Part 4 (2/2)
As was his usual custom, Winstanley opens with a Dedicatory letter, addressed this time ”To my Beloved Friends whose Souls hunger after sincere milk,” in which he relates his experience of the insufficiency of mere traditional, or book, or imparted knowledge, in the following words:
”I myself have known nothing but what I received in tradition from the mouths and pen of others. I wors.h.i.+pped a G.o.d, but I neither knew who he was nor where he was, so that I lived in the dark, being blinded by the imagination of my flesh.... I spoke of the name of G.o.d, and Lord, and Christ, but I knew not this Lord, G.o.d, and Christ. I prayed to a G.o.d, but I knew not where he was nor what he was, and so walking by imagination I wors.h.i.+pped the devil, and called him G.o.d. By reason whereof my comforts were often shaken to pieces, and at last it was shown to me, that while I builded upon any words or writings of other men, or while I looked after a G.o.d without me, I did but build upon the sand, and as yet I knew not the Rock.”
He then admonishes his friends that, though they may not as yet be aware of it, and though they will probably be offended with him for saying so, yet that, in reality, ”this ignorant, unsettled condition is yours at this time.” However, he protests that nevertheless:
”I do not write anything as to be a teacher of you, for I know you have a teacher within yourselves (which is the Spirit) and when your flesh is made subject to him, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, so that you shall not need to run after men for instruction, for, your eyes being opened, you shall see the King of Righteousness sit upon the throne within yourselves, judging and condemning the unrighteousness of the flesh, filling your face with shame, and your soul with horror, though no man see or be acquainted with your actions or thoughts but yourselves, and justifying your righteous thoughts and actions, and leading you into all ways of truth.”
Winstanley then further explains that the Father, the Spirit of Righteousness, of Reason, pervades the whole Universe, and ”dwells in every creature, but supremely in man,” and then continues:
”Truly, Friends, the King of Righteousness within you is a meek, patient, and quiet spirit, and full of love and sincerity.... And when you come to know, feel, and see that the Spirit of Righteousness governs your flesh, then you begin to know your G.o.d, to fear your G.o.d, to love your G.o.d, and to walk humbly before your G.o.d, and so to rejoice in Him. Therefore if you would have the peace of G.o.d, as you call it, you must know what G.o.d it is you serve, which is not a G.o.d without you, visible among bodies, but the Spirit within you, invisible in every body to the eye of flesh, yet discernible to the eye of the spirit. And when souls shall have communion with that spirit, then they have peace, and not till then.”
In the first chapter Winstanley emphasises the essential difference between the teachings of men and the teachings of G.o.d in the following words:
”The teachings of men and the teachings of G.o.d are much different.
The former being but the light of the moon, which s.h.i.+nes not of itself, but by the means and through the help of the sun. The latter is the light of the sun, which gives light to all, not by means and helps from others, but immediately from himself.
”Men's teachings are twofold. First, when men speak to others what they have heard or read of the Scriptures, or books of other men's writings, and have seen nothing from G.o.d Himself.... Secondly, others speak from their own experience, of what they have heard and seen from G.o.d, and of what great things G.o.d hath done for their souls.... It is very possible that a man may attain to a literal knowledge of the Scriptures, of the Prophets and Apostles, and may speak largely of the history thereof, and yet both they that speak and they that hear may be not only unacquainted with, but enemies to that Spirit of truth by which the Prophets and Apostles writ.[58:1] ”For it is not the Apostles' writings, but the spirit that dwelt in them, that did inspire their hearts, which gives life and peace to all.”
In the second chapter Winstanley consoles those whom he is specially addressing by expressing his conviction that though their enemies may think to kill all the Saints, and though G.o.d may suffer them to kill some, yet others of them will necessarily be preserved to keep alive their beliefs and to spread abroad their teachings, of the ultimate triumph of which he never seemed to doubt. However, in view of the perplexity of the times and of the dangers by which they were surrounded, he gave them the following somewhat worldly-wise advice--”For the appearance of G.o.d now is in the Saints that they wors.h.i.+p the Father in spirit and truth in such a secret manner as the eye of the world cannot and does not always see”: a practice of which, as we have already noticed, the adherents of the Family of Love were accused in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
It is, however, in the fourth and fifth chapters that Winstanley concisely and eloquently summarises the fundamental articles of his religious faith. In them he again emphatically warns his fellows against looking to others for knowledge of Divine revelations, and strongly advises them to look into their own hearts. In support of this view he quotes the Scripture text--”Light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil” (John iii.
19), which he then proceeds to explain as follows:
”The world is mankind; and every particular man and woman is a perfect creation of himself, a perfect created world. If a particular branch of mankind desire to know what the nature of other men and women are, let him not look abroad, but into his own heart, and he shall see. So that I say, man is the world, a perfect creation, from whose poisoned flesh proceeds the l.u.s.t of the eye, the l.u.s.t of the flesh, and the pride of life: these are not of the Father. Now _light is come into the world_; that is, the Spirit of Right Understanding hath taken up his dwelling in this flesh. Hence man is called a reasonable creature, which is a name given to no other creature but man, because the Spirit of Reason appears acting in him, which if men did submit themselves unto, they would act righteously continually: and so man would become lord of all other creatures in righteousness.... But the masculine powers of the poisoned flesh stand it out against the King of Glory till He cast them into the lake of fire, into His own spirit, by which they are tried, and, being found but chaff and not able to endure, are burned and consumed to nothing in the flame.”
”No man or woman, however, need be troubled at this,” Winstanley contends, ”for let every man cleanse himself of these wicked powers that rule in him, and there speedily will be a harmony of love in the great creation, even among all creatures. Therefore let no man look without himself, and say, other men will not obey this light that is come into mankind; but let him look into his own heart, and he shall find that the powers in his heart are those very men of the world that will not submit to that Light of Reason that is come into it.”[60:1]
Winstanley then proceeds to explain his conception of the resurrection of Christ, as follows:
”Friends, do not mistake the resurrection of Christ. You expect that he shall come in one single person, as he did when he came to suffer and die, and thereby to answer the types of Moses' Law. Let me tell you that if you look for him under the notion of one single man after the flesh, to be your Saviour, you shall never, never taste salvation by him.... If you expect or look for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you must know that the Spirit within the flesh is the Jesus Christ, and you must see, feel, and know from himself his own resurrection within you, if you expect life and peace by him. For he is the Life of the World, that is, of every particular son and daughter of the Father ... for everyone hath the Light of the Father within himself, which is the mighty man Christ Jesus. And he is now rising and spreading himself in these his sons and daughters, and so rising from one to many persons till he enlighten the whole creation (mankind) in every branch of it, and cover this earth with knowledge as the waters cover the sea.... And this is to be saved by Jesus Christ; for that mighty man of spirit hath taken up his habitation within your body; and your body is his body, and now his spirit is your spirit, and so you are become one with him and with the Father. This is the faith of Christ, when your flesh is subject to the Spirit of Righteousness, as the flesh of Christ was subject. And this is to believe in Christ, when the actings and breathings of your soul are within the centre of the same spirit in which the man Jesus Christ lived, acted, and breathed.”
In accordance with this profound, philosophic, and truly spiritual view, Winstanley found it inc.u.mbent upon him to warn his fellows against another generally held belief, as follows:
”So that you do not look for a G.o.d 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...o...b.. 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 G.o.d, Christ, Scripture, and the Ordinances of G.o.d. 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 t.i.tle--_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 ”the very men that do deny G.o.d, Scriptures, and the Ordinances of G.o.d; and that turn the truths of the Spirit into a lie, by leaving the letter, and walking in their own inferences”; and also ”by holding forth spiritual things by the imagination of the flesh, and not by the law and testimony of the Spirit within.” And he contends that, in truth, he and his fellows are ”those men that do advance G.o.d, Christ, Scriptures, and Ordinances in the spirituality of them.”
In the opening chapter of the book itself, Winstanley, with more than his usual directness, plunges into the heart of his subject in the following suggestive words:
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