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-
"Friends, do not mistake the resurrection of Christ. You expect
that he shall come in one single person, as he did when he came to
suffer and die, and thereby to answer the types of Moses' Law. Let
me tell you that if you look for him under the notion of one single
man after the flesh, to be your Saviour, you shall never, never
taste salvation by him.... If you expect or look for the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, you must know that the Spirit within
the flesh is the Jesus Christ, and you must see, feel, and know
from himself his own resurrection within you, if you expect life
and peace by him. For he is the Life of the World, that is, of
every particular son and daughter of the Father ... for everyone
hath the Light of the Father within himself, which is the mighty
man Christ Jesus. And he is now rising and spreading himself in
these his sons and daughters, and so rising from one to many
persons till he enlighten the whole creation (mankind) in every
branch of it, and cover this earth with knowledge as the waters
cover the sea.... And this is to be saved by Jesus Christ; for that
mighty man of spirit hath taken up his habitation within your
body; and your body is his body, and now his spirit is your spirit,
and so you are become one with him and with the Father. This is the
faith of Christ, when your flesh is subject to the Spirit of
Righteousness, as the flesh of Christ was subject. And this is to
believe in Christ, when the actings and breathings of your soul are
within the centre of the same spirit in which the man Jesus Christ
lived, acted, and breathed."
In accordance with this profound, philosophic, and truly spiritual view,
Winstanley found it incumbent upon him to warn his fellows against
another generally held belief, as follows:
"So that you do not look for a God now, as formerly you did, to be
a place of glory beyond the sun, moon, and stars, nor imagine a
Divine Being you know not where; but you see Him ruling within you;
and not only in you, but you see and know Him to be the Spirit or
Power that dwells in every man and woman, yea, in every creature,
according to his orb, within the globe of the Creation. So that now
you see and feel and taste the sweetness of the Spirit ruling in
your flesh, who is the Lord and King of Glory in the whole
Creation, and you have community with Him who is the Father of all
things. Now you are enlightened; now you are saved, and rise higher
and higher into life and peace, as this manifestation of the Father
increases and spreads within you."[61:1]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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