[170:1] “And truly this is matter of praise to God:—­and it hath some instruction in it, To own men who are religious and godly.  And so many of them as are peaceable and honestly and quietly disposed to live within Government, and will be subject to those Gospel rules of obeying Magistrates and living under Authority.  I reckon no Godliness without that circle!  Without that spirit, let it pretend what it will, it is diabolical, it is devilish,” and so on.  See Cromwell’s Speech to his Second Parliament, April 13th, 1657 (Carlyle, part x. p. 250).  It would almost seem as if Winstanley had written the above paragraph to answer this explosive utterance of Cromwell, some six years before it took place.  As a matter of fact, of course, he was only answering an objection which every little conventional upholder of existing abuses, in his time as in our time, would be sure to make in one form or other.

CHAPTER XV

GERRARD WINSTANLEY’S UTOPIA

THE LAW OF FREEDOM (continued)

                    “Look on yonder earth: 
    The golden harvests spring; the unfailing sun
    Sheds light and life; the fruits, the flowers, the trees,
    Arise in due succession; all things speak
    Peace, harmony and love....  Is Mother Earth
    A step-dame to her numerous sons, who earn
    Her unshared gifts with unremitting toil;
    A mother only to those puling babes
    Who, nursed in ease and luxury, make men
    The playthings of their babyhood, and mar,
    In self-important childishness, that peace
    Which men alone appreciate?”—­SHELLEY.

“The end of law,” says Locke, “is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom.”  Winstanley evidently held the same view; for he commences this, his last and greatest book, as follows: 

     “WHERE TRUE FREEDOM LIES.

“The great searching of heart in these days is to find 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 Patents, 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 unsettled Freedom....  Others say, It is true Freedom that the Elder Brother shall be Land Lord of the Earth, and the Younger Brother a Servant:  And this is but a half Freedom, and begets 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 COMMONWEALTH’S FREEDOM LIES IN THE FREE ENJOYMENT OF THE
     EARTH.