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 135 of 360 (37%)
page 135 of 360 (37%)
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"that say they preach the Righteous Law," from which, however, we need
only quote the following: "QUESTIONS TO PUBLIC PREACHERS. "First we demand, Yea or No, Whether the Earth, with her fruits, was made to be bought and sold from one to another; And whether one part of mankind was made to be a Lord of the Land, and another part a servant, by the Law of Creation before the Fall? "I affirm (and I challenge you to disprove) that the Earth was made to be a Common Treasury of Livelihood for all, without respect of persons, and was not made to be bought and sold.... And this being a truth, as it is, then none ought to be Lords and Land Lords over another, but the Earth is free to every son and daughter of mankind to live upon." And the letter concludes with the following eloquent and heart-stirring words: "Thus I have declared to you and to all the world what that Power of Life is that is in me; and knowing that the Spirit of Righteousness doth appear to many in this Land, I desire all of you seriously, in love and humility, to consider of this business of Public Community, which I am carried forth in the Power of Love and clear light of Universal Righteousness to advance as much as I can; and I can do no other, the Law of Love in my heart does so constrain me; by reason whereof I am called fool and madman, and have many slanderous reports cast upon me, and meet with much fury from some covetous people; under all of which my spirit is made |
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