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
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
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
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