of them Oh people of England rage not at me for the earth is in conjunction with the greatest Powers and thou thy self art a flower of her and shortly the Powers will summon you be it known unto you the earth will swallow you up and the spade will bury all both you and the Images that you make and all the works of your hands Now while we live here let us consider soberly of some order and methods for the Society which hereafter may be gathered together for we want method excedingly in associating together in good things we see it practised in wicked things Let some rich men give out of their abundance some lands or goods to raise a Stock never to expect any principal or profit thereof These are Fathers that lay the foundation they may give advice and counsel in that Order and Method I commend London for their wisdome they are too wise in their Common-wealth for all England c. yet she wants that which should make her happy she is in confusion 2ly A well qualified people may come together not in Handy-crafts and Arts onely but to mix the Arts and Handy-crafts together with earth that every Genius may be delighted in what it pleaseth by improvements of that which is good in Nature and in Art c. that which is good in Natures School There needs not any Society to be above 100 houses whereof 40 families may live Rent-free which are the poor Handy-crafts-men 3. That every Society may have its Government within its self according to order and Method to learn Hebrew Greek Latine Natur 's Arts Handy-câ—â—â—ts observing to do that which is most necessary for the well-being of it 4. That the greatest gifts of God in nature may be known freely without making sale of them as they commonly are 5. The matter on which the Handy-crafts-men work must be a common Stock to them onely and the profit to them only 6. All necessaries by them raised are to be kept in a Store-house for the use of them only the over-plus sold or exchanged for other Commodities for them by their Stewards ordered in a Method by the Fathers and themselves and their Successors for ever 7. No buying and selling amongst themselves The Fathers and their successors must take care of their own Societies that the Stock be encreased and that made out once or twice in a year A good encouragement it will be to all rich people either in their life time or at their death to give something to so good a work 8. Being associated with Mariners the Fathers may trade and that with their own Proprieties for their own benefit and follow the earth and Plantations in which they most delight for sure England with care may be made as rich again as it is and no beggars in it 9. The Fathers purchasing Lands may know their own propriety although they be in one Society which may consist of 1000 or 2000 Acres to every Society they may encrease it and dispose of it by Will as they please to wife children or friends 10. Therefore it will be fit for every Proprietor to have his Will lye in the Office where he is a Father 11. That the encrease of Societies will soon take up the people that you will want people in England 12. That as Societies are encreased as to four or five in some Parishes and that the people come to understand the benefit 〈◊〉 that Rule that Strength united is stronger they will come in with Lands and goods and by degrees the whole earth will become a Paradise I say the earth hath more work in it and upon it then there are now people to do it The people are wearyed being but few with the burthen and run to Arts and Handy-crafts and there they cannot live one by another so that the poor cry all over the Nation indeed they are very poor and very wicked they are idle and so en-forced to steal Some would work and some would set them to work but there is not money to pay them Consider in time before it be too late all men are weary and at their wits-ends unless it be a few whose hearts are as hard as a neather mil-stone Much hath been said but nothing yet done to recover the Nation but who regards it nea we have fine tricks we can tell how to blast every good work by loading them with Reproaches and cry down good things as bad things and cry up bad things as good things Be wise oh people He that created you is coming to sift you We cheat one another but there is a discerning Eye that beholds all and the Nations of the world will find it true 1. Therefore observe and Associate in good things it is but to strengthen your selves and gather together advise first and then put into action 2ly In every Mile and half Mile where there is matter in the earth or upon the earth let Societies and Manufactures be settled first one for a pattern that every one may see learn and teach the right use of the things that are Here is work for all the rich for the Kings Nobles for the Ladies and Gentry for useful Handy-crafts to repair to the places where the matter is Them that have skill there to be imployed and to make what is necessary without running to Markets so that every Society may be supplyed one from another by land or by water in order and method by exchange and that by the Governours and respective Fathers of the Societies The sole end is that all people may enjoy the labours of each other at the first and best hand with peace and rest and less trouble Food and Rayment all over England may be raised with diligence and it will be found better work to raise Commodities than to raise moneys Oh England thou wants but Method Blessed art thou above other Nations but thy Ignorance and wilfull covetousness is thy curse 3. Blessed and Praised be the greatest Powers Good Nature come forth thy people are many of them willing to see thy beauty and it lyeth in the works of thy hands Behold the Wonders behold the Divine universal Good the Philosophers Stone You beholding the Work will then inquire for the Work-man Doth not the great God with the Heavens and the earthly Powers work you bread cloaths things for your need delight and pleasure whither runne you you seem to out-run God and nature Come back you Gallants Is it gold or silver that makes you happy nâ—â— is not rather the Picture of a King on it and a Law of your own making that you so much doat on Let me call you foolish Galatians you are bewiched and you have done it your selves Call all the gold and silver and lawes of men and books of mens making and Images and see if you can be delivered give them for a bribe to the earth she will not accept of them for she tels you these are all hers they came
A DECLARATION Unto the PARLIAMENT Council of State and Army shewing impartially the Causes of the Peoples Tumults Madness and Confusions As also eleven Particulars which will perfectly cure their Distempers WITH The Method of a Common-wealth Hinted in Twelve Particulars With what Persons and Callings are usefull therein ALSO Shewing the benefit which comes by a Common wealth rightly constituted in nine Particulars And Answering six Objections Humbly offered to Consideration by VVILLIAM COVEL Gent. We for our selves are not by nature born Our own to seek and leave all else forlorne London Printed in the Year 1659. A Declaration with some Proposals unto the Parliament Council of State and Army and unto all others of all sorts BEholding the glory of that pure God of nature who hath wonderfully cleared my sight and quickened my benummed senses I say that blessed good nature enforceth me to declare my self at this time or else I can have no peace Blessed be the Lord the Heavenly Powers that created all things good Praise ye the Powers for ever and ever And I must speak to all without respect of persons I beholding the whole Creation to be very good and very comely in order to uses and ends for they were not created in vain I being but a little while in the School of Nature began to compare Gods Creation with mans Inventions and upon consideration I wondered not why man was so confounded so out of order and so full of complaints c. and concluded that the worlds glory is vanity and vexation and that man is the cause of his own confusion O England if thy glory be thy invention how vain and vexatious and ugly faced is thy glory I say that Good Nature is pure and is not in vain but is of and from the great Powers and is in order and method within its own Lines of Communication The voice of the Turtle is heard there and no where else But thou Oh England canst not hear the Voice in thy own inventions The trampling of Horses the noise of the Drums the clashing of Swords the noise of the Hammers the ratling of Coaches the observing of Fashions the fine things on your backs and the many projects in your heads your great gains and sometimes great losses the distractions in your families and amongst your friends hinder you from hearing the Voice Therefore my work is to shew you where you may hear it pleasantly and be delighted in it It is my Friends in Natur 's School It is Universal and Divine like God universally good You of the Universal Spirit understand me the others do not But let me ask them Will ye come into the universal divine School of Nature I mean Gods Creation that is the School But before you come let me ask you this question whatever you are you great-Ones you Kings Princes Noblemen you great-Ones in the world and you ignorant little ones also What have you that you have not recieved from that Universal Divine Store-house of good Nature How came you you Great-Ones by so much when others have so little of the glory of the world of invention Your eyes stand out with fatness you have more then you can wish for was it for you onely created It appears so by your holding it so fast But how came you Poor-Ones by your poverties and miseries you answer me and say Ever since the people did choose Kings and put their Images on Silver and Gold and with that bought and sold Ever since the people did forsake good Nature and fell to invention to build Cities and to get Charters to buy the poors labours for half the worth that they scarce have bread for them their wives and children because they have none of the Kings and Queens Images Oh how the buyers and sellers are guarded fenced with walls and defended with Lawes what cannot buyers and sellers have if that they ask for it to advance Trade Oh English hearts consider soberly Have not Kings and single Persons been very chargeable to the Nation Are not all vain things chargeable to you Are not the learned Fraternities of Lawyers the Ecclesiastical powers your Merchants your Tradsemen chargeable have they not all spongy Tongues to lick up the golden and silver Idols the people being made happy by having those Idols or miserable by not having of them How they draw the heart of man What slaves men are made to fetch Gold out of other Nations How many loose their lives before they bring it What tricks the people are fiegn to use before they can get it how they study and strain their wits and lay stumbling-blocks before their brethren Do you not see the possessors of it lift up themselves and snuff up the winde and have scornful eyes and taunting speeches for the poor but you shall see that they have a smile for their Lovers In this age the Proverb is made true Birds of a feather will flock together Behold therefore and wonder not they stand but in slippery places behold the golden and silver Idols your great Idol the mother of the little Idols behold the great Cathedrals the mothers of the little Churches Behold I say what whoredomes and fornications are committed what lyings what cheatings what blood what murders what divisions what tumults what pride what covetousness Oh how many Religions there are what brave Cloaks and Coats they are made to cover the sins of the world There are but two sorts of people the good and the bad according to your own accompt the good man must be the universal man one that lives in the Universal and Divine School whose object is good Nature The other is the narrow covetous man whose heart is set to get wealth and he lives in the worlds School which is Invention and his object is gold silver honour and the pomp of the world Behold the ugly-faced glory of the world Do but set the ugly cheating world of Invention aside and you will see that man was made to sound forth praises to his Creator and with delight to read the book of creatures Come you learned wise men from all parts of the whole world with all your skill and Learning there is a book the book of Creation for you to read all your time is too little your skill is too weak you want understanding you dare not look on the King he is so glorious he is pure nature there is pure orders pure method pure Lawes there is no confusion there is no pain or vexatious thing You universal Ones do you sing Praises to our Heavenly King Let the dark covetous men be in burnings in their own inventions with their Idols and with their worships until the matter that hinders them be consumed Before they can be universal they must be Students in the universal School of Nature which is divine and all Schools set up by man are but humane men made them Oh my dear brethren take heed how you hear and what you hear will
any come to the work prepared Rouze up your spirits you English men you great-Ones you Rulers I fear that word will be made good in our days Not many wise men nor many mighty men but God hath ordeined the foolish to overcome the wise things and the weak things the mighty things The chief end of my Declaration is to hint unto you what a Common-wealth is and how happy England may be before any part of the world if they will Indeed it is an hard work for poor men to act it many know how to act it but have not power and ability many that know how and are able but will not they are so covetous Now the Parliament the peoples Representatives hath declared for a Common-wealth therefore I hope I do not offend you to speak concerning what it is or how in some measure it ought to be Therefore to the Parliament and Armie and to the Armie and Parliament jointly who are all of them the peoples Trustees Therefore I say to them I speak in the first place the one to do the work and the other to see it done For me to hold a little Candle to the great Lights of the world it will but turn to my scorn and reproach but all is one to me if the work of the Lord be done which work is the Restoration of the Creation of God I care not There are certain Rules of Policy the wicked world stands upon the foundations and grounds whereof are good were they well observed and applied 1. The First is Strength united is stronger 2. The Second is Divide and spoile 3. The Third is Make poor enough and you will Rule well enough Pray Parliament Council and Armie Consider seriously Oh English hearts observe and consider If good things be associated then wicked things will be scattered if good things be uppermost then wicked things will be undermost whereas now things are quite contrary 2ly Divide the good things from the wicked things and spoil the wickedness 3ly If nothing will destroy wickedness but poverty Then do it wisely but certainly there are other waies Now indeed wickedness is so associated that wickedness is established by a Law Men dare set up their posts by Gods posts men and women will have their wills dominier and rule and be upermost or they will divide and spoil or make them poor Behold there the ugly-faced glory of the inventing world take away the trash and trumpery from before the peoples faces I speak to you that are intrusted Consider are not Kings associated to uphold each others glory Are not the learned Lawyers associated Behold their Halls and Charters Are not your Ecclesiasticall Powers associated they use to say in your Newes-Books The associated Ministers of the West Are not Cities and Corporations associated witness their Halls Companies and vanities the great ones eating up the little ones the great Tradesmen living on the sweat of the brows of Handy-crafts men and inventing bables and Babies which are useless Nea the Merchants of the Land carrying out of the Land English Commodities and for them bringing in things of vanity and pride The Idols of Gold and Silver are the mark that they all shoot at to some it is a signe of glory but to others a signe of death c. Pray you tell me how the Plow can goe or the Handy-crafts which are usefull can work with comfort when all these with all the idle persons depend on them they are made the very scorn of the Nation We know the Army are an Association and an Heavenly one too but it is in case of necessity and the tumultuous people is the cause of it let them bear the burthen and pay the charge My humble Request is therefore to the Supreme Powers of this Nation to grant unto the people these following necessary things 1. That a Common-wealth may be really acted deeds are better than words 2. A Tolleration of Religion no more persecutions c. 3 Equal Privileges to all Societies and Manufactures without restriction or exemption and all Charters of Incorporation taken away 4 An universal Magistracie to hold the Ballance equal to all sorts of people 5 Ecclesiastical powers abolished if any will hear Parish-Ministers let them that will have them pay them 6 Let the Tithes pay publick debts and after serve for Charitable uses and to raise a Stock to defend the Nations from their enemies Besides the Tithes that are payable every year the charges of repairing the Churches and painting them to bewitch the hearts of the youth with the Bells to draw the hearts of the people sounding forth nothing but inventions and taking the senses and mis-placing of them might be better imployed and converted to publick uses Behold and wonder The high places of Idolatry stand and are preserved when the Temples of the holy Ghost mens Bodies are neglected perish and starve Oh horrible wickedness in the Land the teachers of the people runn to shed blood 7 All the wast earth to be improved to the best advantage The Patents and Grants by the Kings to Lords of Mannors may be well searched into for they are Incroachments upon the people the Lords of Wasts are known to be cruel to the poor not permitting them to gather a bagge of chips in some places 8 That all useful necessary arts handy-crafts may be encouraged that the things useless may die in course I mean whatsoever is hurtful to man for man is naturally to be preserved above and before all things which he himself makes 9 That in Enâ—field which is a very poor Town there may be 500 acres of land taken from the 1500 acres which is for the Commonets and that the rest of the Commons may be divided to the Commoners to be improved and that on the 500 acres the Parish may set up 24 Alms-houses for the aged and a work-house for the youth in which shall be a manufacture where the Idle persons may be set to work the 500 acres to be managed with a manufacture on the earth And a manufacture set up together will in short time raise all things necessary the disjoynting of them spoils all experience makes it true all over England the uniting the plow and handy-crafts and mariners and arts recovers it all again It was never done in the world yet 10 That all Idols may be destroyed I say and all other things whatsoever that are useless hurtful to man for I say man was created to serve his Creator and to read him in all his works 11 That a Bit of earth about the bigness of a Nut may be given for a sign and for exchange of Commodities amongst our selves the Coyns may serve other nations and destroy them as the picture of the Owl on Brass did destroy the Lacedaemonians Common-wealth and truly the pictures of Kings and Queens put faire to destroy England experience shewes us that many in England are destroyed by them with them and for want