greatly because he sought for it as it were by the workes of the Law and not by faith that is he sought for it in the strength of the Serpent or selfishnesse but not in the strength of God Well this sixth Dispensation is the gathering time wherein God summes up the whole number of his elect and as every beleever hath fought his fight kept the faith and finished his course they return to dust and the unbeleever he returns to dust for as the one dies so dies the other and as in this world all things come alike to all we cannot tell either love or hatred by any thing that happens in this life and both return to dust alike as if there were no other reckoning to be made of either And so from Adams time til the whole number of the elect be taken up to God out of every nation kindred tongue and people out