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Chapter 4 m o .c te a * g h s gerrard Winstanley, radical reformer a 1 . w w w

m ariel hessayon o .c te a g h s .a w w w

m o .c te a g h ‘and this we count is our dutie, to endeavour to the uttermost, severy man in his .a w place ... a reformation to preserve the peoples liberties, one as wellw as another’ w

m gerrard Winstanley, A Declaration from theo Poor oppressed People .c te a of England g h s .a w w w

m o gerrard Winstanley, The Law of Freedom.c in a platform te a g h s .a w w w From Radical Reformation to English Revolution m o .c te a g h there are six complementary approachess that are essential for enriching our .a w w w

m meaning of the short-lived digger plantationso at st george’s hill in Walton-on- .c te a g h s .a w w w recovery and reconstruction of the available evidence emphasises the importance m o .c te a g h s .a w w w thought. the lives of his fellowm diggers and associates have been similarly explored o .c te a g h complete picture. a seconds concentrates on local contexts and the diggers’ social .a w w w

m relations within theo parishes of Walton and Cobham, economic pressures, the .c te a shattering impactg of Civil War and widespread rural unrest. a third places the h s .a w w w

m

1 o .c te a Caricchio, gdavid finnegan and lorenza gianfrancesco. readers should be aware that it h s was completed.a before the publication of the magisterial new edition of The Complete Works w w of Gerrardw Winstanley, edited by thomas Corns, ann hughes and david loewenstein

m o .c te a theyg did not always provide sources for their biblical allusions. i have therefore supplied h s .a w w w © Copyrighted Material 88 Varieties of 17th- and Early 18th-Century English Radicalism © Copyrighted Material

diggers within their wider milieu by examining what their writings and reported m o .c te a g yet also differed from other political and religious movements and communitiesh s .a w w w

m o .c te approach invites a rigorous comparison between diggers and levellers,a Particular g h s .a w w w

m o c . te a g h s .a w w w m o .c te a g h – notably biblical, millenarian, hermetic, mystic, utopian,s philosophical, legal .a w and medical texts – together with a convincing explanationw for how potent ideas w

m and distinctive, sometimes proscribed, scriptural interpretationso were transmitted .c te over time and across various geographical, culturala and linguistic boundaries. the g h s .a w w w typography. finally, there has been a tendency to stress both the diggers’ continued m o .c te a g activists and commentators responding to theh challenges of addressing perceived s .a class-based inequalities, widening participationw in the democratic process, the w w

‘transition from an agrarian to an industrialm society’ in parts of the third World, as o .c well as environmental damage to our teplanet caused by human activity. a g h s .a w w w

m o .c te a history of radicalism’, but alsog partly considers whether it is still appropriate to h s posit a single continuous english.a radical tradition – or even multifaceted traditions w w w 1 – stretching from the peasants’ rising of 1381 through to the Chartists. this is vital m o for there is some agreement.c that what largely distinguished the english revolution te a g h from baronial revolts, sreligious wars, rebellions and indeed what has been termed .a w w w 2 Portugal, naples andm elsewhere was radicalism. even so, as is usually recognised, o .c te revolutionary englanda (that supposed ‘Island of great Bedlam g h s 3 island unto itself..a accordingly – and with some measure of success – scholars w w w

m o 1 .c 2 te a g h ‘radicalisms and the english revolution’, pp. 63–9. .a 2 w dw avis, ‘radicalism in a traditional society: the evaluation of radical thought in the w englishm Commonwealth 1649–1660’, History of Political Thought o .c g. Burgess,te ‘on revisionism: an analysis of early stuart historiography in the 1970s and a g h 1980s’,s HJ .a w 3 w William erbury, The Mad Mans Plea w © Copyrighted Material Gerrard Winstanley, Radical Reformer 89 © Copyrighted Material

have attempted to assess how and in what ways the changing political, religious,m o .c social, economic, cultural and intellectual landscapes of early modern continentalte a g h s .a w w studies tracing the roots of english revolutionary experiences and the mannerw in

m o .c te a which, through a process of recovery, dissemination, reinterpretation andg accretion, h s .a w w w m o .c te a g h s .a w of the period, namely the renaissance, Voyages of exploration,w magisterial and w

m radical reformations, Counter-reformation and the thirtyo years War. .c te following in the footsteps of contemporary heresiographersa and polemicists, g h s late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century students of.a theosophy, literature and w w Protestant nonconformity began debating whether mainstreamw english Puritanism

m o and, on its fragmentation, the multitude of sects it spawned.c was fundamentally a te a g continental import or rather a home-grown phenomenonh with its own peculiarities. s .a w w w committed historians who tended to be preoccupied with constructing complicated m o .c te a g h 4 accounts of believers’ sufferings and martyrdom.s marxist historians and a number .a w w w

m o .c te by stressing supposed ideological antecedents.a By turns organised and haphazard, g h s .a w w w m o histories about aspects of an assumed.c ‘heritage’ of which the ‘english people’ had te a g been ‘robbed’. here, however,h the initial impulse was to recover an indigenous s .a 5 lineage: a ‘progressive rationalist’w native english tradition. Characterised by an w w unashamedly teleological,m anachronistic, anti-clerical and anti-imperialist thrust, o .c te a g h s .a w w w

m o .c te a g h s .a w 4 w P. Collinson,w ‘towards a broader understanding of the early dissenting tradition’,

m in P. Collinson,o Godly People. Essays on English Protestantism and Puritanism (london, .c te a g h 5 s r..a samuel, ‘British marxist historians, 1880–1980: Part one’, New Left Review, 120 w w w The Rise and Fall of Revolutionary

m o England..c An Essay on the Fabrication of Seventeenth-Century History te a g h s Cromohs.a Virtual Seminars w w html>,w 1–6. © Copyrighted Material 90 Varieties of 17th- and Early 18th-Century English Radicalism © Copyrighted Material

although the revisionist shift in emphasis from tension to consensus was m o accompanied by a welcome reincorporation of religious beliefs into a grand.c te a g narrative that had gradually been transformed from a bourgeois revolutionh into s .a w w w

m o .c te a g h s manifestation may, as Christopher hill proposed, have had deep.a if largely w w underground roots. reconceived as a series of moments in contextw rather than

m o a continuous tradition, it was nonetheless conceded that these c wars of religion . te a in the atlantic archipelago had ideological components and,g moreover, that h s .a certain contemporaries held beliefs stemming from the magisterialw and radical w 6 w reformations as well as early Christianity. m o .c practical Christianity, derived from the new testament andte comprising the ‘core a g h social agenda of the european radical reformation’, ass the crucial element of a .a w shared vocabulary expressed in otherwise divergent ‘lweveller’, ‘digger’, ‘ranter’ w

m o .c te 7 ‘the last and greatest triumph of the european radicala reformation’. g h s .a w w w m o appropriated, their image successively refashioned.c in the service of new political te a g h s .a greatest of the heresiarchs of marxism’, delineatedw the 1549 east anglian revolts w w

m o .c te a g h s .a w w Jacob Boehme, and suggested thatw Winstanley’s The Law of Freedom was a utopian

m 8 o Utopia. similarly, .c te a g h s society of friends, included .chaptersa on the reformation in germany and england w w w m o of the german peasantry.c in the twelve articles of 1525. moreover, it seemed te a g h s .a w w w 6 C. hill, ‘fromm lollards to levellers’, in C. hill, The Collected Essays of Christopher o .c Hill. Volume Two: Religionte and Politics in Seventeenth-Century England a g h s .a w Varieties of radicalism’,w TRHS w formality: onem aspect of the english revolution’, TRHS o 7 .c J. scott,te England’s Troubles: Seventeenth-century English Political Instability in a g h European s Context .a w w w and Contexts,m 1640–49 o 8 .c te a e. Bernstein, Cromwell and Communism. Socialism and Democracy in the Great g h Englishs Revolution .a w w w © Copyrighted Material Gerrard Winstanley, Radical Reformer 91 © Copyrighted Material

9 m o .c te a g h s .a w w thought the ‘social roots’ of ideas held by Winstanley and the interregnumw sects

m lay in the ‘religion of the common people’: politically immature, medievalo popular .c te a g h s .a w w w persecution in their homeland had brought the vivifying spirit of writings by m o .c te a g h s .a w w w

m on Winstanley while simultaneously insisting that he owedo his religious doctrines .c te 10 a in the same g h s vein, Christopher hill, then a member of the Communist.a party of great Britain, w w who had studied at moscow and familiarised himselfw with soviet interpretations

m o of the interregnum, grouped Winstanley’s writings.c with those ‘communist te a g theories which have appeared with increasing maturityh in all the great middle- s .a class revolutions’. that is to say, doctrines disseminatedw by thomas müntzer, the w w Protestant reformer executed during the german Peasants’ War, and Jan of leiden, m o .c 11 te a g h s .a w broadcaster henry Brailsford, pronouncedw Winstanley’s The New Law of w

m Righteousnes ‘a Communist manifestoo written in the dialect of its day’. he .c te too compared Winstanley’s Law of Freedoma g h s society’, with more’s Utopia, connecting.a Winstanley’s ideas with sixteenth- w w w century Communist thought – particularly the fraternal, ‘left-wing’ anabaptist m o .c te a g h s .a w w w 12 underground heretical sectm the family of love. hill himself later underlined o .c te a g h underworld’ before theys fused with native lower class agrarian communist ideas, .a w w 13 resurfacing in the ‘freedomw of the 1640s’. While hill’s idealised depiction of

m o .c te a g 9 h l. Berens,s The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth as Revealed in .a w the Writings of Gerrardw Winstanley w 10 m o Left-Wing Democracy in the English Civil War: A Study of the .c te Social Philosophya of Gerrard Winstanley g h 125–6, 150–51.s .a w 11 w wGerrard Winstanley. Selections from his Works

12 m o h.n. Brailsford, The Levellers and the English Revolution .c te a g h s 13 .a C. hill, The World Turned Upside Down. Radical Ideas during the English w w Revolutionw © Copyrighted Material 92 Varieties of 17th- and Early 18th-Century English Radicalism © Copyrighted Material

Winstanley as a precursor of nineteenth- and twentieth-century socialism and m o .c te a 14 g political subtext, Winstanley remained an audacious rational utopian communisth s .a w w w

m o .c te müntzer and münster on the Continent, and John Wycliffe and the alollards in g h 15 s england. .a w w w

m o c . te a on the fringes of the ‘professing Christian church’. these oppositionalg voices, h s .a echoing from lollards to hussites, through the radical Protestantw reformers w w and sects of the english revolution down to liberation theologians today, m o .c 16 challenged ‘perceived conservative and reactionary interpretationste of the faith’. a g h more recently, John gurney has argued that Winstanleys should be seen as .a w w w

m and a ‘radical and heterodox tradition of religiouso mysticism’ embracing texts .c te a g h 17 s Theologia Germanica. .a w w w despite differences in emphases, sophistication and quality of research, there is m o a common thread running through this assorted.c scholarship: it shares – and to some te a g extent is unavoidably shaped by – the same hconcerns that confronted contemporary s .a heresiographers and polemicists. their outpourings,w which were often modelled w w upon and positioned within a long linem of anti-heretical writing, amply illustrate o .c te a g h reported doctrinal errors compilers s could be alarmist and self-serving, attaching .a w w labels – even when inappropriatew – to facilitate categorisation, purposefully

m blurring or ignoring subtle doctrinalo distinctions, sometimes failing to recognise .c te a novel beliefs because of theirg tendency to compare what they saw with earlier h s .a w w w

m 14 o Winstanley:.c The Law of Freedom and Other Writings (harmondsworth, te a g h Collected s .a Essaysw w w magistracy’, P&P m o ‘Winstanley: a Case.c for the man as he said he Was’, JEH te a 15 g h t. Wilsons hayes, Winstanley the Digger. A Literary Analysis of Radical Ideas in .a w the English Revolutionw The Law of w

Freedom in a mPlatform or, True Magistracy Restored o 16 .c te a g h political programme’,s Seventeenth CenturyFaith in the .a w Revolution:w The Political Theologies of Müntzer and Winstanley w 17 m o J. gurney, Brave Community. The Digger Movement in the English Revolution .c te a g h s Winstanley and the Diggers, 1649–1999 (london, .a w w w © Copyrighted Material Gerrard Winstanley, Radical Reformer 93 © Copyrighted Material

Christian heresies. thus anabaptist excesses, including the seizure of münster,m o .c were revived through print as cautionary atrocity stories. Published as warningste a g h against introducing religious toleration in england, these pamphlets paralleleds the .a w w infamous exploits of thomas müntzer and Jan of leiden with contemporaryw events

m o .c te a to a contagion that had infected limbs of the body politic and was spreadingg to h 18 s .a its heart. w w w German Brethren’ the Paracelsians and Behmenists, assuming m o .c te a 19 g h of a Popish confederacy let loose by the devil. the Cambridges Platonist henry .a w w w

m from niclaes and that familists had entered england througho the wiles of Popish .c 20 te priests and their emissaries. a g h s mindful of this historiographic legacy, and of the.a challenging nature of w w Winstanley’s and his fellow diggers’ texts, as wellw as the often brief and

m o predominantly hostile nature of much of the remaining.c evidence, i have nonetheless te a g suggested elsewhere that it is fruitful to consider hthe diggers as an offshoot from s .a w w w m o .c te a g h s .a w w w

m o .c te 16 october 1648 and 26 January 1649.a though Winstanley’s puritan and Baptist g h s phases can only be gleaned from reminiscences,.a they still provide a valuable insight w w w into the evolution of his thought. s o much so that the imprint of distinctive general m o .c te a g h s .a Baptist precedents can be seen,w for example, in Winstanley’s implementation of w w

m o .c te a g h s .a 18 w anon., A Warningw for England especially for London in the famous History of w

m the Frantic Anabaptistso A Short History of the Anabaptists of High and .c te Low Germanya g h spanheim, Englandss Warning by Germanies Woe .a w w van sichem, Apocalypsis,w or the Revelation Of certain notorious Advancers of heresie,

m o Gangraena, .c te pp. 67, 72, 89.a g h 19 s r.aichard Baxter, (london: thomas underhill, w w w One Sheet against the Quakers

m pp. 1–2.o .c te a20 g The Conway Letters: The Correspondence of h s Anne,.a Viscountess Conway, Henry More, and Their Friends: 1642–1684 w w pp.w 512–13. © Copyrighted Material 94 Varieties of 17th- and Early 18th-Century English Radicalism © Copyrighted Material

sixteenth-century hutterite practice in moravia, together with the diggers’ use of m o emissaries to spread the good news that they had begun laying the foundations.c of te a 21 g here i will examine Winstanley’s beliefsh s .a w about universal redemption and particular election, which must be viewedw in the w light of a serious schism among Baptists. for, though denominational alignmentsm o .c te did not harden arguably until autumn 1644, there were on the one handa followers g h s of Calvinist doctrine who believed in the ‘particular election and .areprobation’ w w w

m o core arminian or remonstrant tenets who, while accepting particularc election . te a and denying free will, nevertheless taught the ‘Universal Love g of God to all’ and h s .a 22 w in addition, w w i will show how Winstanley’s attitudes towards the saturday and sunday sabbath, m o .c tithes, ministers, magistrates and violence position his teachingste as on the whole a g h budding forth from fertile general Baptist soil. s .a w w w

m o .c te Particular Election and Universal Redemption a g h s .a w w w on the title-page of Winstanley’s The Mysterie of God, Concerning the whole m o Creation, Mankinde.c te a g h s .a teaching on soteriology and eschatology:w ‘And so all Israel shall be saved, w w as it is written, There shall come outm of Sion, the Deliverer, that shall turne o .c away ungodlinesse from Jacob te a g h s .a w w w

23 m Winstanleyo explained that these seven dispensations .c te 24 a g these h s dispensations, moreover, had.a been preordained by god before the foundation of w w w 25 the world and demarcated periods of history. five had already occurred. these m o .c te a g h s .a w w w

m 21 o a. hessayon,.c ‘early modern Communism: the diggers and Community of goods’, te a g Journal for the Studyh of Radicalism s 22 .a thomasw lambe, A Treatise of Particvlar Predestination w w lambe?], The Fountaine of Free Grace OpenedLove and m o Truth in plainness.c Manifested The te a g History of hthe English Baptists, from the Reformation to the Beginning of the Reign of King s .a George Iw w w 23 m gerrard Winstanley, The Mysterie of God o .c pp. 11,te 20. a g h 24 s ibid., pp. 21, 39. .a w 25 w ibid., pp. 27–8. w © Copyrighted Material Gerrard Winstanley, Radical Reformer 95 © Copyrighted Material

m o .c te a g h s .a w w w

m o .c te a g h s .a w w w until the ‘perfect gathering up of the elect’ at the resurrection or d ay of Judgment m 26 o during this sixth great dispensation.c Winstanley te a g h counselled patience, informing those of god’s saints waitings sorrowfully in a .a w sinful condition or spiritual wilderness that this was the ‘gatheringw time’ when w

m o .c te 27 a g h s .a w w Israelw

m o the City at this hour. through the power of anointing.c these believers would te a g h s .a w w w m o .c te a g h s .a w w w

m o .c te eternal but temporary punishment. aa t the last hour god, who is the tree of life g h s .a w w w Israel m o 28 .c then, at the seventh te a g dispensation, which was yet h to come, the mystery of god would be absolutely s .a w w w

m o .c te a g h s .a w w w

m 29 o .c te a situating theg ‘violence, wrath, reproach, oppression, provocations and h s .a w w w

m o 26 .c te ibid.,a pp. 13, 21–3, 29–32, 34. g h 27 s .a The Saints Paradise [1648], w w p. 24. w

28 m o Winstanley, Mysterie of GodSaints .c te a Paradiseg The Works of Gerrard Winstanley h s pp..a 445–6, 447, 454. w w 29 w Winstanley, Mysterie of God, pp. 6–7, 13–14, 27, 44. © Copyrighted Material 96 Varieties of 17th- and Early 18th-Century English Radicalism © Copyrighted Material

therefore able to account both for the presence of religious persecution in england m o and anticipate its increased intensity, because the serpent’s time was growing.c te a 30 g short. his belief in universal redemption, however, was considered a doctrinalh s .a w error. according to the provisions of an ordinance for suppressing blasphemiesw w and heresies, this offence was punishable by imprisonment if disseminatedm from o .c te a g h s 31 The Mysterie of God has an undated preface and bears no publisher’s.a imprint. w w furthermore, Winstanley’s heterodox marriage of universal redemptionw with

m o c . te a potential ‘contradictions’, he explained that, though god wouldg ‘save every one’, h s .a w w w merry’. on the contrary, sinners would ‘not escape punishment’ since they would m o .c te a g h 32 s .a w w w

m seen on the title-page of The New Law of Righteousneso .c te This is Sion out of whom wea are to expect the deliverer g h s 33 to come, that shall turn ungodlinesse from Jacob.a ’. Jacob, meaning following w w w m o .c te a 34 g h as Jacob was s .a 35 w Winstanley should therefore be read w w as using twofold imagery here. first, hem developed his belief in the salvation of all o .c te Israel that are circumcised a g h in heart, and scattered through all thes nations of the earth’ (cf. revelation 7:4, .a 36 w w w

m o .c te a g h s reader’ and require explanation..a w w w Protestant exegetes commonly accepted that the Jewish people’s misfortunes m o .c te a g h s .a w w w

m 30 o .c The Breaking of the day of God te a g Saints Paradise, pp. 21, 41, 42. h s 31 .a w Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642–1660 w w m 32 o Winstanley,.c Mysterie of God, pp. 14, 19–20, 50–53, 55. te a 33 g gerrardh Winstanley, The New Law of Righteousnes Budding forth, in restoring the s .a whole Creationw from the bondage of the curse w w 34 m Cf. Winstanley, Saints Paradise, pp. 77–8. o 35.c te Cf. george foster, The Pouring Forth of the Seventh and Last Viall upon all Flesh a g h s .a w 36 w Winstanley, p. 149. w © Copyrighted Material Gerrard Winstanley, Radical Reformer 97 © Copyrighted Material

Jews could not behold god in Christ, calling Christ a deceiver, persecuting andm o .c Israel’, that iste the a g 37 h descendants of abraham who observed the law of moses. these ‘outward’s Jews .a w w w

m o .c te a the ‘abrahamites’ in whom the ‘blessing of the most High’ remained (cf.g romans h s .a w w w King of righteousnesse’ and ‘Prince of m o peace.c te a g h s .a w w Saviour’ w

m which lay hidden, ‘hated, persecuted and despised’ withino the twelve tribes of .c te israel circumcised in heart. in other words, Winstanleya envisaged the blessing g h s as the indwelling Christ which was now ‘breaking forth.a ’ to liberate the righteous w w from the ‘dark clouds of inward bondage, and outwardw persecution’ (cf. romans

m o .c restore all things’, thereby te a g freeing ‘the whole Creation from the curse’ under hwhich it groaned (genesis 3:17, s 38 .a doubtless it was identifying withw Jews in an inward Pauline sense w w as inheritors of the blessed promised seed that reportedly prompted Winstanley’s m o .c 39 fellow digger William everard to declare thatte he was ‘of the race of the Jewes’. a g h similarly, Winstanley signed himself ‘a waiters for the consolation of Israel .a w w w

m o .c te ordinances, he instructed the twelvea tribes to stand still in this ‘time of Iacobs g h s trouble.a w w w m o .c te a 40 g the curse rested. h s .a Conceiving of the blessingw as the indwelling Christ hidden within inward Jews, w w

Winstanley also regardedm it as synonymous with Jacob. for Winstanley, Jacob o .c was Christ, the ‘elect orte chosen onerejected one, the a g h s .a w w w

m o .c te a g h s .a w w w power to ‘act and rule in every man’. hence esau was associated with the ‘wisdom m o .c te a g 37 h Winstanley,s Mysterie of GodBreaking of the day of .a w God w Saints Paradise Winstanley, pp. 113, 160, w

m 215. o .c 38te a ibid., pp. 149–54. g h s 39 .a anon., The Declaration and Standard of the Levellers of England w w 40 w Winstanley, pp. 152–3, 154, 163, 189, 191, 195. © Copyrighted Material 98 Varieties of 17th- and Early 18th-Century English Radicalism © Copyrighted Material

m o .c te a g Consequently he sold both his ‘birth-right and blessing’ to Jacob (genesis 25:27–h s .a w w w

m o .c te been downtrodden and in servitude a ‘long time’. now, however, thea younger g h s .a w w within the hearts of inward Jews to rule in righteousness and ‘restorew all things’.

m o c . te a g h s .a w w w m o 41 .c bring peace to the whole Creation. te a g h s .a w testament that foreshadowed aspects of the Christianw dispensation. esau – the w

m o .c te – the elect – corresponded to the spirit within ruleda by the second adam, Christ. g h s But in a bold step Winstanley went further still..a for he maintained that esau’s w w w dominion was supported by university-trained clergymen and public preachers, m o ‘false teachers’ and betrayers of Christ who,.c while deceitfully promising an te a 42 g h s .a Conversely, Jacob would sweep away ‘allw the refuge of lies, and all oppressions’ w w

m o .c te receive the a g h GospelThes poor shal inherit the earth’ (cf. matthew .a 43 w w w

m brethren freemen in the earth, ando the younger brethren slaves’. indeed, in The .c te a Law of Freedom in a platformg h s .a w w w – to be supported by the central pillar of Calvinist doctrine, the double decree m o which made: .c te a g h s .a w one brother a lord,w and another a servant, while they are in their mothers womb, w

before they havem done either good or evil: this is the mighty ruler, that hath o .c te a g h s 44 from eternity.a to eternity. w w w

m o .c te a g h s 41 .a w Winstanley, pp. 149, 150, 165, 173, 176–7, 178–80, 187, 189–90, 213, w w

228, 237.m o 42.c te ibid., pp. 178–9, 226–7, 240. a g h 43 s New Law of Righteousnes, title-page. .a w 44 w Winstanley, pp. 530, 381, 568. w © Copyrighted Material Gerrard Winstanley, Radical Reformer 99 © Copyrighted Material

The Saturday and Sunday Sabbath m o .c te a g h Winstanley’s use of types was widespread, extending to his understandings of .a w w mosaic law. Christians from thomas aquinas onwards conventionally w divided

m o .c te a this law was believed to have been given by god to moses, beginningg with the h s .a w w w in the remainder of the Pentateuch. the moral law was derived from the ten m o Commandments and all but a handful of Christians regarded.c it as inviolate. te a g h Judicial laws, according to aquinas, ‘did not bind for ever, buts were annulled by .a w w w

m o .c te a g h s not observed as if ‘they derived their binding force . througha being institutions w w of the old law’. Both Calvin’s advocacy of the deathw penalty for blasphemy

m o and the Parliamentary ordinance of may 1648 against.c the same offence can be te a g h s .a w w w m o .c te a g h sin for Christians to observe them. the sevenths of the thirty-nine articles of the .a w w w

m touching ceremonies and rites did not o bind Christian men, but no Christian man .c te 45 whatsoever was free from obeying thea moral commandments. g h s .a w w w english Protestant commentators from at least the mid-1590s to be ‘properly and m o perpetually’ a moral law, rather than.c a ceremonial or partly moral, partly ceremonial te a 46 g law. however, several notableh separatist and Baptist Judaisers – Christians s .a who adopted selected Jewishw customs or religious rites – argued that following w w

Jewish precedent the sabbathm should be celebrated on the seventh day of the o .c 47 te although Winstanley exhibited a g h s .a w w w 45 m thomas aquinas,o Summa Theologica, prima secundæ partis, question 101, ‘the .c te a g h s .a w w legalism’, JEHw

46 m henryo Burton, A brief Answer to a late Treatise of the Sabbath Day (amsterdam, .c te a A Declaration of the Christian Sabbath g h s .a SCJ w w w

m Godlyo People, pp. 429–43. .c te a47 g d. Katz, Sabbath and Sectarianism in Seventeenth-Century England (leiden, h s .a The Seventh-Day Men: Sabbatarians and Sabbatarianism in England and w w Wales,w 1600–1800 © Copyrighted Material 100 Varieties of 17th- and Early 18th-Century English Radicalism © Copyrighted Material

Judaising tendencies, particularly his love of spiritual israel and later borrowings m o from mosaic law when laying out the foundations of his ideal republic, he was.c te a g no defender of the saturday sabbath. indeed, he regarded the Jewish sabbathh as a s .a w w w what ‘Gentile Christians’ would constantly ‘perform in the substance’.m for the o .c te ‘Sabbath Day’ denoted a ‘Day of a Christians rest’ (hebrews 4:8, cf. aColossians g h s .a w 48 w in the soul, and the souls indwelling in him’. w

m o ministers for enforcing observance of the sunday sabbath withc the magistrates’ . te a g h s 49 .a Jewish tipe’. Profanation of the sabbath, it should be stressed,w was a serious w w m o .c te a g h bowls and football outside the hours of divine service s– was publicly burned by .a 50w the hangman on 10 may 1643 at Cheapside, london.w What is more, according w

m to the provisions of an ordinance of 8 april 1644, travellingo and labouring on the .c te a g h s severe penalties than the original laws for the m.a assachusetts Bay Colony which w w 51 w m o following the golden rule of doing to. c others as you would be done unto te a g h s .a then the power of the risen Christ wouldw stone to death thoughts, studies and w w

m o .c te a g h s .a w w not been a forced business but a ‘voluntaryw act of love’ among the apostles who

m o .c te a diggers who began cultivatingg the earth on st george’s hill one april sunday in h s .a w w w confrontational gesture. Certainly this unashamed sabbath breach echoes Jesus’ m o .c te a g h s .a w w w

m o .c te a 48 g Winstanley,h Mysterie of GodBreaking of the day of God, s .a p. 92. w w w 49 m Winstanley, p. 143. o 50 .c CJte LJ, vi, 32, LJDie Veneris 5 Maij 1643 a g h s A Sight of ye Trans-actions of these latter yeares Emblemized (london, .a w w w 51 m o Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum .c te C. da urston, ‘“Preaching and sitting still on sundays”: the lord’s day during the english g h s Religion in Revolutionary England .a w w w © Copyrighted Material Gerrard Winstanley, Radical Reformer 101 © Copyrighted Material

52 observance. The Law of Freedom where Winstanleym o .c thought it ‘very rational and good’ that his Commonwealth should have a ‘tDaye a g h of Rests .a w w w

m o .c te a g h s .a w w w ministers to communicate news and read the law of the Commonwealth as well as m o 53 .c te a g h s .a w w w

m Tithes o .c te a g h s tithes were a sign of homage and had been given by the.a children of israel to the w w levites as tribute for their service in the tabernacle. wleviticus required that they

m o 54 .c this te a g ancient Jewish custom, practised for centuries by theh Church, regulated in london s .a by statute of henry Viii and claimed not by donationw but as of divine right, proved w w a source of bitter, protracted controversy. shortly before the german Peasants’ War, m o .c te Von dem a g h Pfaffen Zehenden (On Ecclesiastical Tithess .a w w w

m those who compelled the poor to pay otithes, he declared, were ‘viler betrayers of .c te Christ than Judas, yes worse than thea godless priests of Baal’. in the summer of g h s 55 1524 anti-tithe rebellions erupted all.a over southern germany. similarly, with the w w w m o resistance to the collection of .tithes,c hitherto sporadic, became widespread. on te a g 8 november 1644, Parliamenth issued an ordinance authorising Justices of the s .a Peace in certain circumstancesw to commit defaulters to gaol. opposition to the w w

m o .c future leveller richard teoverton publicised the ‘abundance of Poore, fatherlesse, a g h s .a w 56 w as an alternative. Petitionsw were organised and presented to the lord mayor of

m london and houseo of Commons urging the removal of the ‘tedious burthen’ of .c te a g h s .a 52 w w Winstanley, pp. 125, 141, 143, 265. w 53 m ibid.,o pp. 562–3. .c 54 te a g h s 14:22. .a w 55 w wJ. stayer, The German Peasants’ War and Anabaptist Community of Goods (montreal

m o .c te a a Caseg study of nuremberg in 1524’, SCJ h s 56 .a [richard overton], The Ordinance for Tythes Dismounted w w p.w 22. © Copyrighted Material 102 Varieties of 17th- and Early 18th-Century English Radicalism © Copyrighted Material

tithes, arguing that they were a Jewish ceremonial law and had been abrogated m 57 o with the coming of Christ. .c te a g Winstanley, too, reproved the clergy for enforcing the collection of h tithes s .a w w w 58 ‘scripture’. m o .c 59 te preached for hire, he compared their covetousness to Judas, betrayer aof Christ. g h s in An appeal to the House of Commons .a w w historical explanation for the introduction of tithes to england, arguingw that they

m o had been brought in with the norman Conquest so that Williamc i could pay his . te a debts to the Papacy and clergy, the latter having tried to persuadeg the people to h s .a embrace the Conqueror through their preaching. By includingw tithes among the w w burdensome norman laws imposed upon the english, Winstanley was therefore m o .c able to suggest both that royal authority was buttressed byte the ‘norman-Clergy’ a g h and that these mercenary ‘oppressing tith-mungers’ weres available to the highest .a w 60 bidder, whether Catholic or Protestant, royalist or rwepublican. in The Law of w

m Freedom, Winstanley connected the norman Conqueror’so oppressive power, .c te which stemmed from covetousness and pride, witha samuel’s warning to the g h s .a w w w placed upon the shoulders of the ‘Commoners of England m o 61 .c interestingly, te a g the anonymous author of Light shining inh Buckinghamshire More s .a Light shining in Buckinghamshirew w w

m o .c te Norman a g 62 h Bastard William’. s .a w w w

m o .c te a g h s .a w w w

m o .c te a g h 57 s .a anon., The Inditementw of TythesGangraena w w The Countreys Plea against Tythes m o The Husbandmans.c Plea against TithesTo the te a Right Honourable gthe Commons of England in Parliament assembled. The humble Petition h s .a of Thousands of wwel-affected persons inhabiting the City of London w 58 w Winstanley, Breaking of the day of God Winstanley, m o pp. 130, 143,.c 470. te a 59 g h Winstanley,, pp. 194, 206, 233. s .a 60 w w w

m o .c gerrardte Winstanley’, P&P a g h 61 s Winstanley, pp. 504, 510, 522, 523, 532, 561. .a w 62 w ibid., Winstanley, pp. 612–13, 630–31. w © Copyrighted Material Gerrard Winstanley, Radical Reformer 103 © Copyrighted Material

Anticlericalism m o .c te a g 63 h Winstanley’s anticlericalism pervades his writings. in The Breaking of thes Day .a w w of God he regarded the various forms of Church government as branchesw of the

m beast that was waging war against god’s holy people. this ‘Bastardly’, oppressiveo .c te a human authority was hypocritically persecuting the saints who worshippedg the h s .a lamb, ‘God in Man’, enforcing religious conformity through observancew of w w m o of the Canons of 1604 and then the directory for Public Worship.c (4 January te a g h s .a 64 w ungodliness. exercising a monopoly on preaching, proud learnedw scholars trained w

m o .c te a g h s .a w w w

m o .c te 65 a g god. Continuing in this vein, Winstanley subsequentlyh denounced preaching s .a w w w m o .c professing a ‘literal’ gospel stood in oppositionte to the ‘ministry of the gospel’ that a g h s .a w 66 w w

m in Truth Lifting up its head above scandalso Winstanley adopted a catechetical .c te format, telling his readers that, althougha church attendance was voluntary, the g h s state could not force people to either.a hear clerical interpretations of scripture or w w w maintain ministers by tithes. furthermore, clergymen were not empowered to m o determine doctrinal errors. Winstanley.c concluded with a condemnation of ten te a g h s .a conducted on certain days w at particular times according to custom, rather than w w

m o .c te a g h s .a w w w 63 f. stripp, ‘tmhe anti-Clericalism of gerrard Winstanley’, Historical Magazine o .c te of the Protestant a Episcopal Church g h anticlericalism ins the Puritan revolution’, Journal of the History of Ideas .a w w Winstanley w

m Winstanley’s oearly writings’, Political Studies .c te a Radicalism and Reverence. The Political Thought g h of Gerrards WinstanleyBrave Community, p. 98. .a w 64 w wWinstanley, Breaking of the day of God, pp. 73, 84–5, 88, 128, 133–4.

65 m o The Confession of Faith, Of those Churches which are .c te a commonlyg (though falsly) called Anabaptists h s 66 .a Winstanley, Saints Paradise Mysterie of God, w w wpp. 33–4. © Copyrighted Material 104 Varieties of 17th- and Early 18th-Century English Radicalism © Copyrighted Material

m o .c te a g h s .a w w w

m o .c te a g h s 67 .a w w reiterating his invective against the clergy in The New Law ofw Righteousnes,

m o Winstanley also drew a comparison between the ‘bitter’ ‘zealousc scribes and . te a g h s .a w w w were hindering Christ from rising within the cloudy hearts of his saints. these m o .c deceitful Pharisees of Winstanley’s own age, who despisedte poor men and women a g h s .a w blasphemers, and what not’, would be stoned out of w their pulpits (cf. leviticus w

m o .c te moneychangers out of the temple at Jerusalem a and overthrowing their tables g h 68 s .a w w w m o 69 and public worship an ‘abomination to the .lc ord’. in A New-yeers Gift for the te a g Parliament and Armieh s 70 .a branch of ‘tyrannical Kingly power’. thoughw he came to identify clerical power w w 71 m o .c Winstanley returned to the relationshipte between monarchical and clerical power in a g h The Law of Freedom. singling out ‘olds formal ignorant episcopal Priests’ as bitter .a w w enemies of the new Commonwealth,w he traced the origins of a ‘national ministry’

72 m to the norman Conquest. o .c te a g h s .a w w w Magistracy and Magistrates m o .c te a g h although scripture requireds Christians to render ‘unto Caesar the things which .a w w w

Protestant reformersm had developed arguments concerning the duty of obedience o .c te and concomitant rightsa of resistance. Calvin, for instance, suggested that ‘unwitting g h s agents’ or ‘manifest.a avengers’ were raised up by god to deliver the people from w w calamity, whilew ‘popular magistrates’ were appointed to curb regal tyranny. he also

m o .c te 67 a g h Winstanley, pp. 130, 138–9, 142–5. s 68 .a iwbid., pp. 164, 187, 200, 206, 208, 213–14, 224, 240, 339, 409, 463, 466. w w 69 m ibid., p. 242. o 70.c te ibid., pp. 372, 381. a g h 71 s ibid., pp. 466, 469. .a w 72 w ibid., pp. 504, 522–3. w © Copyrighted Material Gerrard Winstanley, Radical Reformer 105 © Copyrighted Material

m o .c between complementary ecclesiastical and civil powers. according to Calvin,te a g h the Church was to refuse unrepentant sinners communion but had no right tos use .a w w w

m magistrates, on the other hand, were required ‘to purge the Church ofo offences .c te 73 a by corporal punishment and coercion’. Calvin’s attitude contrastedg with that h s .a maintained in Brüderliche vereynigung etzlicher kinder Gottes, sibenw Artickel w w betreffend (Brotherly Union of a number of children of God concerning Seven m o Articles .c te a g h s .a w w w

m the sword was now ‘outside the perfection of Christ’. Consequently,o magistrates .c te a g h s Christians, whose weapons and armour were spiritual – truth,.a righteousness, peace, w w faith, holiness, and the Word of god – to serve as magistrates,w because worldly

m 74 o this controversial.c position was to be thrown te a g h s .a daniel featley in The Dippers diptw w w m o .c te a g h 75 fourth, criminals should not be put to death.s distancing themselves from some .a w of these charges as well as unfavourablew comparisons with the licentiousness of w

m the anabaptists of münster, seven Particularo Baptist churches in london issued .c te The Confession of Faitha g h s .a w w w outside the house of Commons in January 1646. the forty-eighth stated that civil m o magistracy was an ‘ordinance .cof god’ set up by god for the punishment of evil te a g h s .a w w w that, in cases of religiousm persecution, saints ought to obey god rather than o .c te a g h s .a 73 w Jean Calvin, Institutesw of the Christian Religion, trans. f. l. Battles and ed. w

m o .c te a g h 74 s Brotherly.a Union of a number of children of God concerning Seven Articles, article w w w Anabaptists and

m the Swordo The Anabaptists, trans. .c te a g h s articles in.a light of the revolution of the Common man: Continuation or departure?’, SCJ, w w w

75 m o .c daniel featley, The Dippers dipt te a g Gangraena, pt 2, h s .a Heresie detected: Or the grand sectaries of These times confuted w w w © Copyrighted Material 106 Varieties of 17th- and Early 18th-Century English Radicalism © Copyrighted Material

76 magistrates. similarly, the general Baptist edward Barber gave out a pamphlet m o at the Commons’ door in september 1648 in which he argued for separation.c of te a g ecclesiastical and civil powers. magistrates were to punish disobedient sinnersh s .a w w w 77 to meddle with a gathered church. m o .c te Winstanley initially regarded the institution of magistracy as ‘gods aordinance’ g h s .a w w to preserve peace in the world by being ‘a terror to the wicked’ wand outwardly

m o punishing evil doers. Civil magistrates had been empowered withc authority to . te a 78 govern lawfully and individuals were commanded to be obedient.g since the days h s .a of the roman emperor nero, however, which Winstanley calledw the ‘day of the w w m o .c te a g h s .a 79w when both magistrates and people had been deceived. w through the subtle, crafty w

m o .c te a g h s 80 .a But now magistracy w w w would run its right course to help god’s saints by putting Church government m o .c shall love te a 81 g the people, and be nursing Fathers to themh s .a afterwards, having censured the clergyw for enforcing the sunday sabbath, w w tithes, church attendance and doctrinalm conformity by abusing the magistrate’s o 82 .c power, Winstanley outlined how ‘imaginaryte government’ would be overturned a g h s .a w w w

m o .c te a detriment of poor commoners.g Conversely, true government would be established h s when god, the King of righteousness,.a ruled over all with power and authority. w w w then pure magistracy – that is to say, the light of love, humility, reason, truth and m o 83 peace – would shine forth.c among the nations uniting them in universal love. te a g h s .a w w w

76 m CJo A Confession of Faith of seven Congregations or Churches of Christ .c te a in Londong CJ, vi, p. 178. h 77 s edward . Barber,a An Answer to the Eight Quaeries propounded by the House of w w w Commons An answer to the Essex watchmens watch- m o word.c te 78 a g Winstanley,h Breaking of the day of God, pp. 83, 88, 103, 132, 135. s 79 .a iwbid., pp. 60–63, 103. w w 80 m ibid., pp. 83–4, 88, 132–5. o 81.c te ibid., sig. a4, pp. 59, 135. a g h 82 s Winstanley, pp. 102, 130, 143, 206, 241, 470. .a w 83 w ibid., pp. 472–4. w © Copyrighted Material Gerrard Winstanley, Radical Reformer 107 © Copyrighted Material

hoping to see ‘true magistracy restored’, Winstanley dedicated to Cromwell hism o 84 .c design for ‘Commonwealths government’: The Law of Freedom. te a g h s .a w w w

m Capital Punishment, Holy War, Military Service and Non-resistanceo .c te a g h s .a Just as the polygenetic and variegated nature of early anabaptismw produced w w m o developed different positions regarding capital punishment, holy.c war, military te a g h service and non-resistance. having separated themselves s from the ungodly .a w w w

m o .c te reconciling mosaic law with new testament teachings a on the sword and peace g h s 85 .a thus, on the one hand, w w Balthasar hubmaier, echoing a view commonplace amongw Protestant reformers

m o that wielding the sword was necessary to preserve order.c in a sinful post-lapsarian te a g world, argued that Christian government was a higherh power set up by god for s 86 .a the punishment of evil-doers. on the other, however,w following Conrad grebel’s w w teachings and the sixth of the schleitheim articles, some of the swiss Brethren, m o .c te a g 87 h s .a w w w

m o .c te a g h s 88 saints to draw it as the day of Judgment.a approached. again at münster, Bernhard w w w m o 89 the entire ‘Babylonian power’ .cand ‘godless establishment’. Conversely a few te a g swiss Brethren refused militaryh service as did the hutterites, who professing love s .a w w w

m o .c te a 84 g h gerrard Winstanley,s The Law of Freedom in a platform: Or, True Magistracy .a w Restoredw w 85 stayer, Anabaptistsm and Sword, pp. 36–40, 62–3, 77, 102–3, 123, 126–8, 147–8, o .c 169, 176. te a g 86 h s CH .a w w Anabaptism: A Social History, 1525–1618. Switzerland, Austria, w

m Moravia, Southo and Central Germany .c te Anabaptistsa and Sword g h Anabaptistss , pp. 100–103. .a w 87 w wAnabaptists

m and Swordo Anabaptists, pp. 152–5. .c 88te a g stayer, Anabaptists and SwordAnabaptism, h s pp..a 160–66. w w 89 w stayer, Anabaptists and Sword, pp. 227–52. © Copyrighted Material 108 Varieties of 17th- and Early 18th-Century English Radicalism © Copyrighted Material

90 taxes. resonant of erasmus’s condemnation of mercenary warfare in Querela m o Pacis .c te a g h s .a w w w 91 to these same texts. indeed, michael sattler, together with the separatistm swiss o .c te a g h s .a w w w

m o c . te 92 a tyrannical oppression. g h s .a w w w m o .c te a g h at the magistrate’s command and serve in wars. the Protestants preacher hugh .a w latimer also denounced it as a foolish anabaptist misinterpretationw of scripture w

m o .c 93 te or goe to warrefare’. furthermore, drawing ona Zwingli’s successor heinrich g h s Bullinger and other sources, english heresiographers.a and controversialists w w w m o some attributing it to a peculiar sect within the.c movement called ‘separatists’. it te a g must be emphasised, however, that these hsame critics gave far greater attention s 94 .a to anabaptist acts of violence. nor forw all their doctrinal disputes were the w w

m o .c 95 in Parliament’s armies during the Civilte Wars. indeed Baptists were involved a g h s .a w 90 w w The Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren. Volume I., trans. the hutterian Brethren m o . c te a g AnabaptismAnabaptists h s and Sword.a Anabaptists, p. 104. w w 91 w stayer, Anabaptists and Sword m o .c te a 92 g h Anabaptists and Sword, pp. 4–5, 101–2, s .a 118–25, 161, 169, 173–5,w 269, 300, 310–11, 318–19. w w 93 hugh latimer,m Certayn Godly Sermons o .c The Radical Brethren:te Anabaptism and the English Reformation to 1558 a g h s .a 94 w w A Confutation of certaine Articles deliuered unto the Familye of w

Louem The Faith, Doctrine, and Religion professed o .c and protectedte in the Realm of EnglandDippers a g h dipt s A Confutation of the Anabaptists .a w w The Anabaptists Catechisme ([london]: w

m Englands Warning Heresiography o .c te a g h 95 s J.f. mcgregor, ‘the Baptists: fount of all heresy’, in J.f. mcgregor and B. reay .a w w Radical Religion in the English Revolution w © Copyrighted Material Gerrard Winstanley, Radical Reformer 109 © Copyrighted Material

in planning the abortive fifth monarchy rising of 1657 and, though they didm o .c not participate – despite their eagerness – as an organised group in the bloodyte a g h insurrection of 1661, an enterprising pamphleteer nonetheless paralleled münsters .a w 96 w with the ‘late massacres’ committed by the fifth monarchists. w

m Besides certain anabaptist groups, the anti-trinitarian Polish o Brethren .c te a and english adherents of the family of love were the other sixteenth-centuryg h 97 s .a Protestant denominations notorious for non-resistance. the latterw reportedly w w condemned all wars and, according to a 1561 ‘confession’ of two alleged familists m o .c te a 98 g h s though familists .a w w w

m discounted since it resembles aspects of niclaes’s message.o niclaes deplored .c te a g h s . a w w dwell peaceably in love, with a land of ignorance whosew inhabitants fashioned

m o physical swords, halberds, spears, bows, arrows, ordnance,.c guns and armour to te a 99 g wage destructive outward battles one against another.h s .a w w w m o .c weapons which would destroy yet ‘never buildte up’ and peacefully expecting the a g h swords shalls be beaten into plough irons’ and .a w ‘spears into pruning hooksw The New Law of w

m Righteousneso .c te but ‘the rising up of the curse’ under whosea burden the Creation groaned (romans g h 100 s .a The True Levellers Standard Advanced w w w m o tyrannical oppression, questioning.c the madness of violent self-destruction – which te a g h s .a 96 w CSPD 1660–61w Munster Paralleld In the Late Massacres Committed w by the Fifth Monarchistsm o .c EHRte a g 97 h g. Williams, Thes Radical Reformation .a w w w

Church, 1565–1605’,m Slavonic and East European Review o .c te a Transactions g h of the American Philosophicals Society .a 98 w w w The displaying of an horrible

m secte of grosseo and wicked heretiques, naming themselues the Family of loue (london, .c te a Faith, Doctrine, and Religion, p. 214. g h 99 s .a Euangelium regni w w niclaes,w Terra pacisIntrodvctio.

m An introductiono to the holy understanding of the Glasse of Righteousnes .c te a fol. g 21r [2nd pagination]. h s 100 .a WinstanleyBreaking of the w w wday of God, pp. 136–7. © Copyrighted Material 110 Varieties of 17th- and Early 18th-Century English Radicalism © Copyrighted Material

m o instead they declared their willingness to accept martyrdom, to offer their blood.c te a g h s .a w not byw Sword w 101 or Weapon’ but by his ‘Spirit accounts of their mactivities o .c te a g h s 102 .a w w moreover, there were several instances when they responded to violencew with non-

m o resistance. hence when a digger was punched during an argumentc he responded . te 103 a Winstanley claimed that diggersg imprisoned in h s .a Walton church were beaten by the ‘rude multitude’, and hew also accused some w w infantry quartered at Walton of assaulting a man and thrashing a boy, stealing and m o 104 .c on 11 June 1649, fourte diggers were brutally a g h s .a 105 w women’s apparel. again, in april 1650, a poor man’sw house was pulled down w

m o .c te more of their houses were burned down, the diggersa were threatened with murder g h 106 s unless they abandoned their plantation. .a w w w despite enduring these ‘Remarkable Sufferings ’ brought about by the ‘great m o 107 red Dragons power.c Victories te a g h s .a over another. dragon had fought against dragon,w beast against beast, covetousness w w and pride against covetousness and pride.m now, however, there was striving in o .c te a g h s .a w w covetousness – Winstanley warnedw that they would perish with them. for, armed

m o .c te a g h s .a w 101 w Winstanleyw , pp. 247, 253, 256, 266.

m 102 o anon., Declaration.c and Standard of Levellers of EnglandA Modest Narrative te a of Intelligenceg A Perfect Diurnall of Some Passages in h s .a Parliamentw The Kingdomes Weekly Intelligencer, no. w w The ModerateThe m o Perfect Weekly Account.c The Kingdomes Faithfull and Impartial te a Scoutg h s .a P&Pw w 103 w Kingdomes Faithfull and Impartiall Scout m o .c te a g Georges Hillh in Surry s 104 .a w Winstanley Brave Community, w w p. 153.m o 105.c te WinstanleyBrave Community, pp. 153–4. a g h 106 s Winstanley, pp. 433–6. .a w 107 w ibid., p. 392. w © Copyrighted Material Gerrard Winstanley, Radical Reformer 111 © Copyrighted Material

himself as a soldier of Christ engaged in a spiritual battle: ‘dragon against them o 108 .c lamb’, ‘the power of love against the power of covetousnesse’. te a g h s .a w w w

m o .c te a g h 109 s .a Winstanley’s opposition to using weapons in self-defence. w w w all the same, Winstanley never remained entirely opposed to using violence. m o in The Law of Freedom, he envisaged an ideal republic established.c on patriarchal te a g h foundations with a Parliament protected by a standing army thats would preserve .a w 110 public order, quell insurrection and repel foreign invasion. thisw was a necessity. w

m Partly modelled on pre-monarchical ancient israel, his commonwealtho had a legal .c te a g h s restricted diet, year-long servitude, an ‘eye for eye, .a tooth for tooth, limb for w w w

m o legal fees, maintained preaching, buying and selling.c land or produce within the te a g h s .a 111 shoot or whip the offender ‘according to the sentencew of law’. w w

m o .c te a g h in december 1646, robert Baillie, a Churchs of scotland minister and supporter .a w of Presbyterianism concerned by the ‘greatw multitude’ of ‘seducing spirits’ that w

m in ‘these very miserable times’ were goingo forth into an evil world, penned the .c te preface to his Anabaptism, the Trvea Fovntaine of Independency, Brownisme, g h s Antinomy, Familisme, And the most.a of the other Errours, which ... doe trouble w w 112 w the Church of England despite the problematic nature of anti- m o heretical writing in general and.c its spectre in particular, which haunts scholarly te a g efforts to unearth the roots ofh Winstanley’s thought, there is much to be said for s .a Baillie’s analysis. for distinctivew general Baptist tenets were, as we have seen, the w w

m o .c te a 108 g h ibid., pp. 271, 272,s 286, 295, 297-8, 298, 329, 336, 346, 364, 379, 389–90, 437. .a 109 w w Journal of George Fox w

m A declaration from the harmles & o .c te innocent people of aGod, called QuakersApocalypse of the Word. g h The Life and Messages of George Fox (1624–1691) .a w w Radical Religion in the w

m English Revolutiono .c te a g h s .a w 110 w w Winstanley, pp. 286, 552–3, 561–2, 571–6.

111m o .c te a debateg on Capital Punishment during the english revolution’, American Journal of Legal h s History.a w w 112 w robert Baillie, Anabaptism, the Trve Fovntaine © Copyrighted Material 112 Varieties of 17th- and Early 18th-Century English Radicalism © Copyrighted Material

well-spring from which Winstanley imbibed ideas that informed his understanding m o .c te a g particular election, the saturday and sunday sabbath, tithes, ministers, magistratesh s .a w and violence. furthermore, Winstanley’s antiscripturism together with hisw beliefs w

m o .c te a g h s Baptist milieu. then there is the question of Winstanley’s reading habits.a and the w w w

m o c . te a g h s .a of the general Baptists and familists to müntzer and münsterw on the Continent, w w and John Wycliffe and the lollards in england, i suspect that historians sceptical m o .c of the existence of continuous multifaceted english radicalte traditions would a g h remain unconvinced. doubtless the resonances and parallelss shown here between .a w Winstanley, his contemporaries and their predecessorsw will be regarded merely w

m o .c te suffering and martyrdom. all the same, it is worth aremembering that these beliefs, g h s the manner in which they were articulated and the.a actions they engendered were w w w m o the english revolution – and that fact itself should.c give us pause for thought. te a g h s .a w w w

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