Certain Verses composed and fitted to tunes, for the delight and recreation of all those that dig, or own that work, in the Commonwealth of England.
Wherein is shewed how the Kingly Power doth still reign in several sorts of men.
With a hint of that Freedom which shall come,
When the Father shall reign alone in His Son.
Set forth by those who were the original of that so righteous a work, and continue still successful therein at Cobham in Surrey.
London.
Printed in the year 1650.”
It contains but two long pieces, both of which merit more than a passing notice. The first, probably from the pen of Robert Coster, entitled “The Diggers Christmasse Caroll,” contains some twenty-eight verses of six lines each. The view and hopes of the Diggers, as well as references to recent public events, are amusingly related, and in conclusion the reader is reminded that—“Freedom is not won, neither by sword nor gun,” and therefore entreated to discard his faith in the efficacy of force, of Money and the Sword, and to share their belief in the power of Love, Righteousness, and Co-operative Labour, for the satisfaction of the needs and desires of all.
The second piece, which we suspect to be from Winstanley’s pen, is headed:
“A hint of that Freedom which shall come,
When the Father shall reign alone in His Son,”
and the first two verses seem to us worthy of being given in full. They run as follows:
“The Father He is God alone,
nothing besides Him is;
All things are folded in that one,
by Him all things subsist.