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
day of Judgement is Though lost man drink the top yet the Serpent shall drink the dregs of Gods judgment before the Son can deliver up the Kingdom to the Father What the first and second death is or the first resurrection and second death What the Bookes are that must be opened at the great day of judgement God hath been judging the Serpent since Adams fall and will still sit upon the Throne till the last day be finished yet all but one day of judgment God hates none but the Serpent and his seed hee loves every branch of mankinde and in his owne seasons wil manifest his love to every one though to some at the ninth some at the tenth and some at the last houre God hath given a time times and halfe time to the Serpent now in the latter dayes to reigne in these How the Serpent under the names of Beast Whore and false Prophet makes use of that time God hath given him The bitternesse that is in mens spirits in these dayes is the smoak of the Serpents torment the restlesnesse of that wicked one day and night and beginning of his sorrowes Three scruples against this mystery of God answered A seasonable advice in the close The Mystery of GOD concerning the whole Creation MANKINDE What mankinde is was ana shall be WHen God had made Adam there was then two Beings distinct the one from the other that is God himselfe that was an uncreated Being and the Humane Nature that was a created Being And though Adam was pure and spotlesse yet he had no other wisdome beauty and power but what God had created God himself who is the infinite endless Being did not dwell bodily in Adam as he did dwell bodily in the Humane Nature Jesus Christ the second Adam in after-times but a pure created wisdome beauty and power did rule dwell and act in that created Humanity And after God had made Adam he put him into a Garden called Eden which was full of Trees Hearbs Creatures for pleasure and delight that he should dresse it and live contentedly in the use of all things therein which indeed is the History to the creatures capacity Yet thereby God declares That Adam himselfe or that living flesh mankinde is a Garden which God hath made for his own delight to dwell and walk in wherein he had planted variety of Hearbs pleasant Plants as love joy peace humility knowledge obedience delight and purity of life But all these being created qualities and a Being distinct from the Being of God God knew and saw that there would spring up as a weed and the first fruits of it likewise an inclinable principle or spirit of self-love aspiring up in the midst of this created living Garden and in the midst of every plant therein which is indeed aspiring to be as God or to be a Being of it selfe equall to and yet distinct from God as we see by visible experience in every creature as Horses Cowes Beares and the like there appeares an inclinable disposition to promote it selfe or its own Being But this is but the fruit or invention of the creature after he was made God did not make it Now as the purest water being let stand does in time putrifie so I say God knew that the first fruit that this created Being would bring forth would be an aspiring desire to be equall or like to God himselfe which if the creature delighted in and so ate or satisfied himselfe in his own fruit he should die but if he forsook his own invention and stuck close to God acknowledgeing his Being to be his life and all in all then he should live Therefore God made it under a law that the creature might know himselfe to be a creature and acknowledge God his maker to be above to whose command he was to subject himselfe for when God had made him a pure living creature very good and a being distinct from the being of God yet in the image of God like two trees from whence fruit should grow for Adam would bring forth fruit to maintain his created being equall with God and God would bring forth fruit to maintain his uncreated being and to swallow up all other beings into himself and he to become all in all to every Creature that he made Now saith God I have made thee the Lord of all my Creatures and for thy use I made them and thou mayest make use of any that pleases thine eyes and eat of the fruit of any tree that delights thy taste excepting the tree of knowledge of good and evill that stands in the middle of the Garden and of that thou shalt not eat for in that day that thou eatest thereof thou shall die the death And this is the Law or Covenant that I have made between me that am a Being of my selfe and thee that art a Being created by me Now when Adam had taken of the tree of knowledge of good and evill that was in the Garden of Eden the History and did eat of it It declares that he did eat likewise and especially of the forbidden fruit that aspired up in himself the living Garden of Eden the mystery and gave way with content and delight to that aspiring selfishnesse within himselfe to be as God knowing good and evill for eating implies delight and satisfaction for Adam did not onely eat of the tree in Edens Garden but he had a secret tickling delight arising in him to be a more knowing man then God made him and thereby began to reject God and not being content with the Being God made him in which if hee had been content with he had acknowledged God all in all and the onely infinite and one Being that shall stand unmoveable But he eats delights in that aspiring Weed or Mystery of Iniquity for himselfe to have a Being above equall to or distinct from God So that the ground of Adams fall arises up first in Adams heart as fruit growing up from a created Being for in that it was in his heart to doe evill God imputes it to him for evill Well this selfishnesse in the midle of the living garden Adam is the forbidden fruit and this is called the Serpent because it windes it selfe into every creature and into every created faculty and twists it self round about the Tree Mankind And when Adam put forth his hand to take and eat of the fruit of the Tree in the History his hand was guided thereunto by this Serpent whose secret whisperings he delighted in And truly this delight in selfe was the eating and it was the chiefe forbidden fruit that grew up in the middle of the living garden Adam which God forbad him to eat of or delight in But Adam did begin to delight in that inward fruit of wickednesse and then by the motion thereof took the fruit of the Tree in the middle of Eden and delighted his outward
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
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
they called the man full of errors that deceived the people So now the Church is at a stand and the worship is partly light and partly dark some resting upon the bare letter according to the example of Christ and the Apostles only which is a worship after the flesh and was true and was of God in the time of its dispensation And others do acknowledg God not exemplarily but by the faith the name and anointing of Jesus Christ ruling teaching acting and dwelling in them therefore think it not strange though some old professors and the book-hirelings especially be offended hereat and brand the Saints for men full of errors and seeke to suppresse their testimony it was so then it will be so now for the same spirit of the world the Serpent does still persecute the same anointing of God in this as in the former dispensation but you Saints of God be patient waite upon God this troubled sea the Serpent shall not over-whelm you for stronger is he that is in you then he that is in the world rejoyce the time of your redemption drawes neere And againe think it not strange to see many of the Saints of God at a stand in a wildernes at a losse and so waiting upon God to discover himself to them many are like the tide at full Sea which stands a little before the water runs either way and assure your selves I know what I speak you must be dead to your customes before you can run in the Sea of truth or the River of the water of life some walk still according to example and have either seene nothing or very little of the anointing in them and some walk more in spirit and truth as the same anointing of the Father which dwells bodily in Christ teacheth them and leadeth them into all truth The same anointing unites Christ and the Saints and makes them but one mysticall body I pray not for these alone saith Christ but for all that shall believe through their word that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one that is in thee who art the only pure and holy being Secondly not that under this dispensation is the time that the elect which is so much spoken of in the Scriptures are to be gathered into one City and perfected and this anointing is the Angell which God hath sent forth in these last dayes to gather together his elect from one end of heaven to the other or out of every nation kindred tongue people in the earth And where it is said that God will send forth not his Angel but his Angels to gather his elect together it points out the severall measures or dispensations of the anointing to every Saint as God will according to the measure of the guift of Christ Now sometime God calls his elect by the name of one in the singular number and hereby God declares his first born Jesus Christ who is the head in the name of the whole body As the Prophet writes behold my Servant whom I have chosen mine elect in whom my soule delighteth God hath not chosen the Serpent or creature-invention to dwel in flesh for this he hath rejected and takes no delight in But he hath chosen the anointing or his own power and name to dwell in flesh and this he delights in therefore Jesus the anointed is called the Son of God in whom he is well pleased And sometimes God calls his elect in the plurall number as many and then he declares the mysticall body or the City Sion or those that he hath given to Christ and whose names are written in the Lambs book And in this 6. generall dispensation these only shall be gathered into the City and whosoever is not writ in the Lambs book of life shall not enter in at this time and season of the Father though there is a time and season known to the Father when they shall be healed likewise and enter in and eat of the heavenly Manna the tree of life that is in the middle of the City Now this City Sion which consists of head and members Jesus Christ and his Saints who are all baptized into and knit together by one spirit of God the anointing And this City God will redeeme first or he will subdue the Serpent under the feet of this his Son first All that do his Commandements that is have faith and love these shall enter into the City but the fearfull and unbeleevers murderers Idolaters and every one that loveth and maketh a lie are without and are cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death or the death of the Serpent and the Serpent ruling in man is the first death which God redeemes us from All those that were not found writ in the Lambs book of life were cast into the lake of fire Or as Mathew calls it into everlasting fire Or as Matthew calls it into everlasting fire and shall lie under that dispensation of wrath for ever that is all the time of this dispensation or till the day of judgement be ended that the Serpent Death and Hell are cast into the Lake of fire and that there shall no more curse lie upon the Creature but from the judgement seat or Throne of God the whole Creation being redeemed shall flow forth a pure River of the water of life for every Dispensation is called a full period or tearme of time and an everlasting season All this time that God is gathering together his elect he hath given a time times and halfe time to the Serpent Which in those threefold shapes and a halfe or in those three dayes and halfe he is called the Beast or the Whore and this time is given him to make warre and to fight against the Prince of Princes and his Saints and to overcome them and to waste and destroy the holy people mightily And this appointed time is the yeare wherein the Beast lives and God gives all advantages to the Beast as riches outward liberty worldly power and generally humane Authority into his hand And puts no weapons into the hands of his Saints but faith or the anointing to fight against the reproaches slanders oppressions poverties weaknesse prisons and the multitude of temptations which the Beast through her wit malice and power casts upon the Saints like a flood of water to drowne them And to overthrow the work of God by great hand if it were possible Likewise the Serpent stirs up some whom she deceives to be seeming professors outwardly religious having a form of godlinesse but through hypocrisie pride and selfishnesse might dishonour God discourage the tender Lambs of Christ and bring an ill report upon the wayes of God And hence it is
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