The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth

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The Digger Movement in the
Days of the Commonwealth

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Title: 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: Lewis H. Berens

Release Date: January 8, 2006 [eBook #17480]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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DIGGER MOVEMENT IN THE DAYS OF THE
COMMONWEALTH***
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Transcriber's notes:
All material added by the transcriber is surrounded by braces {}.
The original has a number of inconsistent spellings and punctuation. A
few corrections have been made for obvious typographical errors; they
have been noted individually. A list of specific items will be found at
the end of the file.
Text in italics in the original is shown between underlines, and text in
bold between =equal signs=.

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_
by
LEWIS H. BERENS Author of "Towards the Light" Etc. Etc.

"Was glänzt ist für den Augenblick geboren; Das Echte bleibt der{1}
Nachwelt unverloren." GOETHE.

London Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, & Co. Ltd. 1906

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
TO
THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS (THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT)
TO WHOM THE WORLD OWES MORE THAN IT YET
RECOGNISES AND WHOSE FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES THE
AUTHOR HAS LEARNED TO LOVE AND ADMIRE WHILST
WRITING THIS BOOK

CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY 1
II. THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND 12
III. THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 23
IV. THE DIGGERS 34
V. GERRARD WINSTANLEY 41
VI. WINSTANLEY'S EXPOSITION OF THE QUAKER
DOCTRINES 52
VII. THE NEW LAW OF RIGHTEOUSNESS 68

VIII. LIGHT SHINING IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 79
IX. THE DIGGERS' MANIFESTOES 90
X. A LETTER TO LORD FAIRFAX, ETC. 100
XI. A WATCHWORD TO THE CITY OF LONDON, ETC. 112
XII. A NEW YEAR'S GIFT FOR THE PARLIAMENT AND ARMY
132
XIII. A VINDICATION; A DECLARATION; AND AN APPEAL 146
XIV. GERRARD WINSTANLEY'S UTOPIA: THE LAW OF
FREEDOM 162
XV. THE SAME CONTINUED 179
XVI. THE SAME CONTINUED 206
XVII. CONCLUDING REMARKS 228
APPENDIX A. THE TWELVE ARTICLES OF THE GERMAN
PEASANTRY, 1525 235
" B. CROMWELL ON TOLERATION 241
" C. WINSTANLEY'S LAWS FOR A FREE COMMONWEALTH
244
BIBLIOGRAPHY 255
INDEX 257

THE DIGGER MOVEMENT
CHAPTER I

THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY
"Whatever the prejudices of some may suggest, it will be admitted by
all unbiassed judges, that the Protestant Reformation was neither more
nor less than an open rebellion. Indeed, the mere mention of private
judgment, on which it was avowedly based, is enough to substantiate
this fact. To establish the right of private judgment, was to appeal from
the Church to individuals; it was to increase the play of each man's
intellect; it was to test the opinion of the priesthood by the opinions of
laymen; it was, in fact, a rising of the scholars against their teachers, of
the ruled against their rulers."--BUCKLE.
What is known in history as the Reformation is one of those
monuments in the history of the development of the human mind
betokening its entry into new territory. Fundamental conceptions and
beliefs, cosmological, physical, ethical or political, once firmly
established, change but slowly; the universal tendency is tenaciously to
cling to them despite all evidence to the contrary. Still men's views do
change with their intellectual development, as newly discovered facts
and newly accepted ideas come into conflict with old opinions, and
force them to reconsider the evidence on which these latter were based.
Prior to the Reformation, many such conceptions and beliefs, at one
time holding undisputed dominion over the human mind, had been
called into question, their authority challenged, undermined, and
weakened, and they had commenced to yield pride of place to others
more in accordance with increased knowledge of nature and of life. The
revival of classical learning, geographical and astronomical discoveries,
and more especially, perhaps, the invention and rapid spread of the art
of printing, had all conspired to give an unparalleled impetus to
intellectual development,--and the Reformation was, in