“So that you do not look for a God now, as formerly you did, to be a place of glory beyond the sun, moon, and stars, nor imagine a Divine Being you know not where; but you see Him ruling within you; and not only in you, but you see and know Him to be the Spirit or Power that dwells in every man and woman, yea, in every creature, according to his orb, within the globe of the Creation.  So that now you see and feel and taste the sweetness of the Spirit ruling in your flesh, who is the Lord and King of Glory in the whole Creation, and you have community with Him who is the Father of all things.  Now you are enlightened; now you are saved, and rise higher and higher into life and peace, as this manifestation of the Father increases and spreads within you."[61:1]

As was only to be expected, the publication of the above pamphlets brought Winstanley into disrepute with the orthodox Ministers of the Church, who accused him of denying God, Christ, Scripture, and the Ordinances of God.  This accusation gave rise to Winstanley’s next pamphlet, of some 77 well-printed duodecimo pages, the preface to which is dated October 16th, 1648, and which bears the significant title—­Truth lifting its Head above Scandals.[62:1] In this volume Winstanley indignantly denies such a charge, and makes use of the opportunity to restate his views even more clearly than he had previously done.  The book opens with a dedicatory letter addressed “To the Scholars of Oxford and Cambridge, and to all that call themselves Ministers of the Gospel in City or Country,” in which he carries the war into his enemy’s camp in a forcible and masterly manner.  He reminds them that they are not the only ones who have the right to judge of the meaning of the Scriptures, “For the people, having the Scriptures, may judge by them as well as you.”  He then continues: 

“If you say, ’No, the people cannot judge, because they know not the original:’  I answer, Neither do you know the original.  Though by your learning you may be able to translate a writing out of Hebrew or Greek into our mother-tongue, English, but to say this is the original Scripture you cannot:  for those very copies which the Prophets and Apostles writ are not to be seen in your Universities.”

He forces home his argument in the following words: 

“You say you have the just copies of their writings.  You do not know that but as your Fathers have told you, which may be as well false as true, if you have no other better ground than tradition.  You say that the interpretation of Scripture into our mother tongue is according to the mind of the spirit.  You cannot tell that neither, unless you are able to say that those who did interpret those writings have had the same testimony of spirit as the pen-men of Scripture had.  For it is the spirit within that must prove these copies to be true.”

He then turns the tables by accusing them of being