Lewis H. Berens - The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth

L >> Lewis H. Berens >> The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23

It is almost impossible to read Winstanley's earlier theological
pamphlets without being struck by the similarity in thought and doctrine
with those to-day still held by the Society of Friends, or Quakers,
whose original name amongst themselves, be it remembered, was the
Children of Light. And it is interesting to note that during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the opponents of the Quakers
repeatedly taunted them with being disciples of Winstanley the
Leveller.[49:1] Thus the Right Reverend Thomas Coomber, Dean of Durham,
in a pamphlet significantly entitled _Christianity no Enthusiasm: Or the
several kinds of inspiration and Revelation pretended to by the Quakers
tried and found destructive to Holy Scripture and True Religion_,
published in 1678, wrote as follows:

"First for their original, it may seem more difficult to discover,
where Sects are not called after their Founder, but after some
property, etc., it may be harder to trace them to their head. In
1652 their beginning is supposed, and then abouts they were so
called and known. John Whitehead fixes it in the year 1648;[49:2]
and Hubberthorne in 1660 told the King that they were then twelve
years standing.[49:3] In that black year to these kingdoms (1648)
their pretended light appeared.[50:1] ... But the very draughts and
even body of Quakerism are to be found in the several works of
Gerrard Winstanley, a zealous Leveller, wherein he tells us of the
arising of new times and dispensations, and challengeth Revelation
very much for what he writ."

Coomber proceeds to quote from every one of Winstanley's theological
pamphlets, and then continues:

"That these are the Quaker principles is well enough known,
allowing for some little alterations, as few Sect-Masters but have
their doctrines varied by their Proselytes.... Now, considering
these opinions, the year, the country[50:2] (as _The Mystery of
God_ is dedicated to his "beloved countrymen of the County of
Lancaster"), the printer Giles Calvert, and that several Levellers
settled into Quakers, we incline to take them for Winstanley's
Disciples and a branch of the Levellers. And what this man writes
of--levelling men's estates, of taking in of Commons, that none
should have more ground than he was able to till and husband by
his labour--proving unpracticable by reason of so many tough old
laws which had fixed propriety; yet it is pursued by the Quakers as
much as they well can, in thouing everybody, in denying Titles,
Civil Respects, and terms of distinction among men, and at first
they were for Community."

If Winstanley's writings be really the source whence the early Quakers,
the Children of Light, drew their most characteristic tenets and
doctrines, as we ourselves do not doubt, then surely his noble ambition
has been satisfied: for through them he has, indeed, influenced the
thought of his country, the thought of the whole world, which owes more
than we even yet realise to their pure and altruistic teachings.
However, leaving this most interesting question to be decided by our
readers, each for himself, we shall now place the chief contents of
these writings before them, using as far as possible Winstanley's own
words.

FOOTNOTES:

[41:1] Both Gerrard and Winstanley are common names in that part of
Lancashire which lies between Wigan and Liverpool. In the Wigan Parish
Register there is an entry under the above date--"Gerrard Winstanlie,
son of Edward Winstanlie." The first pamphlet he wrote, _The Mystery of
God concerning the whole Creation_, is dedicated "To my beloved
countrymen of the County of Lancaster." In his time the term
"countrymen" had a more contracted meaning than now, and implied a
common nativity of a Shire or Parish: indeed it still has this meaning
in some parts of Cheshire.

[41:2] _A Watchword to the City of London._

[43:1] Between the years 1644-1662 the works of the German mystic Jakob
Boehme were translated into English. All Winstanley's theological
pamphlets were published in the year 1648-1649, to which year the origin
of the Quaker doctrines is generally attributed.

[44:1] See _The Mystery of God concerning the whole Creation, Mankind_.
British Museum, Press Mark, 4377, a. 1. The whole pamphlet consists of
some 69 closely printed pages.

[44:2] _Truth lifting up its Head above Scandals._ British Museum, Press
Mark, 4372, a.a. 17.

[45:1] _The Saint's Paradise._ British Museum, Press Mark, E. 2137.

[45:2] _Truth lifting up its Head above Scandals._

[46:1] _Truth lifting up its Head above Scandals._

[46:2] _The Saint's Paradise._

[47:1] _The Saint's Paradise._

[47:2] "That which the people called Quakers lay down as a main
fundamental in religion, is this, that God, through Christ, hath placed
a principle in every man, to inform him of his duty, and to enable him
to do it; and that those who live up to this principle, are the people
of God; and that those who live in disobedience to it, are not God's
people, whatever name they bear, or profession they may make of
religion.... By this principle they understand something that is Divine,
and though in man, not of man, but of God; it came from Him and leads to
Him all those who will be led by it ... it is the spirit given to every
man to profit withal."--William Penn, _Primitive Christianity Revived_
(1696). Quoted from J. S. Rowntree's _The Society of Friends; its Faith
and Practice_.

[48:1] Speaking of the early Quakers, Cotton Mather, after attributing
the origin of this sect "to some fanatics here in our town of Salem,"
describes the principles of "the old Foxian Quakerism" as follows:
"There is in every man a certain excusing and condemning _principle_,
which indeed is nothing but some _remainder_ of the Divine Image left by
the compassion of God upon the conscience of man after his fall.... They
scoffed at our imagined God beyond the stars." He also contends that
"the new turn such ingenuous men as Mr. Penn" had given to Quakerism,
had made of it "quite a new thing." See his _History of New England_,
book vii. chap. iv.

[49:1] The Rev. Thos. Bennet, on p. 4 of _An Answer to the Dissenters'
Pleas for Separation_, published in 1711, referring to the origin of the
various sorts of dissenters, speaks of the time "when Winstanley
published the principles of Quakerism, and enthusiasm broke out." In a
footnote he mentions _The Saint's Paradise_.

[49:2] Gerard Croese in _The General History of the Quakers_, published
1696, says, "The Quakers themselves date their first rise from the
forty-ninth year of the present century."

[49:3] See _An account of what passed between the King and Richard
Hubberthorne, after the delivery of George Fox his letter to the King_,
which is to be found amongst Thomasson's Pamphlets, British Museum.

[50:1] As our readers will notice, all Winstanley's theological writings
were written and published in 1648-1649. The Preface to _Truth Lifting
up its Head above Scandals_ is dated October 16th, 1648; _The Saint's
Paradise_ bears no date, but was certainly written before _The New Law
of Righteousness_, the Preface to which is dated January 26th, 1648
(1649). (At that time the New Year commenced on March 26th.)

[50:2] Coomber had already pointed out that Quakerism arose in the North
of England, and mainly in Winstanley's native county of Lancashire. His
reference to Giles Calvert, the printer, is also most suggestive; for
Calvert published almost all Winstanley's pamphlets, and later was one
of the first authorised publishers of the official publications of the
Society of Friends. Calvert's establishment seems to have been the
source, as well as the depository, of much of the advanced literature of
his times. In his _Protest against Toleration of Printing Pamphlets
against Non-Conformists_, Baxter refers to it as follows: "Let all the
Apothecaries of London have liberty to keep open shop. But O do not
under that pretence let a man keep an open shop of poisons for all that
will destroy themselves freely, as Giles Calvert doth for Soul-poisons."
Calvert was suspected of having provided the funds for one of the later
risings of the Fifth Monarchy Men. He subsequently joined the Quakers.

CHAPTER VI

WINSTANLEY'S EXPOSITION OF THE QUAKER DOCTRINES (1648-1649)

"There is nothing more sweet and satisfactory to a man than this,
to know and feel that spiritual power of righteousness to rule in
him which he calls God.... Wait upon the Lord for teaching. You
will never have rest in your soul till He speaks in you. Run after
men for teaching, follow your forms with strictness, you will still
be at a loss, and be more and more wrapped up in confusion and
sorrow of heart. But when once your heart is made subject to
Christ, the Law of Righteousness, looking up to Him for
instruction, waiting with a meek and quiet spirit till He appear in
you: then you shall have peace; then you shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free."--_The New Law of Righteousness_.

_The Mystery of God concerning the whole Creation, Mankind_, is the
title of Winstanley's first published pamphlet, to which we have already
referred, and which was written early in the year 1648, probably in
April or May. As already mentioned, it opens with a Dedicatory Epistle
to "My beloved countrymen of the County of Lancaster," in which he first
apologises for venturing into print in the following suggestive words:
"Dear countrymen, when some of you see my name subscribed to this
ensuing discourse, you may wonder at it, and it may be despise me in
your hearts ... but know that God's works are not like men's; He does
not always take the wise, the learned, the rich of the world to manifest
Himself in, and through them to others, but He chooses the despised, the
unlearned, the poor, the nothings of the world, and fills them with the
good tidings of Himself, whereas He sends the others empty away." He
further apprehends that his view, that "the curse that was declared to
Adam was temporary," and that ultimately the curse shall be removed off
the whole Creation, and the whole of mankind shall be saved, will not
be favourably received by those whom he is specially addressing. But he
avows it a necessary truth, and concludes his appeal by saying that
since the pamphlet was written he had met with "more Scripture to
confirm it, so that it is not a spirit of private fancy, but it is
agreeable to the Written Word."

The pamphlet opens with Winstanley's interpretation of the story of the
fall of Adam, the outline of which we have already given. Subsequently
he describes his own experiences: how he lay under bondage to the
serpent self-love, and saw not his bondage; how God had manifested His
love to him by causing him to see that the things in which he did take
pleasure were, in truth, his death and his shame. He again repeats his
contention that in due time God will not lose any of His work, but
redeem "His own whole Creation to Himself." Though this, he holds, will
not be done all at once, but in several dispensations, "some whereof are
passed, some in being, and some yet to come." He quotes largely from the
Scriptures, more especially from Revelation, in support of this view;
and argues most vehemently against the objection that if this were true,
if eventually all will be saved, then men need not trouble about their
own individual salvation. He also protests against the doctrine of an
everlasting Hell, as unconfirmed by the Holy Scriptures, as destructive
of God's work, and as incompatible with His great goodness.

The prevalence of the belief in dispensations, past, present, and
future, may be gathered from the following extract from one of
Cromwell's speeches to the Army Council, November 1st, 1647: "Truly, as
Lieut. Col. Goffe said, God hath in several ages used several
dispensations, and yet some dispensations more eminently in one age than
another. I am one of those whose heart God hath drawn out to wait for
some extraordinary dispensations, according to those promises He hath
set forth of things to be accomplished in the latter time, and I cannot
but think that God is beginning of them."[53:1]

The same idea reappears, in fact influences the whole of Winstanley's
second pamphlet, of some 127 closely printed duodecimo pages, as might
almost be inferred from its title, _The Breaking of the Day of
God_,[54:1] which is in itself a revelation of its main contents. The
Dedicatory Epistle, which is dated May 20th, 1648, some twelve months
prior to the outbreak of the Digger Movement, already recorded, is the
most interesting and suggestive portion of this long, wearisome, and
almost unreadable volume. It is addressed to--"The Despised Sons and
Daughters of Zion, scattered up and down the Kingdom of England." He
first reminds them that "they are the object of the world's hatred and
reproach," "branded as wicked ones," "threatened with ruin and death,"
"the object of every one's laughter and reproach," "sentenced to be put
to death under the name of round-heads," and so on. That they "are
counted the troublers of Kingdoms and Parishes where they dwell, though
the truth is that they are the only peaceable men in the Kingdom, who
love the People's peace, the Magistrate's peace, and the Kingdom's
peace." He continues--"But what's the reason the world doth so storm at
you, but because you are not of this world, nor cannot walk in the dark
ways of the world. They hated your Lord Jesus Christ, and they hate you.
They knew not Him, and they know not you. For if they had known Him,
they would not have crucified Him; and if they did truly know the power
of the God that dwells in you, they would not so despise you." "But,
well," he goes on to say, "these things must be. It is your Father's
will that it shall be so; the world must lie under darkness for a time;
that is God's dispensation to them. And you that are the Children of
Light must lie under the reproach and oppression of the world;[54:2]
that is God's dispensation to you. But it shall be but for a little
time. What I have here to say is to bring you glad tidings that your
redemption draws near."

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. But the loose-hearted that
will be of any religion that the most is of, these have their liberty
without restraint. And so Magistracie hath acted quite backward, in
punishing them that do well, and protecting in a hypocritical liberty
them that do evil. O that our Magistrates would let Church-work alone to
Christ, upon whose shoulders they shall find the government lies, and
not upon theirs. And then, in the wisdom and strength of Christ, they
would govern Commonwealths in justice, love, and righteousness more
peaceably."[55:1]

This pamphlet concludes with the following wise and beautiful thought:

"All that I shall say in conclusion is this: Wait patiently upon
the Lord; let every man that loves God endeavour by the spirit of
wisdom, meekness, and love to dry up Euphrates, even this spirit of
bitterness, that like a great river hath overflowed the earth of
mankind. For it is not revenge, prisons, fines, fightings, that
will subdue a tumultuous spirit; but a soft answer, love and
meekness, tenderness and justice, to do as we would be done unto:
this will appease wrath. When this Sun of Righteousness and Love
arises in Magistrates and people, one to another, then these
tumultuous national storms will cease, and not till then. This Sun
is risen in some; this Sun will rise higher, and must rise higher;
and the bright shining of it will be England's liberty."

The next fruit of Winstanley's prolific pen is a volume of some 134
closely printed pages, entitled _The Saint's Paradise: Or the Father's
Teaching the only Satisfaction to Waiting Souls_,[56:1] from which in
the previous chapter we have already quoted somewhat freely. The words
on its title-page, "The inward testimony is the Soul's strength,"
indicate the characteristic teachings of this remarkable book, which are
also admirably suggested by the two biblical quotations that also appear
thereon. "And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and
every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know
me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith the Lord"
(Jer. xxxi. 34). "But the annointing which ye have received of him
abideth in you; and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same
annointing teacheth you all things, and is truth" (1 John ii. 27).

As was his usual custom, Winstanley opens with a Dedicatory letter,
addressed this time "To my Beloved Friends whose Souls hunger after
sincere milk," in which he relates his experience of the insufficiency
of mere traditional, or book, or imparted knowledge, in the following
words:

"I myself have known nothing but what I received in tradition from
the mouths and pen of others. I worshipped a God, but I neither
knew who he was nor where he was, so that I lived in the dark,
being blinded by the imagination of my flesh.... I spoke of the
name of God, and Lord, and Christ, but I knew not this Lord, God,
and Christ. I prayed to a God, but I knew not where he was nor what
he was, and so walking by imagination I worshipped the devil, and
called him God. By reason whereof my comforts were often shaken to
pieces, and at last it was shown to me, that while I builded upon
any words or writings of other men, or while I looked after a God
without me, I did but build upon the sand, and as yet I knew not
the Rock."

He then admonishes his friends that, though they may not as yet be aware
of it, and though they will probably be offended with him for saying so,
yet that, in reality, "this ignorant, unsettled condition is yours at
this time." However, he protests that nevertheless:

"I do not write anything as to be a teacher of you, for I know you
have a teacher within yourselves (which is the Spirit) and when
your flesh is made subject to him, he will teach you all things,
and bring all things to your remembrance, so that you shall not
need to run after men for instruction, for, your eyes being opened,
you shall see the King of Righteousness sit upon the throne within
yourselves, judging and condemning the unrighteousness of the
flesh, filling your face with shame, and your soul with horror,
though no man see or be acquainted with your actions or thoughts
but yourselves, and justifying your righteous thoughts and actions,
and leading you into all ways of truth."

Winstanley then further explains that the Father, the Spirit of
Righteousness, of Reason, pervades the whole Universe, and "dwells in
every creature, but supremely in man," and then continues:

"Truly, Friends, the King of Righteousness within you is a meek,
patient, and quiet spirit, and full of love and sincerity.... And
when you come to know, feel, and see that the Spirit of
Righteousness governs your flesh, then you begin to know your God,
to fear your God, to love your God, and to walk humbly before your
God, and so to rejoice in Him. Therefore if you would have the
peace of God, as you call it, you must know what God it is you
serve, which is not a God without you, visible among bodies, but
the Spirit within you, invisible in every body to the eye of flesh,
yet discernible to the eye of the spirit. And when souls shall have
communion with that spirit, then they have peace, and not till
then."

In the first chapter Winstanley emphasises the essential difference
between the teachings of men and the teachings of God in the following
words:

"The teachings of men and the teachings of God are much different.
The former being but the light of the moon, which shines not of
itself, but by the means and through the help of the sun. The
latter is the light of the sun, which gives light to all, not by
means and helps from others, but immediately from himself.

"Men's teachings are twofold. First, when men speak to others what
they have heard or read of the Scriptures, or books of other men's
writings, and have seen nothing from God Himself.... Secondly,
others speak from their own experience, of what they have heard and
seen from God, and of what great things God hath done for their
souls.... It is very possible that a man may attain to a literal
knowledge of the Scriptures, of the Prophets and Apostles, and may
speak largely of the history thereof, and yet both they that speak
and they that hear may be not only unacquainted with, but enemies
to that Spirit of truth by which the Prophets and Apostles
writ.[58:1] "For it is not the Apostles' writings, but the spirit
that dwelt in them, that did inspire their hearts, which gives life
and peace to all."

In the second chapter Winstanley consoles those whom he is specially
addressing by expressing his conviction that though their enemies may
think to kill all the Saints, and though God may suffer them to kill
some, yet others of them will necessarily be preserved to keep alive
their beliefs and to spread abroad their teachings, of the ultimate
triumph of which he never seemed to doubt. However, in view of the
perplexity of the times and of the dangers by which they were
surrounded, he gave them the following somewhat worldly-wise
advice--"For the appearance of God now is in the Saints that they
worship the Father in spirit and truth in such a secret manner as the
eye of the world cannot and does not always see": a practice of which,
as we have already noticed, the adherents of the Family of Love were
accused in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

It is, however, in the fourth and fifth chapters that Winstanley
concisely and eloquently summarises the fundamental articles of his
religious faith. In them he again emphatically warns his fellows against
looking to others for knowledge of Divine revelations, and strongly
advises them to look into their own hearts. In support of this view he
quotes the Scripture text--"Light is come into the world, and men love
darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil" (John iii.
19), which he then proceeds to explain as follows:

"The world is mankind; and every particular man and woman is a
perfect creation of himself, a perfect created world. If a
particular branch of mankind desire to know what the nature of
other men and women are, let him not look abroad, but into his own
heart, and he shall see. So that I say, man is the world, a perfect
creation, from whose poisoned flesh proceeds the lust of the eye,
the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life: these are not of the
Father. Now _light is come into the world_; that is, the Spirit of
Right Understanding hath taken up his dwelling in this flesh. Hence
man is called a reasonable creature, which is a name given to no
other creature but man, because the Spirit of Reason appears acting
in him, which if men did submit themselves unto, they would act
righteously continually: and so man would become lord of all other
creatures in righteousness.... But the masculine powers of the
poisoned flesh stand it out against the King of Glory till He cast
them into the lake of fire, into His own spirit, by which they are
tried, and, being found but chaff and not able to endure, are
burned and consumed to nothing in the flame."

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23