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-

"This is your very inward principle, O ye present Powers of
     England, you do not study how to advance Universal Love. If you did
     it would appear in action. But Imagination and Self Love mightily
     disquiet your mind, and makes you to call up all the Powers of
     Darkness to come forth and help you to set the Crown upon the head
     of Self, which is that Kingly Power you have oathed and vowed
     against, but yet uphold it in your hands.... All this falling out
     and quarrelling among mankind is about the Earth, and who shall,
     and who shall not enjoy it, when indeed it is the portion of
     everyone, and ought not to be striven for, nor bought, nor sold,
     whereby some are hedged in and others are hedged out. Far better
     not to have had a body than to be debarred the fruit of the Earth
     to feed and clothe it. And if every one did but quietly enjoy the
     Earth for food and raiment, there would be no wars, prisons, nor
     gallows, and this action which men call theft would be no sin. For
     Universal Love never made it a sin, but the Power of Covetousness
     made it a sin, and made Laws to punish it, though he himself lives
     in that sin in a higher manner than those he hangs and punishes....
     Well, He that made the Earth for us as well as for you will set us
     free, though you will not. When will the Veil of Darkness be drawn
     off your faces? Will you not be wise, O ye Rulers?"

After further expatiating on the blessings inherent in Righteousness and
Universal Love, and on the inevitable evil consequences of Self Love or
Covetousness, he indicates the practical steps by which these evils
might be removed, as follows:

     "If ever the Creation is to be restored, this is the way, which
     lies in this two-fold power:

     "First, Community of Mankind, which is comprised in the Unity of
     the Spirit of Love, which is called Christ within you, or the Law
     written in the Heart, leading Mankind unto all Truth, and to be of
     one heart and one mind.

     "The Second is Community of the Earth, for the quiet livelihood in
     food and raiment, without using force or restraining one another.

     "These Two Communities, or rather one in two branches, is that true
     Levelling which Christ shall work at His more glorious appearance.
     FOR JESUS CHRIST, THE SAVIOUR OF ALL MEN, IS THE GREATEST, FIRST
     AND TRUEST LEVELLER THAT EVER WAS SPOKEN OF IN THE WORLD."

     "Therefore you Rulers of England, be not afraid nor ashamed of
     Levellers, hate them not; Christ comes to you riding upon these
     clouds. Look not upon other Lands to be your pattern. All Lands in
     the World lie under Darkness, so doth England yet, though the
     nearest to Light and Freedom than any other. Therefore let no other
     Land take your Crown....

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-

"This is your very inward principle, O ye present Powers of
     England, you do not study how to advance Universal Love. If you did
     it would appear in action. But Imagination and Self Love mightily
     disquiet your mind, and makes you to call up all the Powers of
     Darkness to come forth and help you to set the Crown upon the head
     of Self, which is that Kingly Power you have oathed and vowed
     against, but yet uphold it in your hands.... All this falling out
     and quarrelling among mankind is about the Earth, and who shall,
     and who shall not enjoy it, when indeed it is the portion of
     everyone, and ought not to be striven for, nor bought, nor sold,
     whereby some are hedged in and others are hedged out. Far better
     not to have had a body than to be debarred the fruit of the Earth
     to feed and clothe it. And if every one did but quietly enjoy the
     Earth for food and raiment, there would be no wars, prisons, nor
     gallows, and this action which men call theft would be no sin. For
     Universal Love never made it a sin, but the Power of Covetousness
     made it a sin, and made Laws to punish it, though he himself lives
     in that sin in a higher manner than those he hangs and punishes....
     Well, He that made the Earth for us as well as for you will set us
     free, though you will not. When will the Veil of Darkness be drawn
     off your faces? Will you not be wise, O ye Rulers?"

After further expatiating on the blessings inherent in Righteousness and
Universal Love, and on the inevitable evil consequences of Self Love or
Covetousness, he indicates the practical steps by which these evils
might be removed, as follows:

     "If ever the Creation is to be restored, this is the way, which
     lies in this two-fold power:

     "First, Community of Mankind, which is comprised in the Unity of
     the Spirit of Love, which is called Christ within you, or the Law
     written in the Heart, leading Mankind unto all Truth, and to be of
     one heart and one mind.

     "The Second is Community of the Earth, for the quiet livelihood in
     food and raiment, without using force or restraining one another.

     "These Two Communities, or rather one in two branches, is that true
     Levelling which Christ shall work at His more glorious appearance.
     FOR JESUS CHRIST, THE SAVIOUR OF ALL MEN, IS THE GREATEST, FIRST
     AND TRUEST LEVELLER THAT EVER WAS SPOKEN OF IN THE WORLD."

     "Therefore you Rulers of England, be not afraid nor ashamed of
     Levellers, hate them not; Christ comes to you riding upon these
     clouds. Look not upon other Lands to be your pattern. All Lands in
     the World lie under Darkness, so doth England yet, though the
     nearest to Light and Freedom than any other. Therefore let no other
     Land take your Crown....

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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