onder at it, and it may be despise me in
your hearts ... but know that God's works are not like men's; He does
not always take the wise, the learned, the rich of the world to manifest
Himself in, and through them to others, but He chooses the despised, the
unlearned, the poor, the nothings of the world, and fills them with the
good tidings of Himself, whereas He sends the others empty away." He
further apprehends that his view, that "the curse that was declared to
Adam was temporary," and that ultimately the curse shall be removed off
the whole Creation, and the whole of mankind shall be saved, will not
be favourably received by those whom he is specially addressing. But he
avows it a necessary truth, and concludes his appeal by saying that
since the pamphlet was written he had met with "more Scripture to
confirm it, so that it is not a spirit of private fancy, but it is
agreeable to the Written Word."

The pamphlet opens with Winstanley's interpretation of the story of the
fall of Adam, the outline of which we have already given. Subsequently
he describes his own experiences: how he lay under bondage to the
serpent self-love, and saw not his bondage; how God had manifested His
love to him by causing him to see that the things in which he did take
pleasure were, in truth, his death and his shame. He again repeats his
contention that in due time God will not lose any of His work, but
redeem "His own whole Creation to Himself." Though this, he holds, will
not be done all at once, but in several dispensations, "some whereof are
passed, some in being, and some yet to come." He quotes largely from the
Scriptures, more especially from Revelation, in support of this view;
and argues most vehemently against the objection that if this were true,
if eventually all will be saved, then men need not trouble about their
own individual salvation. He also protests against the doctrine of an
everlasting Hell, as unconfirmed by the Holy Scriptures, as destructive
of God's work, and as incompatible with His great goodness.

The prevalence of the belief in dispensations, past, present, and
future, may be gathered from the following extract from one of
Cromwell's speeches to the Army Council, November 1st, 1647: "Truly, as
Lieut. Col. Goffe said, God hath in several ages used several
dispensations, and yet some dispensations more eminently in one age than
another. I am one of those whose heart God hath drawn out to wait for
some extraordin