“But the true ancient Law of God is a Covenant of Peace to the whole of mankind.  This sets the Earth free to all.  This unites both Jew and Gentile into one Brotherhood, and rejects none.  This makes Christ’s garment whole again; and makes the Kingdoms of the World to become Commonwealths 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.”

Winstanley then contends that, as far as written laws are concerned—­

     “SHORT AND PITHY LAWS ARE BEST TO GOVERN A COMMONWEALTH,”

and defends this conclusion as follows: 

“The Laws of Israel’s 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 days of the Kings of England, which were made some in times of Popery and some in times of Protestantism, and the proceedings of the Laws being in French and Latin, 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 expense 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 on their backs.  This is a sore evil among the people.

“Secondly, The people’s ignorance of the laws hath bred many sons of contention.  For when any difference falls 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 money to tell them which of them was the offender.  The Lawyer, being glad to maintain his own trade, sets them together by the ears till all their money 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 mere snare to entrap the people and to pull their estates from them by craft.  For the Lawyers do uphold the Conqueror’s Interest and the People’s Slavery; so that the King, seeing this, did put all the affairs of Judicature into their hands:  and all this must be called Justice, but it is a sore evil.

“But now if the Laws were few and short, and often read, it would prevent those evils.  Everyone, knowing when they did well and when ill, would be very cautious of their words and actions, and thus would escape the Lawyer’s craft.  As Moses’ Law in Israel’s 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