Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	common_a	lord_n	tenant_n	1,699	5	9.7297	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95059	The true Levellers standard advanced: or, The state of community opened, and presented to the sons of men. By William Everard, Iohn Palmer, Iohn South, Iohn Courton. William Taylor, Christopher Clifford, Iohn Barker. Ferrard Winstanley, Richard Goodgroome, Thomas Starre, William Hoggrill, Robert Sawyer, Thomas Eder, Henry Bickerstaffe, Iohn Taylor, &c. Beginning to plant and manure the waste land upon George-Hill, in the parish of Walton, in the county of Surrey.	Everard, William.	1649 (1649)	Wing T2716; Thomason E552_5; ESTC R205713	15,458	23

work in righteousness and lay the Foundation of making the Earth a Common Treasury for All both Rich and Poor That every one that is born in the Land may be fed by the Earth his Mother that brought him forth according to the Reason that rules in the Creation Not Inclosing any part into any particular hand but all as one man working together and feeding together as Sons of one Father members of one Family not one Lording over another but all looking upon each other as equals in the Creation so that our Maker may be glorified in the work of his own hands and that every one may see he is no respecter of Persons but equally loves his whole Creation and hates nothing but the Serpent which is Covetousness branching forth into selvish Imagination Pride Envie Hypocrisie Vncleanness all seeking the ease and honor of flesh and fighting against the Spirit Reason that made the Creation for that is the Corruption the Curse the Devil the Father of Lies Death and Bondage that Serpent and Dragon that the Creation is to be delivered from And we are moved hereunto for that Reason and others which hath been shewed us both by Vision Voyce and Revelation For it is shewed us That so long as we or any other doth own the Earth to be the peculier Interest of Lords and Landlords and not common to others as well as them we own the Curse and holds the Creation under bondage and so long as we or any other doth own Landlords and Tennants for one to call the Land his or another to hire it of him or for one to give hire and for another to work for hire this is to dishonour the work of Creation as if the righteous Creator should have respect to persons and therefore made the Earth for some and not for all And so long as we or any other maintain this Civil Propriety we consent still to hold the Creation down under that bondage it groans under and so we should hinder the work of Restoration and sin against Light that is given into us and so through the fear of the flesh man lose our peace And that this Civil Propriety is the Curse is manifest thus Those that Buy and Sell Land and are landlords have got it either by Oppression or Murther or Theft and all landlords lives in the breach of the Seventh and Eighth Commandements Thou shalt not steal nor kill First by their Oppression They have by their subtle imaginary and covetous wit got the plain-hearted poor or yonger Brethren to work for them for small wages and by their work have got a great increase for the poor by their labour lifts up Tyrants to rule over them or else by their covetous wit they have out-reached the plain-hearted in Buying and Selling and thereby inriched themselves but impoverished others or else by their subtile wit having been a lifter up into places of Trust have inforced people to pay Money for a Publick use but have divided much of it into their private purses and so have got it by Oppression Then Secondly for Murther They have by subtile wit and power pretended to preserve a people in safety by the power of the Sword and what by large Pay much Free-quarter and other Booties which they call their own they get much Monies and with this they buy Land and become landlords and if once Landlords then they rise to be Justices Rulers and State Governours as experience shewes But all this is but a bloudy and subtile Thee very countenanced by a Law that Covetousness made and is a breach of the Seventh Commandement Thou shalt not kill And likewise Thirdly a breach of the Eighth Commandement Thou shalt not steal but these landlords have thus stoln the Earth from their fellow Creatures that have an equal share with them by the Law of Reason and Creation as well as they And such as these rise up to be rich in the objects of the Earth then by their plausible words of flattery to the plain-hearted people whom they deceive and that lies under confusion and blindness They are lifted up to be Teachers Rulers and Law makers over them that lifted them up as if the Earth were made peculiarly for them and not for others weal If you cast your eye a little backward you shall see That this outward Teaching and Ruling power is the Babylonish yoke laid upon Israel of old under Nebuchadnezzar and so Successively from that time the Conquering Enemy have still laid these yokes upon Israel to keep Jacob down And the last enslaving Conquest which the Enemy got over Israel was the Norman over England and from that time Kings Lords Judges Justices Bayliffs and the violent bitter people that are Free-holders are and have been Successively The Norman Bastard William himself his Colonels Captains inferiour Officers and Common Souldiers who still are from that time to this day in pursuite of that victory Imprisoning Robbing and killing the poor enslaved English Israelites And this appears cleer For when any Trustee or State Officer is to be Chosen The Free-holders or Landlords must be the Chusers who are the Norman Common Souldiers spred abroad in the Land And who must be Chosen but some very rich man who is the Successor of the Norman Colonels or high Officers And to what end have they been thus Chosen but to Establish that Norman power the more forcibly over the enslaved English and to beat them down again when as they gather heart to seek for Liberty For what are all those Binding and Restraining Laws that have been made from one Age to another since that Conquest and are still upheld by Furie over the People I say What are they but the Cords Bands Manacles and Yokes that the enslaved English like Newgate Prisoners wears upon their hands and legs as they walk the streets by which those Norman Oppressors and these their Successors from Age to Age have enslaved the poor People by killed their yonger Brother and would not suffer Iacob to arise O what mighty Delusion do you who are the powers of England live in That while you pretend to throw down that Norman yoke and Babylonish power and have promised to make the groaning people of England a Free People yet you still lift up that Norman yoke and slavish Tyranny and holds the People as much in bondage as the Bastard Conquerour himself and his Councel of War Take notice That England is not a Free People till the Poor that have no Land have a free allowance to dig and labour the Commons and so live as Comfortably as the Landlords that live in their Inclosures For the People have not laid out their Monies and shed their Bloud that their Landlords the Norman power should still have its liberty and freedom to rule in Tyranny in his Lords landlords Judges Justices Bayliffs and State Servants but that the Oppressed might be set Free Prison doors opened and the Poor peoples hearts comforted by

that any man should teach him for the same Anoynting that ruled in the Son of man teacheth him all things But since humane flesh that king of Beasts began to delight himself in the objects of the Creation more then in the Spirit Reason and Righteousness who manifests himself to be the indweller in the Five Sences of Hearing Seeing Tasting Smelling Feeling then he fell into blindness of mind and weakness of heart and runs abroad for a Teacher and Ruler And so selfish imaginations taking possession of the Five Sences and ruling as King in the room of Reason therein and working with Covetousnesse did set up one man to teach and rule over another and thereby the Spirit was killed and man was brought into bondage and became a greater Slave to such of his own kind then the Beasts of the field were to him And hereupon The Earth which was made to be a Common Treasury of relief for all both Beasts and Men was hedged in to In-closures by the teachers and rulers and the others were made Servants and Slaves And that Earth that is within this Creation made a Common Store-house for all is bought and sold and kept in the hands of a few whereby the great Creator is mightily dishonored as if he were a respector of persons delighting in the comfortable Livelihood of some and rejoycing in the miserable povertie and straits of others From the beginning it was not so But this coming in of Bondage is called A-dam because this ruling and teaching power without doth dam up the Spirit of Peace and Liberty First within the heart by filling it with slavish fears of others Secondly without by giving the bodies of one to be imprisoned punished and oppressed by the outward power of another And this evil was brought upon us through his own Covetousnesse whereby he is blinded and made weak and sees not the Law of Righteousnesse in his heart which is the pure light of Reason but looks abroad for it and thereby the Creation is cast under bondage and curse and the Creator is sleighted First by the Teachers and Rulers that sets themselves down in the Spirits room to teach and rule where he himself is only King Secondly by the other that refuses the Spirit to be taught and governed by fellow Creatures and this was called Israels Sin in casting off the Lord and chusing Saul one like themselves to be their King when as they had the same Spirit of Reason and government in themselves as he had if they were but subject And Israels rejecting of outward teachers and rulers to embrace the Lord and to be all taught and ruled by that righteous King that Jeremiah Prophesied shall rule in the new Heavens and new Earth in the latter dayes will be their Restauration from bondage Ier. 23.5 6. But for the present state of the old World that is running up like parchment in the fire and wearing away we see proud Imaginary flesh which is the wise Serpent rises up in flesh and gets dominion in some to rule over others and so forces one part of the Creation man to be a slave to another and thereby the Spirit is killed in both The one looks upon himself as a teacher and ruler and so is lifted up in pride over his fellow Creature The other looks upon himself as imperfect and so is dejected in his Spirit and looks upon his fellow Creature of his own Image as a Lord above him And thus Esau the man of flesh which is Covetousness and Pride hath killed Jacob the Spirit of meeknesse and righteous government in the light of Reason and rules over him And so the Earth that was made a common Treasury for all to live comfortably upon is become through mans unrighteous actions one over another to be a place wherein one torments another Now the great Creator who is the Spirit Reason suffered himself thus to be rejected and troden under foot by the covetous proud flesh for a certain time limited therefore saith he The Seed out of whom the Creation did proceed which is my Self shall bruise this Serpents head and restore my Creation again from this curse and bondage and when I the King of Righteousnesse raigns in every man I will be the blessing of the Earth and the joy of all Nations And since the coming in of the stoppage or the A-dam the Earth hath been inclosed and given to the Elder brother Esau or man of flesh and hath been bought and sold from one to another and Iacob or the yonger brother that is to succeed or come forth next who is the universal spreading power of righteousnesse that gives liberty to the whole Creation is made a servant And this Elder Son or man of bondage hath held the Earth in bondage to himself not by a meek Law of Righteousnesse But by subtle selfish Councels and by open and violent force for wherefore is it that there is such Wars and rumours of Wars in the Nations of the Earth and wherefore are men so mad to destroy one another But only to uphold Civil propriety of Honor Dominion and Riches one over another which is the curse the Creation groans under waiting for deliverance But when once the Earth becomes a Common Treasury again as it must for all the Prophesies of Scriptures and Reason are Circled here in this Community and mankind must have the Law of Righteousnesse once more writ in his heart and all must be made of one heart and one mind Then this Enmity in all Lands will cease for none shall dare to seek a Dominion over others neither shall any dare to kill another nor desire more of the Earth then another for he that will rule over imprison oppresse and kill his fellow Creatures under what pretence soever is a destroyer of the Creation and an actor of the Curse and walks contrary to the rule of righteousnesse Do as you would have others do to you and love your Enemies not in Words but in actions Therefore you powers of the Earth or Lord Esau the Elder brother because you have appeared to rule the Creation first take notice That the power that sets you to work is selvish Covetousnes and an aspiring Pride to live in glory and ease over Iacob the meek Spirit that is the Seed that lies hid in among the poor Common People or yonger Brother out of whom the blessing of Deliverance is to rise and spring up to all Nations And Reason the living king of righteousnesse doth only look on and lets thee alone That whereas thou counts thy self an Angel of Light thou shalt appear in the light of the Sun to be a Devil A-dam and the Curse that the Creation groans under and the time is now come for thy downfal and Iacob must rise who is the universal Spirit of love and righteousnesse that fils and will fill all the Earth Thou teaching and ruling power of flesh thou hast had three periods of time to vaunt

an universal Consent of making the Earth a Common Treasury that they may live together as one House of Israel united in brotherly love into one Spirit and having a comfortable livelihood in the Community of one Earth their Mother If you look through the Earth you shall see That the landlords Teachers and Rulers are Oppressors Murtherers and Theeves in this manner But it was not thus from the Beginning And this is one Reason of our digging and labouring the Earth one with another That we might work in righteousness and lift up the Creation from bondage For so long as we own Landlords in this Corrupt Settlement we cannot work in righteousness for we should still lift up the Curse and tread down the Creation dishonour the Spirit of universal Liberty and hinder the work of Restauration Secondly In that we begin to Digge upon George-Hill to eate our Bread together by righteous labour and sweat of our browes It was shewed us by Vision in Dreams and out of Dreams That that should be the Place we should begin upon And though that Earth in view of Flesh be very barren yet we should trust the Spirit for a blessing And that not only this Common or Heath should be taken in and Manured by the People but all the Commons and waste Ground in England and in the whole World shall be taken in by the People in righteousness not owning any Propriety but taking the Earth to be a Common Treasury as it was first made for all Thirdly It is shewed us That all the Prophecies Visions and Revelations of Scriptures of Prophets and Apostles concerning the calling of the Jews the Restauration of Israel and making of that People the Inheritors of the whole Earth doth all seat themselves in this Work of making the Earth a Common Treasury as you may read Ezek. 24.26 27 c. Jer. 33.7 to 12. Esay 49.17 18 c. Zach. 8. from 4 to 12. Dan. 2.44 45. Dan. 7.27 Hos 14.5 6 7. Joel 2.26 27. Amos 9. from 8 to the end Obad. 17.18.21 Mic. 5. from 7 to the end Hab. 2.6 7 8.13 14. Gen. 18.18 Rom. 11.15 Zeph. 3. c. Zach. 14.9 And when the Son of man was gone from the Apostles his Spirit descended upon the Apostles and Brethren as they were waiting at Ierusalem and the Rich men sold their Possessions and gave part to the Poor and no man said That ought that he possessed was his own for they had all things Common Act. 4.32 Now this Community was supprest by covetous proud flesh which was the powers that ruled the world and the righteous Father suffered himself thus to be suppressed for a time times and dividing of time or for 42 months or for three dayes and half which are all but one and the same term of time And the world is now come to the half day and the Spirit of Christ which is the Spirit of universal Community and Freedom is risen and is rising and will rise higher and higher till those pure waters of Shiloe the Well Springs of Life and Liberty to the whole Creation do over-run A-dam and crown those banks of Bondage Curse and Slavery Fourthly This work to make the Earth a Common Treasury was shewed us by Voice in Trance and out of Trance which words were these Work together Eate Bread together Declare this all abroad Which Voice was heard Three times And in Obedience to the Spirit Wee have Declared this by Word of mouth as occasion was offered Secondly We have declared it by writing which others may reade Thirdly We have now begun to declare it by Action in Diging up the Common Land and casting in Seed that we may eat our Bread together in righteousness And every one that comes to work shall eate the Fruit of their own labours one having as much Freedom in the Fruit of the Earth as another Another Voice that was heard was this Israel shall neither take Hire nor give Hire And if so then certainly none shall say This is my Land work for me and I 'le give you Wages For The Earth is the Lords that is Mans who is Lord of the Creation in every branch of mankind for as divers members of our human bodies make but one body perfect so every particular man is but a member or branch of mankind and mankind living in the light and obedience to Reason the King of righteousness is thereby made a fit and compleat Lord of the Creation And the whole Earth is this Lords Man subject to the Spirit And not the Inheritance of covetous proud Fesh that is selvish and enmity to the Spirit And if the Earth be not peculiar to any one branch or branches of mankind but the Inheritance of all Then is it Free and Common for all to work together and eate together And truly you Counsellors and Powers of the Earth know this That wheresoever there is a People thus united by Common Community of livelihood into Oneness it will become the strongest Land in the World for then they will be as one man to defend their Inheritance and Salvation which is Liberty and Peace is the Walls and Bulwarks of that Land or City Wheras on the otherside pleading for Propriety and single Interest divides the People of a land and the whole world into Parties and is the cause of all Wars and Bloud-shed and Contention every where Another Voice that was heard in a Trance was this Whosoever labours the Earth for any Person or Persons that are lifted up to rule over others and doth not look upon themselves as Equal to others in the Creation The hand of the Lord shall be upon that Laborer I the Lord have spoke it and I will do it This Declares likewise to all Laborers or such as are called Poor people that they shall not dare to work for Hire for any Landlord or for any that is lifted up above others for by their labours they have lifted up Tyrants and Tyranny and by denying to labor for Hire they shall pull them down again He that works for another either for Wages or to pay him Rent works unrighteously and still lifts up the Curse but they that are resolved to work and eat together making the Earth a Common Treasury doth joyn hands with Christ to lift up the Creation from Bondage and restores all things from the Curse Fiftly That which does incourage us to go on in this work is this We find the streaming out of Love in our hearts towards all to enemies as well as friends we would have none live in Beggery Poverty or Sorrow but that every one might enjoy the benefit of his creation we have peace in our hearts and quiet rejoycing in our work and filled with sweet content though we have but a dish of roots and bread for our food And we are assured that in the strength of this Spirit that hath manifested himself to us we shall not be startled neither at Prison nor Death