ABSTRACT
The emphasis on action which flourished during the English Revolution encouraged those who witnessed it largely to immure themselves against the negative aspects of Calvin’s original teaching. Preachers in England endeavoured to cultivate a sense of purpose, rather than to allow despair in personal resources of the kind that might well follow from a close exposure to Calvin’s insistence on man’s total inadequacy. Cromwell had no doubt that man should be ‘up and doing’, when what needed to be done was clear. When God had indicated what he wished man to do there was no question that self-interest would intervene. Winstanley extended this confidence in God’s action to confidence in his own action: to him, his motives in digging the earth on George Hill were redolent with the values that constituted the essence of man’s spiritual needs. However, both Cromwell and Winstanley were conscious of the need for a humility before the will of God, and acknowledged that they did not know themselves what course it might take. This humility was a legacy of Calvin’s mistrust of humanity. It was a sobering feature of the thought of the Reform movement, and left its mark on many.
