"
In the pamphlet itself Winstanley attempts to prove that the coming
reign of Righteousness, and the overthrow of the Covetous, Self-Seeking
Power, are entirely in accordance with the prophesies of the Scriptures,
more especially with Revelation and John. In its final pages he
vehemently protests against the continued union of Church and State, or
rather against the continued upholding of the persecuting power of the
Church by the secular authorities. "The misery of the age" he attributes
to the fact that men are still striving "to uphold the usurped
Ecclesiastical Power, which God never made," and that in upholding this
they are "so mad and ignorant" as "to count Magistracie no government
unless the Beast reign cheek by chaw with it, as formerly in the days of
ignorance." This, however, he contends, should not be so, "for
Magistracie in the Commonwealth must stand, it's God's ordinance. But
this Ecclesiastical power in and over the Saints must fall." "This
Ecclesiastical power," he contends, "hath been a great troubler of
Magistracie ever since the deceived Magistracie set it up." The function
of Magistracie, "which is God's Ordinance," is "to be a terror to the
wicked, and to protect them that do well; whereas by this Ecclesiastical
power, established by deceived Magistracie, the sincere in heart that
worship God in spirit and truth, according as God hath taught them and
they understand, these are and have been troubled in Sessions, in
Courts, and punished by fine and prisons.
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