[65:1] See Barclay’s Apology (Concerning Baptism), p. 7.

[65:2] “All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit, which is limited neither to places, times, nor persons.  For though we be to worship him always, in that we are to fear before him; yet as to the outward signification thereof in prayers, praises, or preachings, we ought not to do it where and when we will, but where and when we are moved by the secret inspiration of his Spirit in our hearts, which God heareth and accepteth of, and is never wanting to move us thereunto when need is, of which he himself is the alone proper judge.”—­Barclay’s Apology (Concerning Worship), p. 6.

CHAPTER VII

THE NEW LAW OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

“The great Lawgiver in Commonwealth’s Government is the Spirit of Universal Righteousness dwelling in mankind, now rising up to teach everyone to do to another as he would have another do to him....  If any goes about to build up Commonwealth’s Government upon Kingly principles, they will both shame and loose themselves:  for there is a plain difference between the two Governments.”—­WINSTANLEY, The Law of Freedom.

On January 26th, 1648 (1649), four days prior to the execution of Charles the First, the very day the King’s death-warrant lay at the Painted Chamber, Westminster, awaiting the signatures of some of the less resolute among his judges, Winstanley sat down to write the opening epistle of the pamphlet we have now to make known to our readers.[68:1] They were stirring and momentous times, of which, as it seems to us, this pamphlet is in every way worthy.  It reveals a most momentous step in the development of Winstanley’s mind; for in it we see him move from the misty regions of cosmological, metaphysical, and theistical speculations to the somewhat firmer ground of social thought.  From the time of its publication, Winstanley leaves the former almost untouched, concentrates his mind almost exclusively on the latter, pleads eloquently for the recognition of natural law in the social, or political world, and steps boldly forward to a life of action, animated and inspired by the conclusions concerning the necessary foundations of a social state based upon righteousness that his previous reflections and meditations, or the Inward Light to which he unhesitatingly submitted himself, had revealed unto him.

The only indication that Winstanley was in any way influenced by the exciting discussions which under the circumstances must have raged everywhere around him, is to be found in his condemnation of Capital Punishment, which may here find a fitting place.  In accordance with his favourite method, he summarises his views in answer to a hypothetical question, as follows: 

     “But is not this the old rule, He that sheds man’s blood by man
     shall his blood be shed?