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 Henry Berens
page 126 of 360 (35%)
page 126 of 360 (35%)
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Creation. We shall not do this by force of arms; we abhor it, for
it is the work of the Midianites to kill one another, but by obeying the Lord of Hosts, by laboring the Earth in Righteousness together, to earn our bread by the sweat of our brows, neither giving hire nor taking hire, but working together and eating together as one man, or as one house in Israel restored from Bondage. And so by the power of Reason, the Law of Righteousness in us, we endeavour to lift up the Creation from that bondage of Civil Propriety which it groans under." He again explains the work they are entered upon, and their reasons for attempting it, as follows: "The work we are going about is this, To dig up Georges Hill and the waste grounds thereabouts, and to sow corn, and to eat our bread together by the sweat of our brows. "And the First Reason is this, THAT WE MAY WORK IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND LAY THE FOUNDATION OF MAKING THE EARTH A COMMON TREASURY FOR ALL, BOTH RICH AND POOR, THAT EVERYONE THAT IS BORN IN THE LAND MAY BE FED BY THE EARTH HIS MOTHER THAT BROUGHT HIM FORTH, ACCORDING TO THE REASON THAT RULES IN THE CREATION." Then follows this impressive declaration of the motives inspiring their actions: "For it is showed us, That so long as we, or any other, do own the Earth to be the peculiar Interest of Lords and Land Lords, and not common to others as well as to them, we own the Curse, and hold the Creation under Bondage. And so long as we or any other do own Land |
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