The Breaking of the Day of God Wherein Four Things Are Manifested: I. That the Two Witnesses Are Not in Killing, but in Rising from Death; Ii. the Three Days and a Half or 42 1649 Leather Bound

by Gerrard Winstanley

Leather Binding on Spine and Corners with Golden leaf printing on spine. This book is printed in black & white, Sewing binding for longer life, where the book block is actually sewn (smythe sewn/section sewn) with thread before binding which results in a more durable type of binding. Reprinted in 2022 with the help of original edition published long back 1649. As this book is reprinted from a very old book, there could be some missing or flawed pages. If it is multi vo Resized as per current standards. We expect that you will understand our compulsion with such books. 152 The breaking of the day of God wherein four things are I. that the two witnesses are not in killing, but in rising from death; II. the three days and a half or 42 months of the saints captivity under the beast, very near expired; III. Christ hath begun to reign in his saints, and to tread their corrupt flesh under his feet; IIII. Christs dominion over the nations of the world, near the approach 1649 Gerrard Winstanley

152 pages, Leather Bound

Published January 1, 2022

About the author

Gerrard Winstanley, the son of a mercer, was born in Wigan, Lancashire, in 1609. He moved to London in 1690 and became an apprentice in the cloth trade and became a freeman of the Merchant Taylors' Company in 1637.

In September 1640 Windstanley married Susan King and the couple moved to Walton-on-Thames. The Civil War destroyed his business and Winstanley later wrote: "the burdens of and for the soldiery in the beginning of the war, I was beaten out of both estate and trade, and forced to accept the good-will of friends, crediting of me, to live a country life."

Influenced by the ideas of the John Lilburne and the Levellers, Winstanley published four pamphlets in 1648. He argued that all land belonged to the community rather than to separate individuals. In January, 1649, he published the The New Law of Righteousness. Soon after publishing The New Law of Righteousness he established a group called the Diggers.

In April 1649 Winstanley, William Everard, a former soldier in the New Model Army, and about thirty followers took over some common land on St George's Hill in Surrey and "sowed the ground with parsnips, carrots and beans." Digger groups also took over land in Kent (Cox Hill), Surrey (Cobham), Buckinghamshire (Iver) and Northamptonshire (Wellingborough).

Local landowners were very disturbed by these developments, and in July 1649 the government gave instructions for Winstanley to be arrested and for General Thomas Fairfax to disperse the people by force.

Instructions were given for the Diggers to be beaten up and for their houses, crops and tools to be destroyed. These tactics were successful and within a year all the Digger communities in England had been wiped out.

Winstanley continued to argue for the redistribution of land and in 1652 published The Law of Freedom, a pamphlet in which he criticised the government of Oliver Cromwell, holding to the Anabaptist view that all institutions were by their nature corrupt. He also argued for a society without money or wages.

The Law of Freedom sold well and for a while Winstanley's ideas appeared popular with the English people. However, the Restoration brought an end to the discussion about the way society should be organized.

In 1660 Winstanley moved to Cobham and later became a Quaker and worked as a merchant in London. He died on 10th September, 1676.