“I answer, It is true, but not as usually it is observed.  If any man can say, he can give life, then he hath the power to take away life.  But if the power of life and death be only in the hand of the Lord, then surely he is a murderer of the Creation that taketh away the life of his fellow-creature, man, by any law whatsoever....  For if I kill you, I am a murderer; if a third come to kill me for murdering you, he is a murderer of me; and so murder hath been called Justice, when it is but the curse....  Therefore, O thou proud flesh that dares hang or kill thy fellow-creatures that are equal to thee in the Creation, know this, that none hath the power of life and death but the Spirit, and that all punishments that are to be inflicted amongst creatures called men are only such as to make the offender to know his Maker, and to live in the community of the Righteous Law of Love one with the other.”

The opening epistle is addressed—­“To the Twelve Tribes of Israel that are circumcised in heart, and scattered through all the Nations of the Earth.”  In it he admonishes them to be patient, for “this New Law of Righteousness and Peace which is raising up is David your King, which you have been seeking a long time”; that “He is now coming to reign, and the isles and nations of the Earth shall all come in unto Him”; that “He will rest everywhere, for this blessing will fill all places.”  But he reminds them that “the swords and counsels of the flesh shall not be seen in this work; the arm of the Lord only shall bring these mighty things to pass in the day of His power.”  “Therefore,” he continues, “all that I can say is this—­Though the world, even the seed of the flesh, despise you, and call you by reproachful names at their pleasure, yet wait patiently upon your King; He is coming; He is rising; the Son is up, and His glory will fill the Earth.”

In the opening chapter of this pamphlet Winstanley still further elucidates his interpretation of the allegorical stories of the Creation and the Fall.  How in the beginning man was created perfect, and “the whole Creation lived in man, and man lived in his Maker.”  And how man fell from this high estate by following the promptings of self-love, covetousness, or the desires of the flesh, to which he attributes all the misery and suffering men bring upon themselves, and which he personifies as the First Adam.  “All that this Adam doth,” he says, “is to advance himself to be the one power.  He gets riches and government in his hands so that he may lift up himself and suppress the universal liberty, which is Christ.”

He then continues: