SEEKERS. - Name of many sects of illuminati and Protestant extremists.
As S. one cites the pantheistic group of the ranters (= declaimers), led by John Saltmarsh, military chaplain of Cromwell's headquarters from 1646 to 1647. Among them are counted Gerard Winstanley, James Bauthumley and the followers of the mystic John Everard, parish priest of Fairstaed (1575-1650). The ranters rejected the Bible, ecclesiastical organizations, the laws of the State, and above all the use of war. They held that the spirit must be freed from any matter, from every carnal aspect, from every reasoning, in order to immerse itself in the pure light of God. They sought God, but in himself, beyond all creation.
Another sect of S. bore the name of waiters (= those who wait); they rejected the Church, ecclesiastical functions, the Sacraments, adducing the reason that, after the era of the Apostles, no one had been marked by God through miracles and special manifestations to be a minister of the Church. Gathered in praying groups, they "waited" for God to raise up men capable of continuing the apostolic Church. In such "expectation" they formed only a provisional Church. The majority of these illuminati joined the Quakers (v.).
The "Fifth Monarchy Men" can be considered S., who under Cromwell hoped to found the "fifth kingdom" prophesied by Daniel. Quite similar to these were the "Muggletonians," founded by L. Muggleton (1698), who awaited the millennial kingdom; they lasted until the 19th century. The "Familists" and the "Levellers" of Cromwell's era also belong to the category of S. These different kinds of illuminati must not be confused with the shakers (v.).
Bibliography2 works
Leone Cristiani