RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
TO
THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS
(THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT)
TO WHOM THE WORLD OWES MORE THAN IT YET RECOGNISES
AND
WHOSE FUNDAMENTAL DOCTRINES
THE AUTHOR
HAS LEARNED TO LOVE AND ADMIRE
WHILST WRITING THIS BOOK

CHAP.		PAGE
I.	THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY	[1]
II.	THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND	[12]
III.	THE GREAT CIVIL WAR	[23]
IV.	THE DIGGERS	[34]
V.	GERRARD WINSTANLEY	[41]
VI.	WINSTANLEY’S EXPOSITION OF THE QUAKER DOCTRINES	[52]
VII.	THE NEW LAW OF RIGHTEOUSNESS	[68]
VIII.	LIGHT SHINING IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE	[79]
IX.	THE DIGGERS’ MANIFESTOES	[90]
X.	A LETTER TO LORD FAIRFAX, ETC.	[100]
XI.	A WATCHWORD TO THE CITY OF LONDON, ETC.	[112]
XII.	A NEW YEAR’S GIFT FOR THE PARLIAMENT AND ARMY	[132]
XIII.	A VINDICATION; A DECLARATION; AND AN APPEAL	[146]
XIV.	GERRARD WINSTANLEY’S UTOPIA: THE LAW OF FREEDOM	[162]
XV.	THE SAME CONTINUED	[179]
XVI.	THE SAME CONTINUED	[206]
XVII.	CONCLUDING REMARKS	[228]
	APPENDIX A. THE TWELVE ARTICLES OF THE GERMAN PEASANTRY, 1525	[ 235]
	APPENDIX B. CROMWELL ON TOLERATION	[241]
	APPENDIX C. WINSTANLEY’S LAWS FOR A FREE COMMONWEALTH	[244]
	BIBLIOGRAPHY	[255]
	INDEX	[257]

THE DIGGER MOVEMENT

CHAPTER I
THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY

“Whatever the prejudices of some may suggest, it will be admitted by all unbiassed judges, that the Protestant Reformation was neither more nor less than an open rebellion. Indeed, the mere mention of private judgment, on which it was avowedly based, is enough to substantiate this fact. To establish the right of private judgment, was to appeal from the Church to individuals; it was to increase the play of each man’s intellect; it was to test the opinion of the priesthood by the opinions of laymen; it was, in fact, a rising of the scholars against their teachers, of the ruled against their rulers.”—Buckle.

What is known in history as the Reformation is one of those monuments in the history of the development of the human mind betokening its entry into new territory. Fundamental conceptions and beliefs, cosmological, physical, ethical or political, once firmly established, change but slowly; the universal tendency is tenaciously to cling to them despite all evidence to the contrary. Still men’s views do change with their intellectual development, as newly discovered facts and newly accepted ideas come into conflict with old opinions, and force them to reconsider the evidence on which these latter were based. Prior to the Reformation, many such conceptions and beliefs, at one time holding undisputed dominion over the human mind, had been called into question, their authority challenged, undermined, and weakened, and they had commenced to yield pride of place to others more in accordance with increased knowledge of nature and of life. The revival of classical learning, geographical and astronomical discoveries, and more especially, perhaps, the invention and rapid spread of the art of printing, had all conspired to give an unparalleled impetus to intellectual development,—and the Reformation was, in truth, the outward manifestation in the religious world of this development.

CONTENTS

THE DIGGER MOVEMENT

CHAPTER ITHE REFORMATION IN GERMANY

CHAPTER I
THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY