“None can say their right is taken from them.  For let the rich work alone by themselves; and let the poor work together by themselves.  The rich in their enclosures, saying, This is mine; and the poor upon the Commons, saying, This is ours, the Earth and its fruits are common.  And who can be offended at the poor for doing this?  None but covetous, proud, idle, pampered flesh, that would have the poor work still for this devil (particular interest) to maintain his greatness that he may live at ease.”

And after expressing his intense conviction that “Surely the Lord hath not revealed this in vain,” he summarises the whole train of reasoning that had led him to his final conclusion, as follows: 

“Was the Earth made for to preserve a few covetous, proud men to live at ease, and for them to bag and barn up the treasures of the Earth from others, that these may beg or starve in a fruitful land; or was it made to preserve all her children?  Let Reason and the Prophets’ and Apostles’ writings be judge, the Earth is the Lord’s, it is not to be confined to particular interests....  Did the light of Reason make the Earth for some men to engross up into bags and barns, that others might be oppressed with poverty?  Surely Reason did not make that law.  For the Earth is the Lord’s; that is, the spreading Power of Righteousness, not the inheritance of covetous, proud flesh that dies.  If any man can say that he makes corn or cattle, he may say, That is mine.  But if the Lord made these for the use of his Creation, surely then the Earth was made by the Lord to be a Common Treasury for all, not a particular treasury for some.”

Winstanley then summarises the results of the prevailing system in the following terse but telling passage: 

“Divide England into three parts, scarce one part is manured.  So that here is land enough to maintain all her children, yet many die of want, or live under a heavy burden of poverty all their days.  And this misery the poor people have brought upon themselves by lifting up particular interest by their labors.”

This long but most interesting chapter concludes with indicating the three steps Winstanley deemed essential for both individual and social salvation, with which our notice of this pamphlet may fittingly close: 

     “There are yet three doors of hope for England to escape destroying
     plagues.

“First, Let everyone leave off running after others for knowledge and comfort, and wait upon the Spirit, Reason, till he break forth out of the clouds of your heart and manifest himself within you.  This is to cast off the shadow of learning, to reject covetous, subtile, proud flesh that deceives all by the hearsay and traditional preaching of words, letters, and syllables without the Spirit, and to make choice of the Lord, the true teacher of everyone in their own inward