“Then they came privately by day to Gerrard Winstanley’s house and drove away four cows, I not knowing of it.  They took away the cows which were my livelihood, and beat them with their clubs that the cows’ heads and sides did swell, which grieved tender hearts to see.  And yet,” he pathetically but somewhat humourously adds, “these cows never were upon George Hill, nor never digged upon that ground, and yet the poor beasts must suffer because they gave milk to feed me.  But strangers made rescue of those cows, and drove them astray out of the Bailiffs’ hands, so that the Bailiffs lost them.  But before the Bailiffs had lost the cows, I, hearing of it, went to them and said—­’Here is my body, take me, that I may speak to those Normans that have stolen our land from us; and let the cows go, for they are none of mine.’  After some time, they telling me they had nothing against my body, it was my goods they were to have.  Then said I, ‘Take my goods, for the cows are not mine.’”

Here follows one of the most touching passages to which Winstanley ever set pen: 

“And so I went away and left them, being quiet in my heart, and filled with comfort within myself, that the King of Righteousness would cause this to work for the advancing of His own cause, which I prefer above estate and livelihood.  Saying within my heart as I went along, that if I could not get meat to eat, I would feed upon bread, milk and cheese.  And if they take the cows, and I cannot feed on this, or hereby make a breach between me and him that owns the cows, then I’ll feed upon bread and beer, till the King of Righteousness clears up my innocency and the justice of His own cause.  And if this be taken from me for maintaining His cause, then I’ll stand still and see what He will do with me; for as yet I know not.

“Saying likewise within my heart as I was walking along—­O thou King of Righteousness, show thy power and do thy work thyself, and free thy people now from under this heavy bondage of misery.  And the answer in my heart was satisfactory, and full of sweet joy and peace:  and so I said, Father, do what thou wilt, for this cause is thine, and thou knowest that the love to righteousness makes me do what I do.”

He then continues: 

“I was made to appeal to the Father of Life in the speakings of my heart likewise thus—­Father, thou knowst that what I have writ or spoken concerning this light, that the Earth should be restored and become a Common Treasury for all mankind, without respect of persons, was thy free revelation to me, I never read it in any book, I heard it from no mouth of flesh, till I understood it from thy teaching first within me.  I did not study nor imagine the conceit of it; self-love to my own particular body does not carry me along in the managing of this business; but the power of love flowing forth to the liberty and peace of thy whole Creation, to enemies as