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
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
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
altar and cryed in the same manner to him that had the sickle as you may read By a white cloud I conceive is meant the City Sion or spouse of Christ that is arayed in pure and white in whom there is no spot for she is perfectly redeemed by him that sate upō this white cloud is ment the whole anointing or the great manifestation of God in one person Jesus Christ And the severall Angels that cryed one after another are severall dispensations or discoveries of God that proceed from Christ at several times and seasons Therefore the City being made white now the manifestations of Gods love begin to appeare towards the earth or nations which entred not into the City now the time and season requires that the sickle of Christ should be thrust into the earth that is that the brightness of Jesus Christ the Lamb might appear and shine forth upon the Nations also as it did shine upon the City And we see the conclusion in the 20. verse And the wine-presse was troden without the City mind that and blood came out of the wine-presse even unto the horse bridles c. This phrase I conceive points out the utter ruine and destruction of the Serpent that held the earth or Nations which were without the City in bondage But now the anointing or the great dispensation of the love of God hath reaped the earth as well as the City and destroyed the Serpent there as well as in the City the wine-presse or the bruising of the Serpents head and shedding his blood was without the City and so both City and Country City and whole earth of mankind is made a pure River of the water of life which proceeds from the throne of God and the Lamb But here arise 3. scruples First is not God changeable saith one In saying go ye cursed into everlasting fire and yet afterwards takes them out againe I answer this fire is the dispensation of Gods wrath and it is everlasting without end to the Serpent it was prepared for him and his Angels and though God bid the unbeleevers depart into it yet he did not say you shall lie there and never be redeemed But the scruple lies in the word everlasting which I as well as you have taken it to be a misery without end to the creature But I answer that in scripture phrase every dispensation of God was called an everlasting time as in the day of Moses every service in the Temple that Aaron was to perform God said it should be a Statute and a Law for ever which notwithstanding ended to be a Law in the beginning of the next dispensation or the appearance of Christ in the flesh and so though God send unbelievers to lie under the dispensation of his wrath and call it everlasting fire it is but for the time of his dispensation while he is finishing City work and judging and rewarding every man that is the Serpent and the anointing according to their works and after this comes in their healing time and season and these times and seasons the Father hath reserved to himself the Son knowes them not A second scruple is this Shall a man be ever delivered out of hell out of hell saith some there is no redemption I answer first that there is no Scripture as saith out of hell there is no redemption therefore the scruple is raised upon it without ground indeed the Prophet speaking how that the living praise God and the dead cannot hath these words in preferring life before death The grave cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate thee they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth But secondly to answer more directly let us consider what hell is and then whether any shall be delivered out that is there Hell is called death or a condition below life and this is twofold either a death of purity far below the nature of God or a death of sorrows which is a condition far below the comfort and joyes of God Now every man and woman as they are branches of Adam have no purity in them and therefore are in a hell far below the life and nature of God and likewise they are unavoidably subject to the sorrowes of that death as an effect following the cause therefore unavoidably subject to a condition far below the comfort and joyes of God This is the condition of every man and woman and they have no power for to deliver themselves for God only is our Redeemer And then it followes that a man may be in hell and yet may be delivered out for as in all this discourse past it appeares that as we spring from Adam we do all lie under the bondage and death and power of the Serpent which is one part of hell and yet God delivers his elect from out of it and therefore it followes cleare that if men are capable of so much mercy being Gods creatures as to be delivered from sin and death which is one part of hell or of a condition below God they are capable to be delivered through the mercy of the same God from the sorrowes and paines that follow sin both which are but the bondage of the Serpent which God will deliver his creature from this twofold death is the Serpents head which God will bruise A third scruple is concerning the day of Judgement Some think it is but one single day of twenty foure houres long nay some make it lesse but the length of the twinkling of an eye because the interpretation of Scripture runs thus That in the twinkling of an eye at the sound of the last Trumpet the Dead shall be raised up to judgement But to answer this phrase Twinkling of an eye it onely shewes that the day of judgement is very short in comparison of the dayes by-past like that in Rev. 8. 1. And there was silence in Heaven for the space of half an houre which is not a direct halfe houre according as men account but it declares a very short time Therefore I conceive this is not a single day of 24. houres but a longer time while the Judge sits upon the judgement seat judgeing the Serpent so long time it is called a day of judgement because that is the work of this day or tearm of time or the full length of that dispensation as formerly it was called the Day of Moses which was the time while that dispensation of the Law continued in force whereof Moses was the Mediator and so Abraham desired to see my Day saith Christ and saw it that is the day and time that Christ reignes as King in the power and law of Love in and over the Saints and this Paul calls the Day of Christs rest And this in the truth of it is that which we call the Sabbath Day or Day of a Christians rest and it is not one day in seaven still typicall as the Jewish Sabbath was but it is the
constant reign of Christ in and over the Saints which is their rest and which indeed is the substance of the Jewish typicall Sabbath as David saith Let the earth rejoyce the LORD reignes And a King shall reigne in the earth saith Jeremy and his name shall bee called The LORD our Righteousnesse Now Christ or the Anointing doth not reigne one single day in the seaven in his Saints but every day constantly which is the substance of the Jewish single Sabbath therefore I wish that the Gentile-Christians could understand that what the Jewes did in the type these are to perform in the substance and it is not for the Gentiles to worship in Types as did the Jewes Again the time of the indignation or while God suffers the Beast to reigne is called The Day of the Beast and God hath given her three Dayes and a halfe to tread the holy Citie under foot or the space of 42 moneths which is three shapes three discoveries of the reigne of the Beast or three degrees and half of the Serpents reformation from bad to worse from open prophanenesse to close hypocrisie and not the single dayes of a week And so here it is called the Day of Judgement from the work and businesse of the day or full length of that Dispensation so that the great and generall day of judgment from the time that the bodies of beleevers and unbelievers are raised out of the grave till the Son deliver up the Kingdome to the Father I beleeve is a long time of divers yeares the full length or shortnesse of it God onely knowes and reserves the time and season of that secret to himselfe but it is called the day of judgement while the worke of judgement lasts as in our language it is called the Day of Assizes though the Sessions or businesse continue divers dayes Now all this day the condemned creatures lie under the dispensation of wrath under the curse and under weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth for anguish and this Hell Sorrow or Punishment or Death is everlasting because it continues the full time of the dispensation the worm never dies all the time the fire and sense of wrath shall never goe out all the time the fire of lust shall still be burning and the smoak of blasphemy shall ascend upward and they shal have no rest day nor night and the fire of Gods wrath shal still be scorching and consuming which shall be an intollerable pain to the creature Therefore if any man or woman take liberty to sin let them know this is a truth they shall be condemned and die and depart into everlasting fire and punished in that Hell lie under the dispensation of wrath and lie at Gods mercy for delivery so that those that will not now wait upon God in his time of long-suffering or in the dispensation of his patience they shal wait upon God whether they will or no in the dispensation of wrath in sorrow which is intollerable which is the second death The first death I conceive and I clearly see a truth in it is Adams death or Adams bondage to the Serpent the second death is the Serpents death after God hath judged him which is to lie under the wrath of God without end Now he that hath part in the first resurrection that is to be delivered from the bondage of the Serpent and raised up from the death of sin and so made alive to God through the Anointing over such a man the second Death or the endlesse dispensation of wrath which is prepared for the Serpent shall have no power But if a man have not part in the first resurrection and so enter not into the City new Jerusalem he shall then tast of the second Death which is the everlasting fire prepared for the Serpent his seed and it shal have power over him and he shall lie under it for ever that is till the dispensation change or till the mystery of God be finished that the Serpent Death and Hell is subdued and cast into the Lake and the whole Creation be set free and the Son deliuer up the Kingdome to the Father and God become all in all as at the beginning he was before any opposite power appeared against him But doth not God sit upon the Throne of judgement before this great day of Judgement appear Yes God the Lamb have sate upon the judgement seat or Throne ever since Adam delighted in his own fruit or consented to the Serpent and God hath been judging the Serpent and bruising his head in every dispensation of his ever since that time and casting the Serpent that strong Man out of his Elect. And by the powring out of the seven Vials and the sounding of the seven Trumpets declares how God hath been subduing the Beast the Whore and the false Prophet which hath been the severall appearances of the Serpent under those names by which he hath made warre with Christ and his Saints so that God hath been about this work of judging the Serpent long before this day of judgment came Then it seemes God hath two judgement dayes No it is all one for from Adams time till the Son deliver up the Kingdome to the Father God hath sate upon the Throne judging the serpent but it pleased God so to establish his counsell that he would not finish this mystery in a short time but in severall degrees of times and seasons which he hath reserued in his own power And this great and last day is the conclusion of this work that the serpent shall be subdued under the feet of the whole Creation and be destroyed everlastingly as it is written Judgement begins at the House of God and if it begin at us saith Peter who are his Temple his little Flock his Royall Nation his peculiar people what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel Why truly they must come to judgement too but in the last day or in the end of time so that it is not two judgement dayes but all one day And so to wind up all I shall desire men to mind one thing That though God hath in Scripture declared seven great dispensations or discoveries of his Counsel and each one clearer then the other yet in every one of these God sends forth severall other dispensations or Angels for the carrying on of the work of that time or season which are discoveries of his glory for whatsoever comes from God is a Spirituall power not a dead work but a living As whatsoever came first from Adam it was a spiritual power as pride discontent envie and the whole body of unbeliefe which slighted the being of God and seekes to preferre a Creature-being before him This discovery of Adam was a spiritual power which is the very bondage which all creatures lie under and it is an unclean and dead power but not a living power But whatsoever comes from God