Selected quad for the lemma: land_n
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A80591
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A mite cast into the common treasury: or queries propounded (for all men to consider of) by him who desireth to advance the work of publick community. Robert Coster.
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Coster, Robert.
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1649
(1649)
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Wing C6367; Thomason E585_4; ESTC R206258
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3,488
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8
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A MITE CAST INTO THE Common Treasury OR Queries propounded for all men to consider of by him who desireth to advance the work of publick Community Decemb 18. 1649 ROBERT COSTER 1. VVHether all men by the grant of God are not alike free and all to enjoy the Earth with the fulness thereof alike Geneses 1. from the 26. verse to the end of the Chapter and the 9. Chap. from the 1. to the 18. verse untill they sell their Birth-right and Inheritance for a proud idle life the 2. of the Thessalonians and the 3. Chapter from the 6. to the 13. verse 2. Whether the Scriptures in many places do not complain of mans Lording over his own kind as in Isaiah 3.15 Luke 22.24.25 and 26. verses Mat. 23. chap. from the first to the 13. verse Calling such men for their nature and cruelty Lyons Wolves Foxes Doggs Isaiah 56.10 11. Ezek. 22.27 The men call some of them Lords of Manâ—ors Ministers and Lawyers 3. Whether particular propriety was not brought into the roome of publick Community by Murther and Theft and accordingly have been upheld and maintained In which Acts of cruelty whether those devouring Creatures before mentioned have not been chief and whether such naked shameless doings do not lie lurking under fig-leave Clothing such as Sabboth Fasting and Thanksgiving dayes Doctrines Formes and Worships 4. Whether the Lords of Mannors do not hold their Right and Title to the Commons meerly from the Kings Will which Will proving a Burthen to the Nation caused the King to loose his head and whether the strongest point in their Law for the keeping up their Title be not Take him Jaylor 5. Whether the Common People of England may not seize upon the Land which is called after their own name to wit the Commons for to dresse and improve it for their best advantage for these Reasons following without paying fines Quit-rents Heriots or swearing Fealty or any other cursed and diabolicall payments whatsoever to any Tyrant soever First Because the great Creator of all things ordained that the earth with the fulness thereof should be a common Treasury of Livelihood for all and that none should Lord over his own kind but that all should love as Brethren and so glorifie the Creator in the work of his hands Secondly Because the Common People of England have these six or seven hundred years been shut out from having any benefit of the Earth except that which they have bought by their slavish payments And all this by through the meanes of that illegitimate Lord and Master propriety which was ushered into the Creation by those two grand disturbers of our Peace Murther and Theft and therefore now it is high time for them the Common People to lay hold upon the wast Land that so they may receive some benefit freely and may no longer live in a starving condition and this cannot with reason be denyed by the Gentry and Clergy if they consider what cruelty they have acted towards their fellow-Creatures these many years who have a priviledg to the Earth equall with themselves Thirdly Because there is no Statute-Law in the Nation that doth hinder the common people from seizing upon their own Land but onely the mercinary wills of men and therefore where there is no Law there is no transgression Fourthly Because oppression and cruelty doth bear so much sway in the Nation that poor men will be necessitated to make a breach of the Lawes of the Nation if they are not suffered to labour the Earth for their maintenance Whether it would not prove an Inlet to Liberty and Freedom if poor men which want Imployment and others which work for little wages would go to digging and manuring the Commons and most places of the Earth considering effects that this would produce As 1. If men would do as aforesaid rather then to go with Cap in hand and bended knee to Gentlemen and Farmers begging and intreating to work with them for 8 d. or 10 d. a day which doth give them an occasion to tyrannize over poor people which are their fellow-Creatures if poor men would not go in such a slavish posture but do as aforesaid then rich Farmers would be weary of renting so much Land of the Lords of Mannors 2. If the Lords of Mannors and other Gentlemen who covet after so much Land could not let it out by percells but must be constrained to keep it in their own hands then would they want those great baggs of money which do maintain pride Idleness and fulness of bread which are carried into them by their Tenants who go in as slavish a posture as may be namely with Cap in hand and bended knee crouching and creeping from corner to corner while his Lord rather Tyrant walkes up and down the Roome with his proud lookes and with great swelling words questions him about his holding 3. If the Lords of Mannors and other Gentlemen had not those great bagges of mony brought into them Then down would fall the Lordliness of their spirits and then poor men might speak to them then there might be an acknowledging of one another to be fellow-Creatures For what is the Reason that great Gentlemen covet after so much Land is it not because Farmers and others creep to them in a slavish manner proffering them great summes of money for such and such percells of it which doth give them an occasion to tyrannize over their fellow Creatures which they call their Inferiours Secondly And what is the Reason that Farmers and others are so greedy to rent Land of the Lords of Mannors Is it not because they expect great gaines and because poor men are so foolish and slavish as to creep to them for imployment although they will not give them wages enough to maintain them and their Families comfortably All which do give them an occasion to tyrannize over their fellow-Creatures which they call their Inferiors All which considered if poore men which want Imployment and others which work for little wages would go to dresse and improve the common and wast Lands whether it would not bring down the prizes of Land which doth principally cause all manner of things to be deare Whether a Livelihood be not the right and propriety of every man Looke in the first Query Whether this be not intruded into by those which do impoverish their fellow-Creatures by their buying and selling and by their inclosing and appropriating the Earth with the fruits thereof unto themselves purposely to uphold their Lordly spirits as most men do and so in plain English rob and steafe from their fellow Creatures their proper right and Inheritance Whether those Scriptures which say Love thy Neighbour as thy selfe and do unto all men as you would they should do unto you and He that hath this Worlds goods and seeth his Brother in want and yet shutteth up the bowells of Compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him Matt. 7 12 John the first Chapt. the 3. verse the 17. And many such Scriptures Whether they are not least spoken of and lesse practised among men now a dayes although in them is contained the whole Law and Prophets The Nation is in such a state as this to honour rich men because they are rich And poor men because poor most do them hate O but this is a very cursed State But those which act from love which is sincere will honour truth where ever it doth appear And no respecting of persons will be with such but Tyranny they will abhorre in poor or rich And in this state is he whose name is here your very loving friend Robert Costeer THough we have been sad yet now are glad To see such a joyfull time Our Misseries they Are passing away And truth beginneth too clime We shall be freed from thrall When Righteousnesse reigneth as King The Glory so bright Shall darken the light Which comes from the Man of sinne Though men do us hate yet we in this state Do suffer joyfully Though stripes we receive We do them forgive Which acts such cruelty For we with them must agree Who seeketh our blood to spill And thus we may Their cruelty slay Yea thus we shall envy kill The Poore long have suffered wrong By the Gentry of this Nation The Clergy they Have bore a great sway By their base insultation But they shall Lye levell with all They have corrupted our Fountaine And then we shall see Brave Community When Vallies lye levell with Mountaines Tyranny have made many a slave Within this Land of ours But he must packe For his Power doth cracke And the day it will be ours The Priests ball and after him call Saying you must with us abide For if you do goe Then cometh our woe And we shall have no more Tythe The Gentry are fil'd with the like care How they shall their Power maintaine For they know If Tyranny go They must packe to France or to Spaine Therefore they will this gallant stay And hide him under a backe Gowne Or else in a Coach Will keepe him very close Fearing he should be found The time indeed that this cursed seed Doth as closely in all men But chiefly in those Who are Englands foes And we do very well know them But the light that shineth so bright Reveileth this wickednesse And it must go I very well know To a Land of forgetfullnesse The time is nigh that this mystery Shall be no more abscure And then we shall see Such community As shall alwayes indure The Rich and Poore shall love each other Respecting of Persons shall fall The Father alone That sits in his Throne Shall honoured be of all The glorious State which I do relate Vnspeakable comfort shall bring The Corne will be greene And the Flowers seene Our store-houses they will be fill'd The Birds will rejoyce with a merry voice All things shall yield sweet increase Then let us all sing And joy in our King Which causeth all sorrowes to cease FINIS