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
given Freequarter wasted our Estates and lost our Friends in the Wars and the Taskmasters multiply over us more then formerly I have asked divers this question Why do you say so Some have answered me That Promises Oaths and Engagements have been made as a Motive to draw us to assist in the Wars That priviledges of Parliament and Liberties of Subjects should be preserved and that all Popery and Episcopacy and Tyranny should be rooted out and these promises are not performed Now there is an opportunity to perform them For first say they The current of succeeding Parliaments is stopt which is one of the greatest Priviledges and peoples Liberties for Safety and Peace and if that continue stopt we shall be more offended by an hereditary Parliament then we were oppressed by an hereditary King And for the Commoners who were called Subjects while the Kingly Conqueror was in power have not as yet their Liberties granted them I will instance them in order according as the common whisperings are among the people For say they The burdens of the Clergy remains still upon us in a threefold nature First If any man declare his Judgment in the things of God contrary to the Clergies report or the mind of some high Officers they are cashiered imprisoned crushed and undone and made sinners for a word as they were in the Popes and Bishops days so that though their names be cast out yet their High Commission Courts Power remains still persecuting men for Conscience sake when their actions are unblameable Secondly In many Parishes there are old formal ignorant Episcopal Priests established and some Ministers who are bitter Enemies to Common-wealths Freedom and Friends to Monarchy are established Preachers and are continually buzzing their subtle principles into the minds of the people to undermine the Peace of our declared Commonwealth causing a disaffection of spirit among neighbors who otherwise would live in peace Thirdly The burden of Tythes remains still upon our Estates which was taken from us by the Kings and given to the Clergy to maintain them by one labours so that though their preaching fill the minds of many with madness contention and unsatisfied doubting because their imaginary and ungrounded Doctrines cannot be understood by them and yet we must pay them large Tythes for so doing this is Oppression Fourthly If we go to the Lawyer we find him to sit in the Conquerors Chair though the Kings be removed maintaining the Kings Power to the height for in many Courts and cases of Law the Wil of a Judg Lawyer rules above the letter of the Law and many Cases and Suits are lengthened to the great vexation of the Clients and to the lodging of their Estates in the purse of the unbounded Lawyer So that we see though other men be under a sharp Law yet many of the great Lawyers are not but still do act their will as the Conqueror did as I have heard some belonging to the Law say What cannot we do Fifthly Say they If we look upon the Customs of the Law itself it is the same it was in the Kings days only the name is altered as if the 〈◊〉 of England had paid their Taxes Free-quarter and shed their blood not to reform but to baptize the Law into a new name from Kingly Law to State Law by reason whereof the spirit of discontent is strengthened to increase more Suits of Law then formerly was known to be And so as the Sword pulls down Kingly Power with one hand the Kings old Law builds up Monarchy again with the other And indeed the main Work of Reformation lies in this to reform the Clergy Lawyers and Law for all the Complaints of the Land are wrapped up within them three not in the person of a King Shall men of other Nations say That notwithstanding all those rare wits in the Parliament and Army of England yet they could not reform the Clergy Lawyer and Law but must needs establish all as the Kings left them Will not this blast all our Honor and make all Monarchial Members laugh in their sleeves to see the Government of our Commonwealth to be built upon the Kingly Laws and Principles I have asked divers Souldiers what they fought for they answered they could not tell and it is very true they cannot tell indeed if the Monarchial Law be established without Reformation But I wait to see what will be done and I doubt not but to see our Commonwealths Government to be built upon his own Foundation Sixthly If we look into Parishes the burdens there are many First For the Power of Lords of Manors remains still over their Brethren requiring Fines and Heriots beating them off the free use of the Common Land unless their Brethren will pay them Rent exacting obedience as much as they did and more when the King was in Power Now faith the people By what Power do these maintain their Title over us Formerly they held Title from the King as he was the Conquerors Successor But have not the Commoners cast out the King and broke the band of that Conquest Therefore in equity they are free from the slavery of that Lordly Power Secondly In Parishes where Commons lie the rich Norman Free-holders or the new more covetous Gentry over-stock the Commons with Sheep and Cattle so that inferior Tenants and poor Laborers can hardly keep a Cow but half starve her so that the poor are kept poor still and the Common Freedom of the Earth is kept from them and the poor have no more relief then they had when the King or Conqueror was in power Thirdly In many Parishes two or three of the great ones bears all the sway in making Assessments over awing Constables and other Officers and when time was to quarter Souldiers they would have a hand in that to ease themselves and over-burden the weaker sort and many times make large sums of money over and above the Justices Warrant in Assessments and would give no accompt why neither durst the inferior people demand an accompt for he that spake should be sure to be crushed the next opportunity and if any have complained to Committees or Justices they have been either wearied out by 〈◊〉 and waiting or else the offence hath been by them smothered up so that we see one great man favored another and the poor 〈◊〉 have no relief Fourthly There is another grievance which the people are much troubled at and that is this Country people cannot sell any Corn or other fruits of the Earth in a Market Town but they must either pay Toll or be turned out of Town Now say they This is a most shameful thing that we must part with our estates in Taxes and Free-quarter to purchase the Freedom of the Land and the Freedom of the Towns and yet this Freedom must be still given from us into the hands of a covetous Norman Toll-Taker according to the Kings old burdensom Laws and contrary to the Liberty of a
free Commonwealth Now saith the whisperings of the people The inferior Tenants and Laborers bears all the burdens in laboring the Earth in paying Taxes and Free-quarter beyond their strength and in furnishing the Armies with Souldiers who bear the greatest burden of the War and yet the Gentry who oppress them and that live idle upon their labours carry away all the comfortable livelyhood of the Earth For is not this a common speech among the people We have parted with our Estates we have lost our Friends in the Wars which we willingly gave up because Freedom was promised us and now in the end we have new Task-masters and our old burdens increased and though all sorts of people have taken an Engagement to cast out Kingly Power yet Kingly Power remains in power still in the hands of those who have no more right to the Earth then our selves For say the people If the Lords of Manors and our Task-masters hold Title to the Earth over us from the old Kingly power behold that power is beaten and cast out And two Acts of Parliament are made The one to cast out Kingly power back'd by the Engagement against King and House of Lords The other to make England a free Commonwealth And if Lords of Mannors lay claim to the earth over us from the Armies Victories over the King then we have as much right to the Land as they because our labours and blood and death of friends were the purchasers of the Earths freedome as well as theirs And is not this a slavery say the People That though there be Land enough in England to maintain ten times as many people as are in it yet some must beg of their brethren or work in hard drudgery for day wages for them or starve or steal and so be hanged out of the way as men not fit to live in the earth before they must be suffered to plant the waste land for their livelihood unlesse they will pay Rent to their brethren for it wel this is a burthen the Creation groans under and the subjects so called have not their Birth-right Freedomes granted them from their brethren who hold it from them by club law but not by righteousness And who now must we be subject to seeing the Conqueror is gone I Answer we must either be subject to a Law or to mens wils If to a Law then all men in England are subjects or ought to be thereunto but what Law that is to which every one ought to be subject is not yet established in execution If any say the old Kings Laws are the Rule then it may be Answered That those Laws are so full of confusion that few knows when they obey and when not because they were the Laws of a Conqueror to hold the people in subjection to the will of the Conqueror therefore that cannot be the rule for every one besides we dayly see many actions done by State Officers which they have no Law to justifie them in but their Prerogative will And again if we must be subject to men then what men must we be subject to seeing one man hath as much right to the earth as another for no man now stands as a Conqueror over his Brethren by the Law of righteousness You will say We must be subject to the Ruler it is true but not to suffer the Rulers to call the Earth theirs and not ours for by so doing they betray their trust and run into the line of 〈◊〉 and we lose our freedome and from thence 〈◊〉 and Wars arise A Ruler is worthy double honour when he rules well that is when he himself is subject to the Law and requires all others to be subject thereunto and makes it his work to see the Laws obeyed and not his own will and such Rulers are faithfull and they are to be subjected unto us therein for all Commonwealths Rulers are servants to not Lords and Kings over the people But you will say Is not the Land your brothers and you cannot take away 〈◊〉 mans Right by claiming a share therein with him I Answer It is his either by creation right or by right of Conquest If by Creation right he call the earth his and not mine then it is mine as well as his for the Spirit of the whole Creation who made us both is no respecter of persons And if by Conquest he call the earth his and not mine it must be either by the Conquest of the Kings over the Commoners or by the Conquest of the Commeners over the Kings If he claim the earth to be his from the Kings Conquest The Kings are beaten and cast out and that title is undone If he claim Title to the earth to be his from the Conquest of the Commoners over the Kings then I have right to the Land as well as my brother for my brother without me nor I without my brother did not cast out the Kings but both together assisting with person and purse we prevailed so that I have by this Victory as equall a share in the earth which is now redeemed as my brother by the Law of righteousnesse If my brother still say he will be Landlord through his covetous ambition and I must pay him Rent or else I shall not live in the Land then does he take my right from me which I have purchased by my money in Taxes free quarter and blood And O thou Spirit of the whole Creation who hath this Title to be called King of Righteousness and Prince of Peace judge thou between my brother and me Whether this be righteous c. And now say the people is not this a grievous thing that our brethren that will be Landlords right or wrong will make Laws and call for a Law to be made to imprison crush nay put to death any that denies God Christ and Scripture and yet they will not practise that golden Rule Do to another as thou wouldst have another do to thee which God Christ and Scriptures hath Enacted for a Law are not these men guilty of death by their own Law which is the words of their own mouth is it not a flat denyall of God and Scripture O the confusion and thick darkness that hath over-spread our Brethren is very great I have no power to remove it but lament it in the secrets of my heart when I see Prayers Sermons Fasts Thanksgiving directed to this God in words and-shews and when I come to look for actions of obedience to the Righteous Law suitable to such a profession I finde them men of another Nation saying and not doing like an old Courtier saying Your Servant when he was an Enemy I wil say no more but groan and waite for a restoration Thus Sir I have reckoned up some of those burdens which the people groan under And I being sensible hereof was moved in my self to present this Platform of Commonwealths Government unto you wherein I have declared a full Commonwealths Freedome
been both unfaithful servants to man and to God by taking upon them to expound and interpret that Rule which they are bound to yield obedience to without adding to or diminishing from What is the Judges Court In a County or Shire there is to be chosen A Judg. The Peace-makers of every Town within that Circuit The Overseers and A band of Souldiers attending thereupon And this is called the Judges Court or the County Senate This Court shall sit four times in the year or oftner if need be in the Country and four times in the year in great Cities In the first quarter of the year they shall sit in the East part of the County and the second quarter of the year in the West in the third in the South and in the fourth in the North And this Court is to oversee and examine any Officer within their County or Limits for their work is to see that every one be faithful in his place and if any Officer hath done wrong to any this Court is to pass sentence of punishment upon the offendor according to his offence against the Law If any grievance lie upon any man wherein inferior Officers cannot ease him this Court shall quietly hear his Complaint and ease him for where a Law is wanting they may prepare a way of ease for the 〈◊〉 till the Parliament sit who may either establish that conclusion for a Law if they approve of it or frame another Law to that effect for it is possible that many things may fall out hereafter which the Law-makers for the present may not foresee If any disorder break in among the people this Court shall set things to rights If any be bound over to appear at this Court the Judg shall hear the matter and pronounce the letter of the Law according to the nature of the offence So that the alone work of the Judg is to pronounce the sentence and mind of the Law and all this is but to see the Laws executed that the Peace of the Commonwealth may be preserved What is the work of a Commonwealths Parliament in general A Parliament is the highest Court of Equity in a Land and it is to be chosen every year and out of every City Town and certain limits of a Country through the Land two three or more men are to be chosen to make up this Court This Court is to oversee all other Courts Officers persons and actions and to have a full Power being the Representative of the whole Land to remove all grievances and to ease the people that are oppressed A Parliament hath his rise from the lowest Office in a Commonwealth viz. from the father in a family For as a fathers tender care is to remove all grievances from the oppressed children not respecting one before another so a Parliament are to remove all burdens from the people of the Land and are not to respect persons who are great before them who are weak but their eye and care must be principally to relieve the oppressed ones who groan under the Tyrants Laws and Power The strong or such as have the Tyrant Power to uphold them need no help But though a Parliament be the Father of a Land yet by the Covetousness and 〈◊〉 of Kingly Government the heart of this Father hath been alienated from the children of the Land or else so over-awed by the frowns of a Kingly Tyrant that they could not or durst not act for the weakest childrens ease For hath not Parliaments sat and rose again and made Laws to strengthen the Tyrant in his Throne and to strengthen the rich and the strong by those Laws and left oppression upon the backs of the oppressed still But I 'le not reap up former weaknesses but rather rejoyce in hope of amendment seeing our present Parliament hath declared England to be a free Commonwealth and to cast out Kingly Power and upon this ground I rejoyce in hope that succeeding Parliaments will be tender-hearted Fathers to the oppressed children of the Land And not only dandle us upon the knee with good words and promises till particular mens turns be served but will fill our bellies and clothe our backs with good actions of Freedom and give to the oppressed childrens children their birth-right portion which is Freedom in the Commonwealths Land which the Kingly Law and Power our cruel step-fathers and step-mothers have kept from us and our fathers for many years past The particular work of a Parliament is four-fold First As a tender father a Parliament is to impower Officers and give out Orders for the free planting and reaping of the Commonwealths Land that all who have been oppressed and kept from the 〈◊〉 use thereof by Conquerots Kings and their Tyrant Laws may now be set at liberty to plant in Freedom for food and rayment and are to be a protection to them who labour the Barth and a punisher of them who are idle But some may say What is that I call Commonwealths Land I answer All that Land which hath been withheld from the Inhabitants by the Conquerot or Tyrant Kings and is now recovered out of the hands of that Oppression by the joynt assistance of the persons and purses of the Commoners of the Land for this Land is the price of their blood it is their birth-right to them and their posterity and ought not to be converted into particular hands again by the Laws of a free Commonwealth And in particular this Land is all Abby Lands formerly recovered out of the hands of the Popes Power by the Blood of the Commoners of England though the Kings withheld their rights herein from them So likewise all Crown Lands Bishops Lands with all Parks Forrests Chases now of late recovered out of the hands of the Kingly Tyrants who have set Lords of Manors and Task-masters over the Commoners to withhold the free use of the Land from them So likewise all the Commons and waste Lands which are called Commons because the poor was to have part therein but this is withheld from the Commoners either by Lords of Manors requiring quit Rents and overseeing the poor so narrowly that none dares build him a house upon this Common Land or plant thereupon without his leave but must pay him rent fines and heriots and homage as unto a Conqueror or else the benefit of this Common Land is taken away from the younger brethren by rich Landlords and Freeholders who overstock the Commons with Sheep and Cattel so that the poor in many places are not able to keep a Cow unless they steal grass for her And this is the bondage the poor complain of that they are kept poor by their brethren in a Land where there is so much plenty for every one if Covetousness and pride did not tule as King in one brother over another and Kingly Government occasions all this Now it is the work of a Parliament to break the Tyrants bands to abolish all their oppressing
torment him in that 〈◊〉 But surely Light is so broke out that it will cover the Earth so that the Divinity Charmers shall say The people will 〈◊〉 bear the voyce of our charming charm we never so wisely And all the Priests and Clergy and Preachers of these spiritual and heavenly things as they call them shall take up the lamentation which is their portion Alas alas that great City Babylon that mighty City Divinity which hath filled the whole Earth with her forcery and deceived all people so that the whole world wondered after this Beast how is it faln and how is her Judgment come upon her in one hour And further as you may read Rev. 18. 10. The Office of the Post-master In every Parish throughout the Commonwealth shall be chosen two men at the time when other Officers are chosen and these shall be called Postmasters And whereas there are four parts of the Land East West North South there shall be chosen in the chief City two men to receive in what the Post-master of the East Country brings in and two men to receive in what the Post-master of the West brings in and two for the North and so two for the South Now the work of the Country Post-master shall be this They shall every Moneth bring up or send by tydings from their respective Parishes to the chief City of what accidents or passages fall out which is either to the honor or dishonor hurt or profit of the Commonwealth and if nothing have faln out in that Moneth worth observation then they shall write down peace or good order in such a Parish And when these respective Post-masters have brought up their Bills or Certificates from all parts of the Land the Receivers of those Bills shall write down every thing in order from Parish to Parish in the nature of a Weekly Bill of Observation And those eight Receivers shall cause the Affairs of the four quarters of the Land to be printed in one Book with what speed may be and deliver to every Postmaster a Book that as they bring up the Affairs of one Parish in writing they may carry down in Print the Affairs of the whole Land The benefit lies here That if any part of the Land be visited with Plague Famine Invasion or Insurrection or any casualties the other parts of the Land may have speedy knowledg and send Relief And if any accident fall out through unreasonable action or careless neglect other parts of the Land may thereby be made watchful to prevent like danger Or if any through industry or ripeness of understanding have found out any secret in Nature or new invention in any Art or Trade or in the Tillage of the Earth or such like whereby the Commonwealth may more flourish in peace and plenty for which Vertues those persons received honor in the places where they dweit When other parts of the Land hear of it many thereby will be encouraged to employ their Reason and industry to do the like that so in time there will not be any Secret in Nature which now lies hid by reason of the iron age of 〈◊〉 oppressing Government but by some or other will be brought to light to the beauty of our Commonwealth The Rise of a Commonwealths Army After that the necessity of the People in a Parish in a County and in a Land hath moved the People to chuse Officers to preserve common peace the same necessity causeth the People to say to their Officers Do you see our Laws observed for our common preservation and we will assist and protect you This word assist and protect implies the rising of the people by force of Arms to defend their Laws and Officers who rule well against any Invasion Insurrection or Rebellion of selfish Officers or rude people yea to beat down the turbulency of any foolish spirit that shall arise to break our common Peace So that the same Law of Necessity of common Peace which moved the people to chuse Officers and to compose a Law for to be a Rule of Government The same Law of Necessity of Protection doth raise an Army so that an Army as well as other Officers in a Commonwealth spring from one and the same root viz. from the Necessity of common Preservation An Army is two-fold viz. A Ruling Army or a Fighting Army A ruling Army is called Magistracy in times of Peace keeping that Land and Government in Peace by Execution of the Laws which the fighting Army did purchase in the field by their Blood out of the hands of Oppression And here all Officers from the father in a family to the Parliament in a Land are but the Heads and Leaders of an Army and all people arising to protect and assist their Officers in defence of a right ordered Government are but the Body of an Army And this Magistracy is called the rejoycing of all Nations when the Foundation thereof are Laws of common Equity whereby every single man may enjoy the fruit of his labour in the free use of the Earth without being restrained or oppressed by the hands of others Secondly A fighting Army called Souldiers in the field when the necessity of preservation by reason of a forraign Invasion or inbred Oppression do move the people to arise in an Army to cut and teer to pieces either degenerated Officers or rude people who seek their own Interest and not common Freedom and through treachery do endeavor to destroy the Laws of common Freedom and to enssave both the Land and people of the Commonwealth to their particular wills and lusts And this War is called a Plague because that cursed enmity of Covetousness pride and vain glory and envy in the heart of Mankind did occasion the rise of it because he will not be under the moderate observation of any free and right Order unless he himself be King and Lord over other persons and their labours For now the people do arise to defend their faithful Officers against such Officers as are unfaithful and to defend their Laws and Common Peace The use or work of a fighting Army in a Commonwealth Is to beat down all that arise to endeavor to destroy the Liberties of the Commonwealth For as in the days of Monarchy an Army was used to subdue all who rebelled against Kingly Propriety so in the days of a free Commonwealth an Army is to be made use of to resist and destroy all who endeavor to keep up or bring in Kingly Bondage again The work of this fighting Army is twofold The first is to withstand the Invasion or coming in of a forraign Enemy whose Invasion is for no other end but to take away our Land and Earth from us to deny us the free use thereof to become Kings and Landlords over us and to make us their slaves As William the Conqueror when he had conquered England he gave not only the Land in parcels to his Souldiers but he gave all men their
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 In thee O England is the Law arising up to shine If thou receive and practise it the crown it wil be thine If thou reject and stil remain a froward Son to be Another Land wil it receive and take the crown from thee Revel. 11. 15. Dan. 7. 27. LONDON Printed by J. M. for the Author and are to be sold by Giles Calvert at the black Spred-Eagle at the West end of Pauls 1652. To His Excellency OLIVER CROMWEL General of the Commonwealths Army in ENGLAND SIR GOD hath honored you with the highest Honor of any man since Moses time to be the Head of a People who have cast out an Oppressing Pharaoh For when the Norman Power had conquered our Forefathers he took the free use of our English Ground from them and made them his servants And God-hath made you a successful Instrument to cast out that Conqueror and to recover our Land and Liberties again by your Victories out of that Norman hand That which is yet wanting on your part to be done is this To see the Oppressors Power to be cast out with his person And to see that the free possession of the Land and Liberties be put into the hands of the oppressed Commoners of England For the Crown of Honor cannot be yours neither can those Victories be called Victories on your part till the Land and Freedoms won be possessed by them who adventured person and purse for them Now you know Sir that the Kingly Conqueror was not beaten by you onely as you are a single man nor by the Officers of the Army joyned to you but by the hand and assistance of the Commoners whereof some came in person and adventured their lives with you others stayd at home and planted the Earth and payd Taxes and Freequarter to maintain you that went to war So that whatsoever is recovered from the Conqueror is recovered by a joynt consent of the Commoners therefore it is all Equity That all the Commoners who assisted you should be set free from the Conquerors power with you As Davids Law was The spoyl shall be divided between them who went to War and them who stayd at home And now you have the Power of the Land in your hand you must do one of these two things First either set the Land free to the oppressed Commoners who assisted you and payd the Army their wages and then you will fulfil the Scriptures and your own Engagements and so take possession of your deserved Honor Or secondly you must onely remove the Conquerors Power out of the Kings hand into other mens maintaining the old Laws still And then your Wisdom and Honor is blasted for ever and you will either lose your self or lay the Foundation of greater Slavery to posterity then you ever knew You know that while the King was in the height of his oppressing Power the People onely whispered in private Chambers against him But afterwards it was preached upon the house tops That he was a Tyrant and a Traytor to Englands peace and he had his overturn The righteous Power in the Creation is the same still If you and those in power with you should be found walking in the Kings steps can you secure your selves or posterities from an overturn Surely No The Spirit of the whole Creation who is God is about the Reformation of the World and he will go forward in his work For if he would not spare Kings who have sat so long at his right hand governing the World neither will he regard you unless your ways be found more righteous then the Kings You have the eyes of the People all the Land over nay I think I may say all neighboring Nations over waiting to see what you will do And the eyes of your oppressed friends who lie yet under Kingly power are waiting to have the possession given them of that Freedom in the Land which was promised by you if in case you prevailed Lose not your Crown take it up and wear it But know that it is no Crown of Honor till Promises and Engagements made by you be performed to your friends He that continues to the end shall receive the Crown Now you do not see the end of your work unless the Kingly Law and Power be removed as well as his person Jonah's Gourd is a remembrancer to men in high places The worm in the Earth gnawed the root and the Gourd dyed and Jonah was offended Sir I pray bear with me my spirit is upon such a lock that I must speak plain to you lest it tell me another day If thou hadst spoke plain things might have been amended The Earth wherein your Gourd grows is the Commoners of England The Gourd is that Power which covers you which will be established to you by giving the People their true Freedoms and not otherwise The root of your Gourd is the heart of the People groaning under Kingly Bondage and desiring a Commonwealths Freedom in their English Earth The worm in the Earth now gnawing at the root of your Gourd is Discontents because Engagements and Promises made to them by such as have power are not kept And this worm hath three heads The first is a spirit waiting opportunities till a blasting wind arise to cause your Gourd to wither and yet pretends fair to you c. Another spirit shelters under your Gourd for a livelyhood and will say as you say in all things and these are called honest yet no good friends to you nor the Commonwealth but to their own bellies There is a third spirit which is faithful indeed and plain dealing and many times for speaking truth plainly he is cashiered imprisoned and crushed And the Oppressions layd upon this spirit kindles the fire which the two former waits to warm themselves at Would you have your Gourd stand for ever Then cherish the root in the Earth that is the heart of your friends the oppressed Commoners of England by killing the Worm And nothing will kill this worm but performance of professions words and promises that they may be made free men from Tyranny It may be you will say to me What shall I do I answer You are in place and power to see all Burthens taken off from your friends the Commoners of England You will say What are those Burthens I will instance in some both which I know in my own experience and which I hear the people dayly complaining of and groaning under looking upon you and waiting for Deliverance Most people cry We have payd Taxes
There is no need of them for there is to be no buying and selling neither any need to expound Laws for the bare letter of the Law shall be both Judg and Lawyer trying every mans actions And seeing we shall have successive Parliaments every year there will be Rules made for every action a man can do But there is to be Officers chosen yearly in every parish to see the Laws executed according to the letter of the Laws so that there will be no long work in trying of Offences as it is under Kingly Government to get the Lawyers mony and to enslave the Commoners to the Conquerors prerogative Law or Will The sons of contention Simeon and Levi must not beat Rule in a free Commonwealth At the first view you may say this is a strange Government but I pray judg nothing before tryal Lay this Platform of Commonwealths Government in one scale and lay Monarchy or Kingly Government in the other scale and see which give true weight to righteous Freedom and Peace There is no middle path between these two for a man must either be a free and true Commonwealths man or a Monarchial tyrannical Royalist If any say This will bring poverty surely they mistake for there will be plenty of all Earthly Commodities with less labor and trouble then now it is under Monarchy There will be no want for every man may keep as plentiful a house as he will and never run into debt for common stock pays for all If you say Some will live idle I answer No It will make idle persons to become workers as is declared in the Platform There shall be neither Beggar nor idle person If you say This will make men quarrel and fight I answer No It will turn swords into plowshares and settle such a peace in the Earth as Nations shall learn War no more Indeed the Government of Kings is a breeder of Wars because men being put into the straits of poverty are moved to fight for Liberty and to take one anothers Estates from them and to obtain Mastery Look into all Armies and see what they do more but make some poor some rich put some into freedom and others into bondage And is not this a plague among Mankinde Well I question not but what Objections can be raised against this Commonwealths Government they shall finde an Answer in this Platform following I have been something large because I could not contract my self into a lesser volume having so many things to speak of I do not say nor desire That every one shall be compelled to practise this Commonwealths Government for the spirits of some will be Enemies at first though afterwards will prove the most cordial and true friends thereunto Yet I desire That the Commonwealths Land which is the ancient Commons and waste Land and the Lands newly got in by the Armies Victories out of the oppressors hands as Parks Forests Chases and the like may be set free to all that have lent assistance either of person or purse to obtain it and to all that are willing to come in to the practice of this Government and be obedient to the Laws thereof And for others who are not willing let them stay in the way of buying and selling which is the Law of the Conqueror till they be willing And so I leave this in your hand humbly prostrating my self and it before you and remain Novemb. 5. 1651. A true Lover of Commonwealths Government Peace and Freedom Jerrard Winstanley To the Friendly and Unbyassed READER Reader IT was the Apostles advice formerly to try all things and to hold fast that which is best This Platform of Government which I offer is the Original Righteousness and Peace in the Earth though he hath been buried under the clods of Kingly Covetousness Pride and Oppression a long time Now he begins to have his Resurrection despise it not while it is small though thou understand it not at the first sight yet open the door and look into the house for thou mayst see that which will satisfie thy heart in quiet rest To prevent thy hasty rashness I have given thee a short Compendium of the whole First Thou knowest that the Earth in all Nations is governed by buying and selling for all the Laws of Kings hath relation thereunto Now this Platform following declares to thee the Government of the Earth without buying and selling and the Laws are the Laws of a free and peaceable Commonwealth which casts out every thing that offends for there is no pricking Briar in all this holy Mountain of the righteous Law or peaceable Ruler Every Family shall live apart as now they do every man shall enjoy his own wife and every woman her own husband as now they do every Trade shall be improved to more excellency then now it is all children shall be educated and be trained up in subjection to parents and elder people more then now they are The Earth shall be planted and the fruits reaped and carried into Store-houses by common assistance of every Family The riches of the Store-houses shall be the Common Stock to every Family There shall be no idle person nor Begger in the Land And because offences may arise from the spirit of unreasonable ignorance therefore was the Law added For if any man abuse his neighbor by provoking words by striking his person by offering offence to his neighbors wife or children or to his house or furaiture there in or to live idle upon other mens labours here are Laws to punish them sharply and Officers to see those Laws executed according to the right Order of Commonwealths Government for the peace of every familyin the Land This Commonwealths Government unites all people in a Land into one heart and mind And it was this Government which made Moses to call Abrahams seed one house of Israel though they were many Tribes and many Families And it may be said Blessed is the people whose earthly Government is the Law of Common Righteousness While Israel was under this Commonwealths Government they were a terror to all oppressing Kings in all Nations of the World and so will England be if this righteous Law become our Governor But when the Officers of Israel began to be covetous and proud they made a breach or as Isaiah said The Rulers of the people caused them to err and then the Government was altered and fell into the hand of Kings like other Nations and then they fled before their enemies and were scattered The Government of Kings is the Government of the Scribes and Pharisees who count it no freedom unless they be Lords of the Earth and of their Brethren But Commonwealths Government is the Government of Righteousness and Peace who is no Respecter of persons Therefore Reader here is a tryal for thy sincerity Thou shalt have no want of food rayment or freedom among Brethren in this way propounded See now if thou 〈◊〉 be content as the Scriptures
time to King Charles were successors of that conquest and all Laws were made to confirm that Conquest For there are his old Laws and Statutes yet to be read that do shew how he allowed the conquered English but three pence and four pence a day for their work to buy them bread of their Task-masters but the freedom of the earth he and his friends kept in their own hands And as Kings so the old Gentry and the new Gentry likewise walking in the same steps are but the successors of the Norman victory But are not the Normans and their power conquered by the Commoners of England And why then should we not recover the freedom of our land again from under that yoak and power Then further The Norman Conqueror made Laws whereby this English earth should be governed and appointed two national Officers to see those Laws performed The first Officer was the Lawyer And his work is conversant about nothing but the disposing of the earth and all Courts of Judicature and Snits of Law is about the ordering of the Earth according to his Law made by him and his party The next Officer was the national Clergie and their work was to perswade the multitude of people to let William the Conqueror alone with a quiet possession and government 〈◊〉 the earth and to call it his and not theirs and so not to rebell against him And they were to tell the people 〈◊〉 they would acknowledge William Duke of Normandy and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be their Lord King and Ruler and would be obedient to his Government then they should live in the Haven that is in peace and they should quietly enjoy their land which they rented their houses and fruits of their labors without disturbance But if they would not acknowledg him to be their Lord King and Ruler nor submit to his Government then they should be cast into Hell that is into the sorrows of prisons poverty whips and death and their houses and riches should be taken from them c. And this was a true prophetical and experimental Doctrine for do we not see that the Laws of a King while a King had the Power of life and death in them And he who fell under the power of this Lord must pay the uttermost farthing before he was released And for their pains for thus preaching the King established by his Laws that they should have the tenth of the encrease of all profits from the Earth 1 Sam. 8. 15. placing their freedom where he placed his own and that is in the use of the Earth brought into their hands by the labors of the enslaved men But in after times when this National Ministry appeared to the people to be but hirelings and as the people grew in knowledg they discovered their hypocrisie more and more as they do in these days Then this Clergy the spirit of the old Pharisees began to divine and to deceive the people by a shew of holiness or spititual doctrine as they call it difficult to be understood by any but themselves perswading the people to beleeve or fancy That true Freedom lay in hearing them preach and to enjoy that Heaven which they say every man who beleeves their doctrine shall enjoy after he is dead And so tell us of a Heaven and Hell after death which neither they nor we know what wil be So that the whole world is at a loss in the true knowledg thereof as Solomon said Who shall bring him to see what shall be after he is dead Eccles. 3. 22. 6. 11. The former hell of prisons whips and gallows they preached to keep the people in subjection to the King but by this divined Hell after death they preach to keep both King and people in aw to them to uphold their trade of Tythes and new rased Maintenance And so having blinded both King and people they become the god that rules This subtle divining spirit is the Whore that sits upon many waters This is Nahash the Amonite that would not make peace with Israel unless Israel would suffer him to put out their right eyes and to see by his 1 Sam. 1 1. 2. For so long as the people call that a Truth which they call a Truth and believe what they preach and are willing to let the Clergy be the Keepers of their eyes and knowledg that is as much as Nahash did put out their eyes to see by theirs then all is well and they tell the people they shall go to Heaven But if the eyes of the people begin to open and they seek to find knowledg in their own hearts and to question the Ministers Doctrine and become like unto wise-hearted Thomas to believe nothing but what they see reason for Then do the Ministers prepare War against that man or men and will make no Covenant of Peace with him till they consent to have their right eyes put out that is to have their Reason blinded so as to believe every Doctrine they preach and never question any thing saying The Doctrine of Faith must not be tryed by Reason No for if it be their Mystery of Iniquity will be discovered and they would lose their Tythes Therefore no marvel though the National Clergy of England and Scotland who are the Tything Priests and Lords of blinded mens spirits stuck so close to their Master the King and to his Monarchial oppressing Government for say they If the people must not work for us and give us Tythes but we must work for our selves as they do our Freedom is lost I but this is but the cry of an Egyptian Task-master who counts other mens freedom his bondage Now if the Earth could be enjoyed in such a maner as every one might have provision as it may by this Platform I have offered then will the Peace of the Commonwealth be preserved and men need not act so hypocritically as the Clergy do and others likewise to get a living But when some shall enjoy great possessions and others who have done as much or more for to purchase Freedom shall have none at all and be made slaves to their brethren this begets offences The glory of Israels Commonwealth is this They had no Begger among them As you read when they had conquered the Canaanites and won that Land by the purchase of the blood and labour and by a joynt assistance throughout the whole Tribes of Israel the Officers and Leaders of the people did not sell the Land again to the remainder of their Enemies nor buy and sell it among themselves and so by cheating the people set up a new Oppression upon a new account Neither did they fall a parting the Land before the crowning Victory was gotten But they forbore the disposing of the Land till the War was over and all the Tribes stuck close together till all the fighting work was done And when they saw the Enemies heart was broke and that now they were the Masters of the field then
Magistracy of a Commonwealth and they do not act righteously and because of this sorrows and tears poverty and bondages are known among Mankinde and now that City mourns And surely if it be carefully looked into the necessity of the people never chose such Officers but they were either voluntary Soldiers 〈◊〉 Officers chosen by them who ran before they were called and so by policy and force they sat down in the chair of Government strengthening one sort of people to take the free use of the Earth from another sort and these are sons of bondage and they act in darkness by reason whereof the Prophet Esay cries out Darkness hath covered the Earth and thick darkness the people for the Leaders of the people have caused them to err I fear so O England c. All Officers in a Commonwealth are to be chosen new ones every year When publique Officers remain long in place of Judicature they will degenerate from the bounds of humility honesty and tender care of brethren in regard the heart of man is so subject to be overspred with the clouds of covetousness pride and vain-glory for though at the first entrance into places of Rule they be of publique spirits seeking the Freedom of others as their own yet continuing long in such a place where honors and greatness is coming in they become selfish seeking themselves and not common Freedom as experience proves it true in these days according to this common Proverb Great Offices in a Land and Army have changed the disposition of many sweet spirited men And Nature tells us That if water stand long it corrupts whereas running water keeps sweet and is fit for common use Therefore as the necessity of common preservation moves the people to frame a Law and to chuse Officers to see the Law obeyed that they may live in peace So doth the same Necessity bid the People and cries aloud in the ears and eyes of England to chuse new Officers and to remove the old ones and to chuse State-Officers every year And that for these Reasons First To prevent their own evils for when pride and fulness take hold of an Officer his eyes are so blinded therewith that he forgets he is a servant to the Commonwealth and strives to lift up himself high above his Brethren and oftentimes his Fall proves very great witness the Fall of oppressing Kings Bishops and other State-Officers Secondly To prevent the creeping in of Oppression into the Commonwealth again for when Officers grow proud and full they will maintain their greatness though it be in the poverty ruine and hardship of their Brethren Witness the practice of Kings and their Laws that have 〈◊〉 the Commoners of England a long time And have we not experience in these days that some Officers of the Commonwealth are grown so mossy for want of removing that they will hardly speak to an old acquaintance if he be an inferior man though they were very familiar before these Wars began c. And what hath occasioned this distance among friends and brethren but long continuance in places of honour greatness and riches Thirdly Let Officers be chosen new every year in love to our posterity for if Burthens and Oppressions should grow up in our Laws and in our Officers for want of removing as Moss and Weeds grow in some Land for want of stirring surely it will be a foundatian of misery not easily to be removed by our posterity and then will they curse the time that ever we their fore-fathers had opportunities to set things to rights for their ease and would not do it Fourthly To remove Officers of State every year will make them truly faithful knowing that others are coming after who will look into their ways and if they do not do things justly they must be ashamed when the next Officers succeed And when Officers deal faithfully in the Government of the Commonwealth they will not be unwilling to remove The Peace of London is much preserved by removing their Officers yearly Fifthly It is good to remove Officers every year that whereas many have their portions to obey so many may have their turns to rule and this will encourage all men to advance Righteousness and good Manners in hopes of Honor but when money and riches bears all the sway in the Rulers hearts there is nothing but Tyranny in such ways Sixthly The Commonwealth hereby will be furnished with able and experienced men fit to govern which will mightily advance the Honor and Peace of our Land occasion the more watchful care in the Education of children and in time will make our Commonwealth of England the Lilly among the Nations of the Earth Who are fit to choose and fit to be chosen Officers in a Commonwealth All uncivil livers as drunkards quarrelers fearful ignorant men who dare not speak truth lest they anger other men likewise all who are wholly given to pleasure and sports or men who are full of talk all these are empty of substance and cannot be experienced men therefore not fit to be chosen Officers in a Commonwealth yet they may have a voyce in the choosing Secondly All those who are interessed in the Monarchial Power and Government ought neither to choose nor be chosen Officers to manage Commonwealths Affairs for these cannot be friends to common Freedom And these are of two sorts First Such as have either lent money to maintain the Kings Army or in that Army have been Souldiers to fight against the recovering of common Freedom these are neither to choose nor be chosen Officers in the Commonwealth as yet for they have lost their Freedom yet I do not say that they should be made servants as the conquered usually are made servants for they are our brethren and what they did no doubt they did in a conscionable zeal though in ignorance And seeing but few of the Parliaments friends understand their Common Freedoms though they own the name Commonwealth therefore the Parliaments party ought to bear with the ignorance of the Kings party because they are brethren and not make them servants though for the present they be suffered neither to choose nor be chosen Officers left that ignorant spirit of revenge break out in them to interrupt our common Peace Secondly All those who have been so hasty to buy and sell the Common-wealths Land and so to entangle it upon a new accompt ought neither to choose nor be chosen Officers for hereby they declare themselves either to be for Kingly Interest or else are ignorant of Commonwealths Freedom or both therefore unfit to make Laws to govern a free Commonwealth or to be Overseers to see those Laws executed What greater injury could be done to the Commoners of England then to sell away their Land so hastily before the people knew where they were or what Freedom they had got by such cost and bloodshed as they were at And what greater ignorance could be declared by Officers then to sell
Laws and to give Orders Encouragements and Directions unto the poor oppressed people of the Land that they forthwith plant and manure this their own Land for the free and comfortable livelyhood of themselves and posterities And to declare to them it is their own Creation rights faithfully and couragiously recovered by their diligence purses and blood from under the Kingly Tyrants and Oppressors Power The work of a Parliament secondly Is to abolish all old Laws and Customs which have been the strength of the Oppressor and to prepare and then to enact new Laws for the ease and Freedom of the people but yet not without the peoples knowledg For the work of a Parliament herein is three-fold First When old Laws and Customs of the Kings do burden the people and the people desire the remove of them and the establishment of more easie Laws It is now the work of a Parliament to search into Reason and Equity how relief may be found out for the people in such a case and to preserve a common Peace and when they have found out a way by debate of Councel among themselves whereby the people may be relieved they are not presently to establish their Conclusions for a Law But in the next place they are to make a publike Declaration thereof to the people of the Land who choose them for their approbation and if no Objection come in from the people within one moneth they may then take the peoples silence as a consent thereto And then in the third place they are to enact it for a Law to be a binding Rule to the whole Land For as the remove of the old Laws and Customs are by the peoples consent which is proved by their frequent 〈◊〉 and Requests of such a thing so the enacting of new Laws must be by the Peoples consent and knowledg likewise And here they are to require the consent not of men interessed in the old oppressing Laws and Customs as Kings used to do but of them who have been oppressed And the Reason is this Because the people must be all subject to the Law under pain of punishment therefore it is all reason they should know it before it be enacted that if there be any thing of the Councel of Oppression in it it may be discovered and amended But you will say If it must be so then will men so differ in their judgments that we shall never agree I answer There is but Bondage and Freedom particular Interest or common Interest and he who pleads to bring in particular interest into a free Commonwealth will presently be seen and cast out as one bringing in Kingly Slavery again And men in place and office where greatness and honor is coming in may sooner be corrupted to bring in particular Interest then a whole Land can be who must either suffer sorrow under a burthensom Law or rejoyce under a Law of Freedom And 〈◊〉 those men who are not willing to enslave the People will not be unwilling to consent hereunto The work of a Parliament thirdly Is to see all those burthens removed actually which have hindered or do hinder the oppressed People from the enjoyment of their Birth-Rights If their Common Lands be under the Oppression of Lords of Manors they are to see the Land freed from that Slavery If the Commonwealths Land be sold by the hasty Councel of subtil covetous and ignorant Officers who act for their own particular Interest and so hath entangled the Commoners Land again under colour of being bought and sold A Parliament is to examine what Authority any had to sell or buy the Commonwealth Land without a general consent of the People for it is not any ones but every ones Birth Right And if some through covetousness and self interest gave 〈◊〉 privately yet a Parliament who is the Father of a Land ought not to give consent to buy and sell that land which is all the childrens Birth-Right and the price of their labors monies and blood They are to declare likewise that the birgain is unrighteous and that the Buyers and Sellers are Enemies to the Peace and Freedom of the Commonwealth For indeed the Necessity of the people chose a Parliament to help them in their weakness and where they see a danger like to impoverish or enslave one part of the people to another they are to give warning and so prevent that danger for they are the Eyes of the Land And surely those are blinde Eyes that lead the People into Bogs to be entangled in Mud again after they are once pulled out And when the Land is once freed from the Oppressors Power and Laws a Parliament is to keep it so and not suffer it by their consent to have it bought or sold and so entangled in bondage upon a new account And for their faithfulness herein to the People the People are engaged by Love and Faithfulness to cleave close to them in defence and protection But when a Parliament have no care herein the hearts of the People run away from them like sheep who have no Shepherd All grievances are occasioned either by the covetous Wills of State-Officers who neglect their obedience to the good Laws and then prefer their own Ease Honor and Riches before the Ease and Freedom of the oppressed People And here a Parliament is to cashier and punish those Officers and place others who are men of publique spirits in their rooms Or else the Peoples Grievances arise from the practise and power that the Kings Laws have given to Lords of Manors covetous Landlords Tythe-takers or unbounded Lawyers being all strengthened in their oppressions over the People by that Kingly Law And when the people are burthened herewith and groan waiting for deliverance as the oppressed people of England do at this day it is then the work of a Parliament to see the people delivered and that they enjoy their Creation-Freedoms in the Earth They are not to dally with them but as a Father is ready to help his children out of misery when they either see them in misery or when the children cry for help so should they do for the oppressed People And surely for this end and no other is a Parliament chosen as is cleared before for the Necessity of common preservation and peace is the Fundamental Law both to Officers and People The Work of a Parliament fourthly is this If there be occasion to raise an Army to wage War either against an Invasion of a Forreign Enemy or against an Insurrection at home it is the work of a Parliament to manage that business for to preserve common Peace And here their work is three-fold First To acquaint the people plainly with the cause of the War and to shew them the danger of such an Invasion or Insurrection and so from that cause require their assistance in person for the preservation of the Laws Liberties and Peace of the Commonwealth according to their Engagement when they were chosen which
light and darkness strive in 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 to succeed each other or as it is said the strong man armed keeps the heart of man till a stronger then he came and cast him out And this written law proceeding either from reason or unreasonableness is called the letter whereby the creation of mankinde beasts and earth is governed according to the will of that power which rules And it is called by his opposite the letter that kils and by those of the same nature with it it is called the word of life As for example if the experienced wise and strong man bears rule then he writes down his minde to curb the unreasonable law of covetousnes and pride in unexperienced men to preserve peace in the Commonwealth And this is called the historical or traditional law because it is conveyed from one generation to another by writing as the laws of Israels Commonwealth were writ in a book by Moses and so conveyed to poposterity And this outward law is a bridle to unreasonableness or as Solomon writ it is a whip for the fools back for whom only it was added Secondly since Moses time the power of unreasonable coveteousness and pride hath sometimes rise up and corrupted that traditional law For since the power of the sword rise up in Nations to Conquer the written law hath not been to advance Common freedom and to beat down the unreasonable self-will in mankind but it hath been framed to uphold that self-will of the Conquerer right or wrong not respecting the freedome of the Commonwealth but the freedome of the Conquerer and his friends only By reason whereof much slavery hath been laid upon the backs of the plaine dealing man And men of publick spirits as Moses was have been crushed and their spirits damped thereby which hath bred first discontents and then more wars in the Nations And those who have been favorites about the Conquerer have by hypocrisie and flattery pleased their king that they might get what they can of the earth into their possession and thereby have increased the bondage of the paineful laborer if they could but catch him to act contrary to the Conquerers will called law And now the City mournes and do we not see that the laws of Kings have been alwayes made against such actions as the Common-people were most inclinable to on purpose to 〈◊〉 them into their Sessions and Courts that the Lawyers and Clergy who were the Kings supporters might get money thereby and live in fulness by other mens labors But hereby the true nature of a wel-governed Commonwealth hath been ruined and the will of Kings set up for a law and the law of righteousness law of liberty trod under foot and killed This traditional law of Kings is that letter at this day which kils true freedom and it is the 〈◊〉 of wars and persecution This is the souldier who cut Christs garment into pieces which was to have remained uncut and without seame this law moves the people to fight one against another for those pieces viz. for the several inclosures of the earth who shall possess the earth and who shall be Ruler over others But the true ancient law of God is a Covenant of peace to whole mankinde this sets the earth free to all this unites both Jew and Gentile into one brotherhood and rejects none this makes Christs garment whole againe and makes the kingdomes of the world to become Common-wealths again It is the inward power of right understanding which is the true law that teaches people in action as well as in words to do as they would be done unto But thus much in general what law is hereafter followes what those particular laws may be whereby a Commonwealth may be governed in peace and all burdens removed which is a breaking forth of that law of liberty which will be the joy of all Nations when he arises up and is established in his brightness Short and pithy laws are best to govern a Commonwealth The laws of Israels Commonwealth were few short and pithy and the government thereof was established in peace so long as officers and people were obedient thereunto But those many laws in the dayes of the Kings of England which were made some in times of Popery and some in times of Protestantism and the proceedings of the law being in French and Latine hath produced two great evils in England First it hath occasioned much ignorance among the people and much contention and the people have mightily erred through want of knowledge and thereby they have run into great expence of money by suits of law or else many have been imprisoned whipped banished lost their estates and lives by that law which they were ignorant of till the scourge thereof was upon their backs this is a sore evil among the people Secondly the peoples ignorance of the laws hath bread many sons of contention for when any difference fals out between man and man they neither of them know which offends the other therefore both of them thinking their cause is good they delight to make use of the law and then they go and give a Lawyer mony to tell them which of them was the offender The Lawyer being glad to maintain their own trade sets them together by the ears till all their moneys be near spent and then bids them refer the business to their neighbors to make them friends which might have been done at the first So that the course of the Law and Lawyers hath been a 〈◊〉 snare to entrap the people and to pull their Estates from them by 〈◊〉 for the Lawyers do uphold the Conquerors Interest and the peoples Slavery so that the King seeing that did put all the affairs of Judicature into their hands And all this must be called Justice but it is a 〈◊〉 Evil But now if the Laws were few and short and often read it would prevent those Evils 〈◊〉 every one knowing when they did well and when ill would be very cautious of their words and actions and this would escape the Lawyers craft As Moses Laws in Israels Commonwealth The People did talk of them when they lay down and when they rose up and as they walked by the way and bound them as bracelets upon their hands so that they were an understanding people in the Laws wherein their peace did depend But it is a sign that England is a blinded and a snared generation their Leaders through pride and covetousness have caused them to err yea and perish too for want of the knowledg of the Laws which hath the power of Life and Death Freedom and Bondage in its hand But I hope better things hereafter What may be those particular Laws or such a method of Laws whereby a Commonwealth may be governed 1. The bare letter of the Law established by act of Parliament shall be the Rule for Officer and People and the chief Judg of all Actions 2. He or they who add or diminish