Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	duke_n	king_n	normandy_n	8,526	5	11.2327	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66685	The law of freedom in a platform: or, True magistracy restored Humbly presented to Oliver Cromwel, General of the Common-wealths army in England. And to all English-men my brethren whether in church-fellowship, or not in church-fellowship, both sorts walking as they conceive according to the order of the Gospel: and from them to all the nations in the world. Wherein is declared, what is kingly government, and what is Commonwealths government. By Jerrard Winstanley.	Winstanley, Gerrard, b. 1609.	1652 (1652)	Wing W3045A; ESTC R220031	79,685	104

say Having food and rayment therewith be content and grudg not to let thy brother have the same with thee Dost thou pray and fast for Freedom and give God thanks again for it Why know that God is not partial for if thou pray it must be for Freedom to all and if thou give thanks it must be because Freedom covers all people for this will prove a lasting Peace Every one is ready to say They fight for their Country and what they do they do it for the good of their Country Well let it appear now that thou hast fought and acted for thy Countries Freedom But if when thou hast power to settle Freedom in thy Country thou tukest the possession of the Earth into thy own particular hands and makest thy brother work for thee as the Kings did thou hast fought and acted for thy self not for thy Country and here thy inside 〈◊〉 is discovered But here take notice That common Freedom which is the Rule I would have practised and not talked on was thy pretence but particular Freedom to thy self was thy intent 〈◊〉 or else thou wilt be shamed when Knowledg doth spread to cover the Earth even as the waters cover the Seas And so Farewell J. W. THE Law of Freedom in a Platform OR True Magistracy Restored CHAP. I. THe great searching of heart in these days is to finde out where true Freedom lies that the Commonwealth of England might be established in Peace Some say It lies in the free use of Trading and to have all Pattents Licenses and Restraints removed But this is a Freedom under the Will of a Conqueror Others say It is true Freedom to have Ministers to preach and for people to hear whom they will without being restrained or compelled from or to any form of worship But this is an unsetled Freedom Others say It is true Freedom to have Community with all Women and to have liberty to satisfie their lusts and greedy appetites But this is the Freedom of wanton unreasonable Beasts and tends to Destruction Others say It is true Freedom that the elder Brother shall 〈◊〉 Landlord of the Earth and the younger Brother a Servant And this is but a half Freedom and 〈◊〉 murmurings wars and quarrels All these and such like are Freedoms but they lead to Bondage and are not the true Foundation-Freedom which settles a Commonwealth in Peace True Commonwealths Freedom lies in the free Enjoyment of the Earth True Freedom lies where a man receives his nourishment and preservation and that is in the use of the Earth For as Man is compounded of the four Materials of the Creation Fire Water Earth and Ayr so is he preserved by the compounded bodies of these four which are the fruits of the Earth and he cannot live without them for take away the free use of these and the body languishes the spirit is brought into bondage and 〈◊〉 length departs and ceaseth his motional action in the body All that a man labors for saith Solomon is this That he may enjoy the free use of the Earth with the fruits thereof Eccles. 2. 24. Do not the Ministers preach for maintenance in the Earth the Lawyers plead causes to get the possessions of the Earth Doth not the Soldier fight for the Earth And doth not the Landlord require Rent that he may live in the fulness of the Earth by the labor of his Tenants And so from the Thief upon the high way to the King who sits upon the Throne do not every one strive either by force of Arms or secret cheats to get the possessions of the Earth one from another because they see their Freedom 〈◊〉 in plenty and their bondage lies in poverty Surely then oppressing Lords of Manors exacting Landlords and Tythe-takers may as well say their brethren shall not breathe in the ayr nor enjoy warmth in their bodies nor have the moyst waters to fall upon them in showres unless they will pay them Rent for it As to say Their brethren shall not work upon Earth nor eat the fruits thereof unless they will hire that liberty of them for he that takes upon him to restrain his brother from the liberty of the one may upon the same ground restrain him from the liberty of all four viz. Fire Water Earth and Ayr A man had better to have had no body then to have no food for it therefore this restraining of the Earth from brethren by brethren is oppression and bondage but the free enjoyment thereof is true Freedom I speak now in relation between the Oppressor and the oppressed the inward bondages I meddle not with in this place though I am assured that if it be rightly searched into the inward bondages of the minde as 〈◊〉 pride hypocriste envy sorrow fears desperation and madness are all occasioned by the outward bondage that one sort of people lay upon another And thus far natural experience makes it good That true Freedom lies in the free enjoyment of the Earth If we look into the old Scriptures We finde That when Israel had conquered the Nations he took 〈◊〉 of the Enemies Land and divided it by lot among the Tribes counting the Enjoyment of the Earth their perfect Freedom In the beginning of their wars they first sent Spies to view the Land of Canaan Numb. 13. 23. to 33. for the enjoyment of that was the Freedom they aymed at for being so long in the barren wilderness and children multiplying upon them they wanted Land to live upon Deut. 1. 28. And when the Spies returned and shewed them the fruits of the Land and had declared what a fruitful Land it was they were encouraged and restless till they were come thither and when they heard bad tydings of the Land their hearts fell and they were discouraged And when the spirit of wisdom courage and providence in them had subdued those Gyants and had given the house of Israel the Land of Canaan the Rulers and chief Officers of Israels Army did not divide the Land among themselves but being faithful spirited men they forthwith divided the Land by lot to every Tribe his portion without exception And when Israel intreated the King of Syhon to suffer him to pass through his land he would not suffer him but gathered all his people together and sought with Israel And the Lord gave Syhon into Israels hand And he took possession of his land So that we see by Scripture proof likewise the land is that which every one place their freedom in If we look into the practise of Kings and Conquerors Since the Scriptures of Moses were writ we finde they placed their freedom in the enjoyment of the free use of the earth When William Duke of Normandy had conquered England he took possession of the earth for his freedom and disposed of our English ground to his friends as he pleased and made the conquered English his servants to plant the earth for him and his friends And all Kings from his

wives and children within such a Lordship to his Lords of Manors 〈◊〉 do with them as they pleased And for this cause now doth an Army arise to keep out an Invasion of a Forraigner that by the defence of our Army who is part of our selves the rest of our brethren in the Commonwealth may plow sow and reap and enjoy the fruits of their labours and so live in peace in their own Land Or secondly If a Land be conquered and so enslaved as England was under the Kings and conquering Laws then an Army is to be raised with as much secrecy as may be to restore the Land again and set it free that the Earth may become a Common Treasury to all her children without respecting persons as it was before Kingly Bondage came in as you may read 1 Sam. 8. This latter is called Civil Wars and this is the Wars of the Commoners of England against King Charls now cast out for he and his Laws were the successive Power of that Norman Conquest over England And now the Commeners of England in this age of the World are rise up in an Army and have cast out that Invasion of the Duke of Normandy and have won their Land and Liberties again by the Sword if they do not suffer their Councels to 〈◊〉 into slavery again upon a new accompt Therefore you Army of Englands Commonwealth look to it the Enemy could not beat you in the field but they may be too hard for you by policy in 〈◊〉 if you do not stick close to see Common Freedom established For if so be that Kingly Authority be set up in your Laws again King Charls hath conquered you and your posterity by policy and won the field of you though you seemingly have cut off His Head For the strength of a King lies not in the visible appearance of his body but in his Will Laws and Authority which is called 〈◊〉 Government But if you remove Kingly Government and set up true and free Commonwealths Government then you gain your Crown and keep it and leave peace to your posterity otherwise not And thus doing makes a War either lawful or unlawful An Army may be Murtherers and unlawful If an Army be raised to cast out Kingly Oppression and if the Heads of that Army promise a Commonwealths Freedom to the oppressed people if in case they will assist with person and purse and if the people do assist and prevail over the Tyrant those Officers are bound by the Law of Justice who is God to make good their Engagements And if they do not set the Land free from the branches of the Kingly Oppression but reserve some part of the Kingly Power to advance their own particular Interest whereby some of their friends are left under as great slavery to them as they were under the Kings Those Officers are not faithful Commonwealths Souldiers they are worse Thieves and Tyrant then the Kings they cast out and that Honor they seemed to get by their Victories over the Commonwealths Oppressor they lose again by breaking Promise and Engagement to their oppressed friends who did assist them For what difference is there between a professed Tyrant that declares himself a Tyrant in words Laws and deeds as all Conquerors do and him who promises to free me from the Power of the Tyrant if I 'le assist him and when I have spent my estate and blood and the health of my body and expect my bargain by his Engagements to me he sits himself down in the Tyrants Chair and takes the possession of the Land to himself and calls it 〈◊〉 and none of mine and tells me he cannot in Conscience let me enjoy the Freedom of the Earth with him because it is another mans 〈◊〉 And now my health and estate is decayed and I grow in age I must either beg or work for day wages which I was never brought up to for another when as the Earth is as freely my Inheritance and birthright as his whom I must work for and if I cannot live by my weak labors but take where I need as Christ sent and took the Asse coìt in his need there is no dispute but by the Kings and Laws he will hang me for a thief But hear O thou Righteous Spirit of the whole Creation and judg who is the thief Him who takes away the freedom of the common-earth from me which is my Creation rights and which I have helped to purchase out of the hands of the Kingly Oppressor by my purse and person and which he hath taken for wages of me Or I who takes the Common-earth to plant upon for my free livelyhood endeavouring to live as a free Commoner in a free Common-wealth in righteousness and peace Such a souldier as this engagement breaker is neither a friend to the Creation nor to a particular Common-wealth but a self lover and a hypocrite for he did not fight to set the Earth free from the bondage of the Oppressor as he pretended by his Engagements but to remove that power out of the others hand into his own And this is just like the beasts who fight for mastery and keeps it not releaving but still Lording and Kinging over the weak These are Monarchial souldiers not Common-Wealths souldiers and such a souldier is a murderer and his warfare is unlawful But souldiers of true noble spirits will help the weak and set the oppressed free and delight to see the Common-wealth flowrish in freedom as wel as their own gardens There is none of this true nobility in the Monarchial Army for they are all self lovers the best is as a briar and the most upright amongst them is as a thorne held speak you Prophers of old if this be not true A Monarchial Army lifts up mountains and makes vallies viz. Advances Tyrants and treads the oppressed in the barran lanes of poverty But a Commonwealths Army is like John Baptist who levels the Mountains to the Valleys pulls down the Tyrant and 〈◊〉 up the Oppressed and so makes way for the spirit of Peace and Freedom to come in to rule and 〈◊〉 the Earth And by this which hath been spoken an Army may see wherein they may do well and wherein they may do hurt CHAP. V. Education of mankinde in Schools and Trades MAnkinde in the days of his youth is like a young Colt wanton and foolish till he be broke by Education and correction and the neglect of this care or the want of wisdom in the performance of it hath been and is the cause of much division and trouble in the world Therefore the Law of a Common-wealth does require that not onely a father but that all Overseers and Officers should make it their work to educate children in good manners and to see them brought up in some trade or other and to suffer no children in any Parish to live in idleness and youthful pleasure all their days as many have been but that they be brought up