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 82 of 360 (22%)
page 82 of 360 (22%)
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manifest Himself to rule in the flesh of sons and daughters." Concerning
Baptism he says: "I have gone through the ordinance of dipping, which the letter of the Scripture doth warrant, yet I do not press anyone thereunto, but bid everyone to wait upon the Father, till He teach and persuade, and then their submitting will be sound. For I see now that it is not the material water, but the water of life; that is, the Spirit in which souls are to be dipped, and so drawn forth into the one Spirit; and all these outward customs and forms are to cease and pass away."[65:1] As regards prayer, he contends that no one should pray "until the Power within thee gives words to thy mouth to utter, then speak, and thou canst not but speak."[65:2] It is, however, in a subsequent pamphlet, _The New Law of Righteousness_, that Winstanley more fully expounds this characteristic Quaker doctrine, and summarises his deeply philosophic views concerning silence as the necessary precursor of all true prayer, as follows: "All these declare the half-hour's silence that is to be in Heaven (Rev. viii. 1). For all mouths are to be stopped by the power of Reason's law shining within the heart. And this abundance of talk that is amongst people by arguments, by disputes, by declaring expositions upon others' word and writing, by long discourse, called preaching, shall all cease (Jer. xxxi. 34). "Some shall not be able to speak, they shall be struck silent with shame by seeing themselves in a loss and in confusion. Neither shall they care to speak till they know by experience within themselves what to speak; but wait with a quiet silence upon the Lord, till He break forth within their hearts, and give them words and power to speak.... Men must leave off teaching one another, |
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