CHAPTER VGERRARD WINSTANLEY

34:1Clarke Papers, vol. ii. p. 209. Bulstrode Whitelocke, then already a member of the Council of State, in hisMemorial of English Affairs(p. 396), under date April 17th, 1649, has an entry referring to and summarising this letter.34:2That is to say, a week last Sunday, or last Sunday week.35:1Loc. cit.vol. ii. p. 210.36:1Loc. cit.vol. ii. pp. 211-212.37:1P. 397.38:1A glance at the titles of John Hare’s well-known pamphlets, the work of a learned, prosaic, diffuse, moderate, and loyal writer, suffices to show how widespread this jealousy and impatience of what he terms Normanism was. One runs as follows:—“St. Edwards Ghost or Anti Normanism: Being a pathetical Complaint and Motion, in the behalf of our English Nation, against the grand yet neglected grievance Normanism.” Another, “EnglandsProper and Only Way to an Establishment in Honor, Freedom, Peace and Happiness: Or the Norman Yoke once more uncased, and the Necessity, Justice, and Present Seasonableness of breaking it in pieces demonstrated, in Eight most plain and true Propositions, with their proofs.” The pamphlets are interesting only as showing the prevalence of the idea that the dishonour of the English Nation, and the slavery and impoverishment of the masses of the English people, were due to Norman Laws and institutions introduced by William the Conqueror.39:1British Museum, Press Mark, E. 530.

34:2That is to say, a week last Sunday, or last Sunday week.

35:1Loc. cit.vol. ii. p. 210.

36:1Loc. cit.vol. ii. pp. 211-212.

37:1P. 397.

38:1A glance at the titles of John Hare’s well-known pamphlets, the work of a learned, prosaic, diffuse, moderate, and loyal writer, suffices to show how widespread this jealousy and impatience of what he terms Normanism was. One runs as follows:—“St. Edwards Ghost or Anti Normanism: Being a pathetical Complaint and Motion, in the behalf of our English Nation, against the grand yet neglected grievance Normanism.” Another, “EnglandsProper and Only Way to an Establishment in Honor, Freedom, Peace and Happiness: Or the Norman Yoke once more uncased, and the Necessity, Justice, and Present Seasonableness of breaking it in pieces demonstrated, in Eight most plain and true Propositions, with their proofs.” The pamphlets are interesting only as showing the prevalence of the idea that the dishonour of the English Nation, and the slavery and impoverishment of the masses of the English people, were due to Norman Laws and institutions introduced by William the Conqueror.

39:1British Museum, Press Mark, E. 530.

“Your word-divinity darkens knowledge. You talk of a body of Divinity, and of Anatomysing Divinity. O fine language! But when it comes to trial, it is but a husk without the kernel, words without life. The Spirit is in the hearts of the people whom you despise and tread under foot.”—Winstanley,The New Law of Righteousness (1649).

Gerrard Winstanley, whose strange entry on the stately stage of English History we have recorded in the previous chapter, was born at Wigan in the County of Lancashire, on October 10th, 1609.41:1He was, therefore, some ten years younger than his great contemporary Oliver Cromwell (born 1599), one year the junior of the immortal Milton (born 1608), and some fifteen years older than George Fox (born 1624). Of his earlier years we know nothing; but, to judge from many passages in his writings, he appears to have received a good middle-class education, and to have been brought up a dutiful follower of the Church as by law established. When arrived at man’s estate, he settled as a small trader in London, of which City he probably became a freeman; for in a pamphlet addressed to the City of London,41:2he claims to be “one of thy sons by freedom.” He then goes on to relate how, “by thycheating sons in the thieving art of buying and selling, and by the burdens of and for the soldiery in the beginning of the war,” he “had been beaten out of both estate and trade,” and had been forced “to accept of the good-will of friends, crediting of me, to live a country life.”

Those who have passed through a similar experience, who have been driven from the comparatively comfortable middle-class life to the precarious and comfortless existence of the vast majority of the toiling masses, will readily realise that under such circumstances Winstanley’s mind would naturally be full of questionings such as might not have forced themselves on his attention under more prosperous conditions. What was the aim and object of that incessant struggle out of which he had just emerged “beaten out of both estate and trade”? What made it necessary? who really benefited by it? For whose benefit was the war being waged, the burden of which had fallen so heavily upon him? How was it going to advantage the masses of the people? Was it ever intended that it should benefit them? was it possible that it should do so? Could any such struggle be a means of delivering the great masses of the people, “the younger brothers,” out of the straits of poverty, with its attendant train of ignorance, misery, vice, and crime, to which they had hitherto been ruthlessly and hopelessly condemned? Was it, in truth, inevitable, was it inherent in the very nature of things, was it God’s intention that a privileged few, “the elder brothers,” should be lords and masters, and that the great majority of mankind should for ever remain the mere hewers of wood and drawers of water, the slaves and servants of an insignificant minority of their fellow-creatures? Were these things due to natural causes, to the inscrutable workings of a Divine Providence; or were they but the necessary though unforeseen fruits of mere man-made laws and institutions the existing generation had inherited from a by-gone and ignorant past? Such were the questions which vaguely and indistinctly may have passed, and, as we shall see, did pass, through the active, original, philosophic and deeply religious mind of Winstanley in the quiet solitude of his country life.

His life had drifted from its accustomed moorings; his troubles were greater than he could bear; and when he turned to Religion for guidance and consolation, alas! he found that the teachings he had imbibed in his childhood, and never questioned in his manhood, now failed him in his hour of need. Foiled, though not beaten, he turned to the pages of the Holy Scriptures themselves for guidance and information, for consolation and revelation. In these inspired writings, if anywhere, there surely must be found some expression, some revelation, of God’s intentions towards His children, some indication of His holy will, which, if men would wholly follow, would lead them down the path of righteousness to happiness and peace. And it was from these pages that Winstanley derived those religious and political convictions that find such eloquent and forcible expression in his writings, and which he made such heroic efforts to proclaim by word and deed to his fellow-men.

What seems to us to give a special charm to the study of Winstanley’s writings is that they reveal the gradual development of his acute and powerful mind. His earlier pamphlets betray the influence of the mysticism so prevalent in his days; his last utterance on theological questions, as we shall see, might have been penned by an advanced thinker of the present day, imbued with modern scientific views, and recognising the necessary relation and co-ordination of all the physical and psychical phenomena of the universe, “of the several bodies of the stars and planets in the heavens above, and the several bodies of the earth below, as plants, grass, fishes, beasts, birds, and mankind.”

As to how far Winstanley owes the views that find expression in his earlier pamphlets—which deal exclusively with cosmological or theological speculations—to others, or to the writings of earlier mystics, we have no means of knowing.43:1From them we gather, however, that he had learned or hadcome to regard the whole Biblical narrative as an allegory, of which he gives a most poetical interpretation. The Creation is mankind. The Garden of Eden is the mind of man, which he describes as originally filled with herbs and pleasant plants, “as love, joy, peace, humility, delight, and purity of life.” The serpent he holds to be self-love, the forbidden fruit to be “selfishness,” following the promptings of which “the whole garden becomes a stinking dunghill of weeds, and brings forth nothing but pride, envy, discontent, disobedience, and the whole actings of the spirit and power of darkness.” And he argues that—“If the creature should be honored in this condition, then God would be dishonored, because his command would be broken.... And if the creature were utterly lost ... then likewise God would suffer dishonor, because his work would be spoiled.” Hence he maintains that “the curse that was declared to Adam was temporary,” and that eventually the whole creation, the whole of mankind, shall be saved, and “the work of God shall be restored from this lost, dead, weedy and enslaved condition.”44:1

Winstanley, however, regarded the word “God” as too vague satisfactorily to denote the supreme spiritual power which pervades, upholds and governs the whole universe. He had, he tells us, “been held in darkness by that word, as I see many people are.”44:2And so that neither he nor others should “rest longer upon words without knowledge, but hereafter may look upon that spiritual power, and know what it is that rules them, which doth rule in and over all,” he felt himself impelled to conceive of and to refer to this spiritual power, which is God, as “Reason.” He contends that “though men may esteem the word Reason to be too mean a name to set forth the Father by, yet it is the highest name that can be given to Him. For it is Reason that made all things; and it is Reason that governs thewhole Creation. If flesh were but subject thereunto, that is, to the Spirit of Reason within itself, it would never act unrighteously.... For this Spirit of Reason is not without a man, but within every man; hence he need not run after others to tell him or to teach him; for this Spirit is his maker, he dwells in him, and if the flesh were subject thereunto, he would daily find teaching therefrom, though he dwelt alone and saw the face of no other man.”45:1“This is the Spirit, or Father, which as he made the Globe and every creature, so he dwells in every creature, but supremely in man. He it is by whom everyone lives, and moves, and hath his being. Perfect man is the eye and face that sees and declares the Father: and he is perfect when he is taken up in the Spirit and lives in the light of Reason.”45:1“Reason is that living Power of Light that is in all things. It is the salt that savours all things. It is the fire that burns up dross, and so restores what is corrupted, and preserves what is pure. He is the Lord our Righteousness. It lies in the bottom of love, of justice, of wisdom: for if the Spirit Reason did not uphold and moderate these, they would be madness; nay, they could not be called by their names, for Reason guides them in order and leads them to their right end, which is not to preserve a part, but the whole Creation.”45:2

The reason of man, Winstanley regarded but as an emanation of the Divine Spirit Reason, as the one true Inward Light, which if men would only and wholly follow would lead them to live in peace and harmony, and in accordance with the Divine Spirit. “Man’s reasoning,” he says,45:2“is a creature which flows from that Spirit to this end, to draw up man into himself. It is but a candle lighted by that soul, and this light, shining through flesh, is darkened by the imagination of the flesh. So that many times men act contrary to reason, though they think they act according to Reason.... The Spirit Reason, which I call God, the Maker and Ruler of all things, is that spiritual power thatguides all men’s reasoning in right order, and to a right end ... and knite every creature together into a oneness, making every creature to be an upholder of his fellows; and so everyone is an assistant to preserve the whole. And the nearer man’s reasoning comes to this, the more spiritual they are; the further off they be, the more selfish and fleshy they be.”

Winstanley took care to point out,46:1however, that “this word Reason is not the alone name of this spiritual power; but everyone may give him a name according to that spiritual power that they feel and see rules in them, carrying them forth in actions to preserve their fellow-creatures as well as themselves. Therefore some may call him King of Righteousness, or Prince of Peace; some may call him Love, and the like. But I can and I do call him Reason, because I see him to be that living, powerful light that is in righteousness, making righteousness to be righteousness, or justice to be justice, or love to be love. For without this moderator and ruler they would be madness; nay, the self-willedness of the flesh, and not what we call them.”46:1

But, he warns his readers,46:2“truly let me tell you, that you cannot say the Spirit, Reason, is your God, till you see and feel by experience that the Spirit doth govern your flesh. For if Envy be the Lord that rules your flesh, if Pride and Covetousness rule your flesh, then is Envy, Covetousness, or Pride your God. If you fear man so greatly that you dare not do righteously for fear of angering men, then slavish fear is your God. If rash anger govern your flesh, then is anger your God. Therefore deceive not yourselves, but let Reason work within you; and examine and see what your flesh is subject to. For whatever doth govern in you, that is your God.”

Winstanley’s characteristic theological doctrines were, then, the realisation of the function and importance of the Inward Light, of Reason, which he regarded as the necessary and all-sufficient guide for human conduct; his keen appreciation of silence as the necessary precursor of all real prayer, if not asin itself a form of worship; and his intense conviction of the ultimate salvation of the whole of mankind. To Winstanley, Reason is the Ruling Spirit of the whole Creation, is God, the Spirit of Righteousness, who is ever seated within the hearts of men combating the lusts of the flesh, the promptings of the brute animal nature of mankind. Disobedient man may know him not, because covetous flesh, the promptings of self-love, hath deceived him, and “so he looks abroad for a God, and so doth imagine or fancy a God in some particular place of glory beyond the skies; or else, if men do look for a God within them, yet are they led by the notions of King Flesh, and not of King Spirit.”47:1Reason, in short, is the spark of the Divine in man, the Spirit of Light that dwells within and may rule the mind and actions of every man. Conscience is but the promptings of Reason, inspiring men to right action, to deal justly and brotherly and to live in peaceful and harmonious association with their fellows. Self-love, covetousness, the desire of the flesh, is ever the enemy of Reason. And life is but a continuous struggle between these two powers for dominion in the Creation, over the hearts and actions of mankind. Self-love ruling the hearts of man, is the Adam that causes him to sin, not the crime of the man Adam who lived so many thousand years ago. And similarly it is the ruling of the spirit of Jesus Christ, the Inward Light, within the hearts of man, not the sufferings of a man Christ Jesus, which is the essential condition of individual and social salvation. “This is the lightning that shall spread from East to West. This is the Kingdom of Heaven within you, dwelling and ruling in your flesh. Therefore learn to know Jesus Christ as the Father knows him; that is, not after the flesh; but know that the Spirit within the flesh is that mighty man Christ Jesus. He within governs the flesh; he within laid down the flesh, when he was said to die; he within is to arise, not at a distance from man, but he will rise up in men, and manifest himself to be the light and life of every man and woman that is saved by him.”47:2By following the desires of the flesh, the promptingsof selfish covetousness, we can never gain true happiness, which is Heaven, for the voice of Reason within us, of our conscience, or the Inward Light illumining the inner darkness, willupbraidus and cast us into Hell within us. True happiness, complete satisfaction, which is Heaven, can only be gained by following the dictates of Reason, by following the promptings of the Inward Light. Thus to Winstanley, as to Tolstoy, the Kingdom of Heaven, as well as the kingdom of hell, is within men’s minds, and “there is no other.”48:1Everything that happens, however, is ordained, or rather permitted, by God the Father, “the Ruling Spirit of the Whole Creation,” for His own ends. He controls the Spirits or Powers we call evil, as well as those we call good: all work in accordance with His commands, to further His ends. In Winstanley’s philosophy, unlike that of Luther, there was no room for an independent Devil. Though in our blindness we may attribute our sufferings to such a personage, yet whatever happens to a man is somehow or other for his own good, though in an unregenerate state we may not realise this. All suffering, in truth, does but tend to purify the soul from the lust of theflesh, to enable the Inward Light to overcome the inward darkness, to enable Reason to overcome Self-Love, good to overcome evil: and thus to lead men to God. In the end, in the day of Judgement, the good will triumph, Reason will cast out Covetousness, Universal Love will cast out Self Love, meekness will cast out pride, righteousness will cast out unrighteousness: and all men made perfect by the Inward Light, the Spirit of Christ within them, will rejoice in the knowledge and glory of God.

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.49:1Thus the Right Reverend Thomas Coomber, Dean of Durham, in a pamphlet significantly entitledChristianity 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;49:2and Hubberthorne in 1660 told the King that they were then twelve years standing.49:3In thatblack 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 country50:2(asThe Mystery of Godis 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 groundthan 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.

41:1Both 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.41:2A Watchword to the City of London.43:1Between 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.44:1SeeThe 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.44:2Truth lifting up its Head above Scandals.British Museum, Press Mark, 4372, a.a. 17.45:1The Saint’s Paradise.British Museum, Press Mark, E. 2137.45:2Truth lifting up its Head above Scandals.46:1Truth lifting up its Head above Scandals.46:2The Saint’s Paradise.47:1The 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’sThe Society of Friends; its Faith and Practice.48:1Speaking 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 condemningprinciple, which indeed is nothing but someremainderof 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 hisHistory of New England, book vii. chap. iv.49:1The Rev. Thos. Bennet, on p. 4 ofAn 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 mentionsThe Saint’s Paradise.49:2Gerard Croese inThe General History of the Quakers, published 1696, says, “The Quakers themselves date their first rise from the forty-ninth year of the present century.”49:3SeeAn 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.50:1As our readers will notice, all Winstanley’s theological writings were written and published in 1648-1649. The Preface toTruth Lifting up its Head above Scandalsis dated October 16th, 1648;The Saint’s Paradisebears no date, but was certainly written beforeThe New Law of Righteousness, the Preface to which is dated January 26th, 1648 (1649). (At that time the New Year commenced on March 26th.)50:2Coomber 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 hisProtest 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.

41:2A Watchword to the City of London.

43:1Between 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.

44:1SeeThe 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.

44:2Truth lifting up its Head above Scandals.British Museum, Press Mark, 4372, a.a. 17.

45:1The Saint’s Paradise.British Museum, Press Mark, E. 2137.

45:2Truth lifting up its Head above Scandals.

46:1Truth lifting up its Head above Scandals.

46:2The Saint’s Paradise.

47:1The 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’sThe Society of Friends; its Faith and Practice.

48:1Speaking 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 condemningprinciple, which indeed is nothing but someremainderof 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 hisHistory of New England, book vii. chap. iv.

49:1The Rev. Thos. Bennet, on p. 4 ofAn 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 mentionsThe Saint’s Paradise.

49:2Gerard Croese inThe General History of the Quakers, published 1696, says, “The Quakers themselves date their first rise from the forty-ninth year of the present century.”

49:3SeeAn 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.

50:1As our readers will notice, all Winstanley’s theological writings were written and published in 1648-1649. The Preface toTruth Lifting up its Head above Scandalsis dated October 16th, 1648;The Saint’s Paradisebears no date, but was certainly written beforeThe New Law of Righteousness, the Preface to which is dated January 26th, 1648 (1649). (At that time the New Year commenced on March 26th.)

50:2Coomber 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 hisProtest 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.

“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 offthe 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,54:1which 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;54:2that 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, entitledThe Saint’s Paradise: Or the Father’s Teaching the only Satisfaction to Waiting Souls,56:1from 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 intradition 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 walkhumbly 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.”

“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:

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