uld be so partial in his Dispensations of the Earth,
seeing our bodies cannot live upon Earth without the use of the
Earth.'

"The Elder Brother replies, 'What, will you be an Atheist, and a
factious man, will you not believe God?'

"'Yes,' saith the Younger Brother, 'if I knew God said so, I should
believe, for I desire to serve Him.'

"'Why,' saith the Elder Brother, 'this is His Word, and if you will
not believe it, you must be damned; but if you will believe it, you
will go to Heaven.'

"Well, the Younger Brother, being weak in spirit, and not having a
grounded knowledge of the Creation, nor of himself, is terrified,
and lets go his hold in the Earth, and submits himself to be a
Slave to his Brother, for fear of damnation in Hell after death,
and in hopes to get Heaven thereby after he is dead. And so his
eyes are put out, and his Reason is blinded. So that this divining
spiritual doctrine is a cheat. For while men are gazing up to
Heaven, imagining after a happiness, or fearing a Hell after they
are dead, their eyes are put out, that they see not what are their
Birth-Rights, nor what is to be done by them here on Earth while
they are living. This is the filthy Dreamer and the Cloud without
rain. And indeed the subtle Clergy do know that if they can but
charm the people by this their divining doctrine, to look after
riches, Heaven and Glory when they are dead, that then they shall
easily be the inheritors of the Earth, and have the deceived people
to be their Servants.

"For my own part," he continues, "my spirit hath waded deep to find
the bottom of this divining spiritual Doctrine; and the more I
searched, the more I was at a loss. I never came to quiet rest and
to know God in my spirit, till I came to the knowledge of the
things in this Book. And let me tell you, They who preach this
divining doctrine are the murderers of many a poor heart, who is
bashful and simple, and who cannot speak for himself, but who keeps
his thoughts to himself."

Such, then, was Winstanley's final attack on the body of teachings he,
rightly or wrongly, hated and despised as the main supporter of the
prevailing social injustice. Correct thought he realised to be the
necessary precursor of right action; and he knew that correct thought is
impossible so long as old, inh