Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	anthony_n	sir_n	thomas_n	10,660	5	8.6168	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96693	An humble request, to the ministers of both Universities, and to all lawyers in every Inns-a-Court To consider of the scriptures and points of law herein mentioned, and to give a rational and christian answer, whereby the difference may be composed in peace, between the poor men of England, who have begun to digge, plow, and build upon the common land, claiming it their own, by right of creation. And the lords of mannours that trouble them, who have no other claiming to Commons, then the Kings will, or from the power of the conquest, and if neither minister nor lawyer, will undertake a reconciliation in this case, for the beauty of our Common-Wealth. Then we appeale, to the stones, timber, and dust of the earth you tread upon, to hold forth the light of this business, questioning not, but that power that dwells every where, will cause light to spring out of darkness, and freedom out of bondage. By Gerard Winstanley.	Winstanley, Gerrard, b. 1609.	1650 (1650)	Wing W3044; ESTC R233004	13,389	20

And at this time I went to Mr. Plat and spoke with him about our freedom in the Commons he answered me if I could make it good by Scriptures he would never trouble us more but let us build and plant Nay he said he would cast in all his estate and become one with the diggers The next week after I carried him this writing afore printed being Munday in Easter week and upon our discourse he seemed to consent to many things and was very moderate and promised me to read it over and to give me an Answer moreover he promised me that if the diggers would not cut the wood upon the Common he would not pull down their houses And the diggers resolved for peace sake to let the wood alone till people did understand their freedom a little more And upon Fryday in Easter week he came and brought his answer which was this He came accompanied with about 50. men and had hired 4. or 5. of them to fire down the diggers houses some that stood by said do not fire them the wood will do some good his answer was no no fire them to the ground that these Heathens who know not God may not build them again for if you let the wood alone they will build again Thereupon at the Command of this Parson Plat they set fire to six houses and burned them down and burned likewise some of their housholdstuffe and wearing Clothes throwing their beds stooles and housholdstuffe up and down the Common not pittying the cries of many little Children and their frighted Mothers which are Parishioners borne in the Parish And yet some of these hired men lives not in the Parish and some are strangers newly come into the Parish and so were bewitched by the covetous make bate Priests to do this heathenish turkish act The poor diggers being thus suddainly cast out of their houses by fire both they their wives and Children were forced to lie upon the open Common all night yet the rage of Parson Plat and his Company rested not here but in the night time some of them came again upon the Commons while the diggers were quiet and some of them in bed and said we have Authority from our Master that is Mr. Plat to kill you and burn the rest of your goods if you will not be gone thereupon Sir Anthony Vincents Servant called Davy struck at one and cut some of their Chaires and other Goods to peeces frighting the women and Children again And some of the Diggers asked them why they would do thus cruelly by them they answered because you do not know God nor will not come to Church Surely if the God of these men by their going to Church teach both their preacher and they to do such cruel deedes we will neither come to Church nor serve their God Mr. Plat in his Sermons can say live in peace with all men and love your Enemies therefore if the Diggers were enemies he ought to love them in action but it is a true badge of an hypocrite to say and not to do Let every Mans actions be tryed and see who serves God They or the Diggers Mr. Plat and the Gentlemen so would be called that were with him were full of rage and gnashed their tongues with vexation but the Diggers are patient chearfull quiet in spirit loving to those that have burned their houses Therefore the poor Diggers have got the Crown and weare it and the Priests and Gentry have lost their Crown The poor have striven with them 12. moneths with love and patience The Gentlemen have answered them all the time with fury they would have the Earth and all freedom but they will not suffer the poor to have either earth or freedom but what they hire of them But though the Devill be let loose to swell against us in these Gentry that rule over us by Kingly Power or Law of Norman Conquest notwithstanding they have taken the Engagement to cast out Kingly Power yet his time to be chained up drawes nigh and then we are assured this righteous work of earthly community shall have a most glorious resurrection out of his ashes Nay farther if this satisfies not Mr. Plat but he Tho Sutton of Cobham have hired three men to attend both night and day to beat the Diggers and to pull down their tents or houses if they make any more and if they make Caves in the earth they threaten to murther them there so that they will not suffer the poor Diggers to live neither above nor below ground if they beg they whip them by their Law for vagrants if they steal they hang them and if they set themselves to plant the Common for a livelihood that they may neither beg nor steale and whereby England is inriched yet they will not suffer them to do this neither And so hereby these Gentlemen take away both creation-right and Common-wealths right from the poor Diggers for they command the poor enslaved Tenants and Neighbors likewise not to suffer any of the Diggers to have any lodging in their houses nor to sell them any meat for their money And thus the fury of Parson Plat exceedes the fury of any other Lord of Mannor The chief setters on to burn these houses and to abuse the Diggers was Parson Plat Sir Anthony Vincent his Tenants and Servants were most of them there likewise Thomas Sutton and William Star these are they that say the Commons belong to the poor and yet these rich men are agrieved to see the poor make use of the Commons the actors in this Turkish designe were furious beyond the fury of the Beasts but many of those that came were threatned by Vincent his chief men to be turned out of their Livings if they came not so that this is not an act of the tenants by free consent but the Gentlemen hired others to do it These men do so powerfully act the Image of the Beast that they will neither buy nor sell with any freely nor let any have land houses or work under them but such as have the mark of the Beast that is such as are filled with fear of them and are obedient to their beastly Power And some of them say they do God good service if they can destroy or kill the Diggers Thus the Scriptures are fulfilled Rev. 13. 17. And now they cry out the Diggers are routed and they rang bells for joy but stay Gentlemen your selves are routed and you have lost your Crown and the poor Diggers have won the Crown of glory For first you have not routed them by Law for you durst not suffer the Diggers plead their own cause so that it never came to any tryal and you have no Law to warrant your Lordly power in beating of the Diggers but the will of Kingly swordly power which is self-will and Club-law Secondly You have not routed the Diggers by dispute for your impatient covetous and proud swelling heart would not suffer you to plead rationally with them Neither thirdly have you routed them by Scriptures but the Diggers have routed you by your own Law by reason by Scriptures and patient suffering all your abuses and now your name shall rot and your own power shall destroy you When the Scribes and Pharisees of old these Lords of Mannors Ancestors had put Jesus Christ to death they rejoyced and sent gifts one to another and made merry and in such like words said they had routed him And so now these English Pharisees because they have acted the power of the Beast and to the eye of the Beast seeme to stand uppermost for a time they say they have routed the Diggers But they are mistaken for the Diggers keep the field of patience quietness joy and sweet rest in their hearts and are filled with love to their enemies but the Gentlemen are so impatient they cannot rest for fretting jearing rayling and gnashing their tongues with vexation They wil not suffer the Diggers to look to the Corne which is planted upon the Commons being about eleven Acres neither will they look to it themselves but let the Cattle spoile it that they may say see their labor comes to nothing Are not these men the curse of England that wil not suffer others to live by the● and will rather spoile corne in these dear times then let the poor enjoy their own righteous labors upon the Commons This work of digging being freedom or the appearance of Christ in the earth hath tried the Priests and professors to the uttermost and hath ripped up the bottom of their Religion and proves it meere witchcraft and cosonage for self love and covetousnesse is their God or ruling power They have chosen the sword and they refuse love when the Lamb turnes into the Lion they will remember what they have done and mourne And thus I have faithfully declared all the businesses and though the power of their covetousnesse self-loving flesh hath for the present trod our weak flesh down yet the strength of our inward man hath overcome them and is the Lord God Almighty above that power that rules in them We have declared our Testimony and now let freedom and bondage strive who shall rule in Mankind the weapons of the Sonnes of bondage being carnall as fire club and sword the weapons of the Sonnes of freedom being spiritual a● love patience and righteousnesse FINIS Gen. 1. 26. Ver. 27. Ver. 29 Psal. 24. 1. Dan. 7. 25. Jam. 4. 1. 2 Cor. 4. 4. Gen. 9. 9. Jer. 45. 5. Gen. 17. 8. Psal. 49. 12 Rev. 19. 19. 20. Rev. 12. 14. Dan. 7. 25. Gen. 4. 3. Deut. 5. Cha. 18. 18 Gen. 23. 4. Gal. 4. 29. Jam. 4. 1. Isa. 33. 1. Gen. 3. 15. Gal. 3. 8. 2 Thes. 2. 8. Heb. 8. 10. 1 Joh. 2. 27. Joh. 6. 45. Mat. 7. 12. Isa. 2. 4. Chap. 11. Ezek. 36. 34. 35. Joel 2. 21. Psal. 107. 34. Zachar. 8. Rom. 8. 20. Rom. 7. 24. Math 7. 12. Rev. 11. 15. Dan. 7. 27. Eph. 2. 15. Psal. 37. 9 10. Luk. 3. 5 6. Matth. 20. 25. Jam. 5. 1. Isa. 16. 4. Matth. 26. 52. Exod. 20. 13. 15.

the Ancient fundamentall Law is Salus populi the safety peace and preservation of the whole body of the people excepting none And this fundamentall law called Salus populi was that which gave life and strength to the Parliament and Army to take up Armes against the King for they had not the least letter of any written law for their warrant at that time all the lawes being for the King and none against him Now if there be any Ancient Lawes of the Conquerour unrepealed whereby the people are hindered of a quiet enjoyment of a Common-wealths freedome they are all blotted out and abolished by this Act of Parliament which hath declared Therefore the poor people being part of our Commonwealth and being impoverished by the Kingly Lordly Power which is now cast out are freed from the oppressions of all those Lawes whereby their lives liberties persons and creation-rights were ens●aved And Salus populi is the fundamentall Law that gives that life and strength and courage to build upon and plant the common Land for their comfortable livelihood This is the Commonwealths Law and the Commonwealths Freedom 3. Thirdly The Parliament have made an act to free the People from yielding obedience to the King and to all that hold claiming under the King This Law likewise throwes down the power of the Conquest and makes Englishmen free in their Land that they may live comfortably in their English Commonwealth and quietly enjoy their Land now which they could not while the conquering Kingly and Lordly Power ruled 4. Fourthly The Parliament hath made an Engagement to maintain this present Commonwealths Government against King and house of Lords This likewise is but a confirmation of the first to make England a free Commonwealth And that all Englishmen may enjoy the comfortable livelihood in the Land as Brethren without restraint for if I have not freedom to live in peace and enjoy food and rayment by my Labors freely it is no Commonwealth at all Now in the purchasing of this declared freedom the common people of England have spent their Estates as well as the Gentry partly by their free hearts in lending money to the Parliament partly by Taxes partly by free quarter and partly by plunder in times of Warre By all which our proprieties are wasted and the fruit of our labours laid down and accepted of both by Parliament and Army to be a price to purchase Salus populi the peoples creation-freedom out of the oppressing power of Kingly power Therefore in reason and justice I conceive that if the poor people do build houses and plant corne upon the Commons of England for a livelihood they are protected and warranted both by Scriptures and the Lawes of the present Commonwealth And we expect the Officers of the Law will be as faithful to us to put us in possession as our Law-books are to declare our common freedom And whereas some Justices do say that for poor men to dig and plant upon the Commons they do bring themselves within the statute to be punished for vagrants idle or wandring rogues to this I answer 1. That the Justice cannot call these men vagrants or wandring rogues for by the letter of the Law it is no vagrancie to dig and work but when men are idle wanderers begging up and down these the Law lookes upon as punishable But the Diggers they set themselves to work according to the Law of creation as they are Englishmen upon the Commons of England claiming the priviledges of the Commonwealth according to the Lawes of a Common-wealth that they may not beg nor be forced to steale through want and so be hanged by the Kingly and Lordly Law 2. Secondly Their digging upon the Commons for a livelihood is no Riot though some Justices would make it for they do not fight against any And their meeting together is no unlawfull or riotous meeting unlesse the gathering together of many people in one field to dig plow or reap be a Riot or an unlawfull meeting These Lawes against Riots or unlawfull meetings as they call it was the Law of the fearfull Kingly Conqueror lest the common people by their often meeting should understand their creation-freedom and so should joyn together to conquer and cast out him that had conquered them Yet the Gentry and Lords of Mannors who are part of the Kingly and Lordly Power they have met divers times in Troops and have beaten and abused the Diggers and pull'd down their houses Yet we do not heare that the Clergy Lawyers or Justices who would be counted the dispensers of righteous justice do speak against them for Rioters but against the poor labouring men still checking the Labourers for idleness and protecting the Gentry that never work at all therefore if idle persons who wander up and down idly be punishable by the Statutes Then judge whether it be not the idle Gentry rather then the laborious poor man These things I leave to the consideration of all rationall men to judge of they being the foundation whereupon our work of community in the earth according to the Law of creation being reason and justice is builded And I desire any rational man Minister or Lawyer to answer these either to confirm us or else to raise up this foundation of Scriptures and Law not by take him Jaylor which is the language of the Beast but by reason which is the voice of the man Though this work of digging upon the Commons have many enemies yet I am assured of the righteousnesse of the work and it shall take root in one place or other before many yeares passe over Englands head I can set no time but I wait for the consolation of Israel to arise up and break forth in others as I have a taste of him in my self The voice of the Dragon is kill him pull down his house beat him arrest him take him Jaylor imprison him he is a rogue But the voice of the Lamb is love your enemies let him live the earth is his creation-right as well as mine therefore let us do as we would be done unto Ministers and Lawyers will you all stand looking on and see the Lords of Mannors exercise Kingly Power over the poor men that claime their creation-right in the earth and be silent You would be called dispensers of Justice here is a point of justice for you to decide this is the point upon which you shall either stand or fall be saved or damned for you are put upon the tryal The week before Easter Parson Plat Minister of Horsley being the Lord of the Mannor of Cobham where the Diggers were at work And Thomas Sutton the impropriator of Cobham came in person and brought divers men whom they hired to pull down a poor mans house that was built upon the Commons and kikt and struck the poor mans wife so that she miscarried of her Child and by the blowes and abuses they gave her she kept her bed a week