Opening the text

The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth: As Revealed in the Writings of Gerrard Winstanley, the Digger, Mystic and Rationalist, Communist and Social ReformerBerens, Lewis Henry

History

The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth: As Revealed in the Writings of Gerrard Winstanley, the Digger, Mystic and Rationalist, Communist and Social Reformer

Name: The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth: As Revealed in the Writings of Gerrard Winstanley, the Digger, Mystic and Rationalist, Communist and Social Reformer
Author: Berens, Lewis Henry

Berens, Lewis Henry

Communism; Land use; Winstanley, Gerrard, 1609-

"Now, Sirs, wheresoever we spy out Kingly Power, no man I hope
     shall be troubled to declare it, nor afraid to cast it out, having
     both Act of Parliament, the Soldier's Oath, and the Common People's
     Consent on his side. For Kingly Power is like a great spread tree;
     if you lop the head or top bough and let the other branches and
     root stand, it will grow again and recover fresher strength.

     "If any ask me, what Kingly Power is? I answer, there is a twofold
     Kingly Power. The one is the Kingly Power of Righteousness, and
     this is the power of the Almighty God, ruling the whole Creation in
     Peace, and keeping it together. And this is the Power of Universal
     Love, leading people unto all truth, teaching everyone to do as he
     would be done unto.... But the other Kingly Power is the power of
     Unrighteousness.... This Kingly Power is the Power of Self Love,
     ruling in one or in many men over others, and enslaving those who
     in the Creation are their equals; nay, who are in the strictness of
     equity rather their masters. And this Kingly Power is usually set
     in the Chair of Government, under the name of Prerogative, when he
     rules in one over another; and in the name of State Privilege of
     Parliament, when he rules in many over others.... While this Kingly
     Power ruled in a man called Charles, all sorts of people complained
     of oppression, both Gentry and Common People, because their lands,
     enclosures and copyholds were entangled, and because their Trade
     was destroyed by Monopolising Patentees, and your troubles were
     that you could not live free from oppression in the earth.
     Thereupon you that were the Gentry, when you were assembled in
     Parliament, you called upon the Common People to come and help you
     to cast out oppression: and you that complained are helped and
     freed, and that top-bough is lopped off the Tree of Tyranny, and
     Kingly Power in that one particular is cast out. But, alas!
     oppression is a great tree still, and keeps off the Sun of Freedom
     from the poor Commons still. He hath many branches and great roots
     which must be grubbed up, before everyone can sing Zion's song in
     peace."

After again praising the two Acts of Parliament--"the one to cast out
Kingly Power; the other to make England a free Common-wealth"--and
detailing his grievances against the Tything Priests and Lords of
Manors, he continues:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth: As Revealed in the Writings of Gerrard Winstanley, the Digger, Mystic and Rationalist, Communist and Social ReformerBerens, Lewis Henry

History

The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth: As Revealed in the Writings of Gerrard Winstanley, the Digger, Mystic and Rationalist, Communist and Social Reformer

Berens, Lewis Henry

Communism; Land use; Winstanley, Gerrard, 1609-

"Now, Sirs, wheresoever we spy out Kingly Power, no man I hope
     shall be troubled to declare it, nor afraid to cast it out, having
     both Act of Parliament, the Soldier's Oath, and the Common People's
     Consent on his side. For Kingly Power is like a great spread tree;
     if you lop the head or top bough and let the other branches and
     root stand, it will grow again and recover fresher strength.

     "If any ask me, what Kingly Power is? I answer, there is a twofold
     Kingly Power. The one is the Kingly Power of Righteousness, and
     this is the power of the Almighty God, ruling the whole Creation in
     Peace, and keeping it together. And this is the Power of Universal
     Love, leading people unto all truth, teaching everyone to do as he
     would be done unto.... But the other Kingly Power is the power of
     Unrighteousness.... This Kingly Power is the Power of Self Love,
     ruling in one or in many men over others, and enslaving those who
     in the Creation are their equals; nay, who are in the strictness of
     equity rather their masters. And this Kingly Power is usually set
     in the Chair of Government, under the name of Prerogative, when he
     rules in one over another; and in the name of State Privilege of
     Parliament, when he rules in many over others.... While this Kingly
     Power ruled in a man called Charles, all sorts of people complained
     of oppression, both Gentry and Common People, because their lands,
     enclosures and copyholds were entangled, and because their Trade
     was destroyed by Monopolising Patentees, and your troubles were
     that you could not live free from oppression in the earth.
     Thereupon you that were the Gentry, when you were assembled in
     Parliament, you called upon the Common People to come and help you
     to cast out oppression: and you that complained are helped and
     freed, and that top-bough is lopped off the Tree of Tyranny, and
     Kingly Power in that one particular is cast out. But, alas!
     oppression is a great tree still, and keeps off the Sun of Freedom
     from the poor Commons still. He hath many branches and great roots
     which must be grubbed up, before everyone can sing Zion's song in
     peace."

After again praising the two Acts of Parliament--"the one to cast out
Kingly Power; the other to make England a free Common-wealth"--and
detailing his grievances against the Tything Priests and Lords of
Manors, he continues:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth: As Revealed in the Writings of Gerrard Winstanley, the Digger, Mystic and Rationalist, Communist and Social Reformer

The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth: As Revealed in the Writings of Gerrard Winstanley, the Digger, Mystic and Rationalist, Communist and Social Reformer

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