Selected quad for the lemma: parliament_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
parliament_n	king_n	lord_n	request_n	3,284	5	9.6659	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96697	A new-yeers gift for the Parliament and Armie: shewing what the kingly power is; and that the cause of those that they call Diggers is the life and marrow of that cause the Parliament hath declared for, and the Army fought for; the perfecting of which work, will prove England to be the first of nations, of the tenth part of the city Babylon, that fals off from the Beast first, and that sets the Crown upon Christs head, to govern the world in righteousness: / by Jerrard Winstanley a lover of Englands freedom and peace.	Winstanley, Gerrard, b. 1609.	1650 (1650)	Wing W3050; Thomason E587_6; ESTC R206278	36,076	51

in the Laws and much does burn all your old Law-Books in Cheapside set up a Government upon your own Foundation do not put new Wine into old Bottles but as your Government must be new so let the Laws be new or else you will run farther into the Mud where you stick already as though you were fast in an Irish Bogge for you are so far sunke that he must have good eyes that can see where you are but yet all are not blind there are eyes that sees you but if the fault lies in the Judges of the Law surely such men deserve no power in a Reforming Common-wealth that burdens all sorts of People And truly I le tell you plain your Two Acts of Parliament are excellent and Righteous The One to cast out Kingly power The Other to make England a Free Common-wealth build upon these Two it is a firm Foundation and your House will be the glory of the World and I am confident the righteous Spirit will love you do not stick in the Bogge of covetousness Let not self-love so be-muddy your brain that you should lose your selves in the thicket of bramble bush-words and set never a strong Oak of some stable Action for the Freedome of the poor Oppressed that helped you when you complained of Oppression Let not Pride blind your eyes that you should forget you are the Nations Servants and so prove Solomons words good in your selves That Servants ride on Horse-back and Coache● when as Princes such as Chose you and set you there go on foot and many of them through their love to the Nation have so wasted themselves that now they can hardly get Bread but with great difficulty I tell you this is a sore Evil and this is truth therefore think upon it it is a poor mans Advice and you shall finde weight in it if you Do as well as Say Then Secondly for Lords of Mannors They were William the Conquerors Colonels and Favourites and he gave a large circuit of Land to every one called A Lord-ship that they might have a watchful eye that if any of the conquered English should begin to Plant themselves upon any Common or waste Land to live out of sight or out of slavery that then some Lord of Mannor or other might see and know of it and drive them off as these Lords of Mannors now a dayes endeavours to drive off the Diggers from Digging upon the Commons but we expect the Rulers of the Land will grant unto us their Friends the benefit of their own Acts against Kingly power and not suffer that Norman power to crush the poor Oppressed who helped them in their straits nor suffer that Norman power to bud fresher out so in time may come to over-top our deer bought Freedom more then ever Search all your Laws and I le adventure my life for I have little else to lose That all Lords of Mannors hold Title to the Commons by no stronger hold then the Kings Will whose Head is cut off and the King held Title as he was a Conqueror now if you cast off the King who was the Head of that power surely the power of Lords of Mannors is the same therefore performe your own Act of Parliament and cast out that part of the Kinglie power likewise that the People may see you understand what you Say and Do and that you are faithful For truly the Kinglie power reigns strongly in the Lords of Mannors over the Poor for my own particular I have in other Writings as well as in this Declared my Reasons That the common Land is the poor Peoples Proprietie and I have Digged upon the Commons and I hope in time to obtain the Freedom to get Food and Raiment therefrom by righteous labour which is all I desire and for so doing the supposed Lord of that Mannor hath Arrested me twice First in an Action of 20 l. Trespass for Plowing upon the Commons which I never did and because they would not suffer me to Plead my own Cause they made shift to pass a Sentence of Execution against some Cows I kept supposing they had been mine and took them away but the right Owner reprieved them fetched the Cowes back so greedy are these Theeves and Murderers after my life for speaking the truth and for maintaining the Life and Marrow of the Parliaments Cause in my Actions And now they have Arrested me again in an Action of 4. l. trespas for digging upon the Comons which I did own the work to be righteous no trespas to any This was the Attorney of Kingstone's Advice either to get Money on both sides for they love Mony as deerly as a poor mans dog do his breakfast in a cold morning but regard not justice or else That I should not remove it to a higher Court but that the cause might be tryed there and then they know how to please the Lords of Mannors that have resolved to spend hundreds of pounds but they will hinder the poor from enjoying the Commons for they will not suffer me to plead my own Cause but I must Fee an enemie or else be condemned and executed without mercy or Justice as I was before and ●o to put me in Prison till I pay their unrighteous Sentence for truly Attourneys are such neat workmen that they can turn a Cause which way those that have the biggest purse will have them and the Countrie knows very well That Kingstone court is so full of the Kinglie power that some will rather lose their Rights then have their causes tryed there one of the Officers of that court told a friend of mine That if the Diggers cause was good he would pick out such a Jurie as should overthrow him And upon my former Arrest they picked out such a Jurie as Sentenced me to pay 10. l. damages for plowing upon the commons which I did not do neither did any witness prove it before them So that from Kingstone Juries Lords of Mannors and Kinglie power Good Lord deliver us Do these men obey the Parliaments Acts to throw down Kinglie power O no The same unrighteous doing that was complained of in King Charles dayes the same doings is among them still Monies will buy and sell Justice still and is our 8 yeers Wars come round about to lay us down again in the kennel of injustice as much or more then before are we no farther learned yet O ye Rulers of England when must we turn over a new leaf will you alwayes hold us in one Lesson surely you will make Dunces of us then all the Boyes in other Lands will laugh at us come I pray let us take forth and go forward in our learning You blame us who are the Common people as though we would have no government truly Gentlemen We desire a righteous government with all our hearts but the government we have gives freedom and livelihood to the Gentrie to hae abundance and to lock up Treasures of

that goe for great Professors But now Profession thou art tryed to purpose all shall see And verbal talk it will appear a Devil for to be For actions pure holds forth the life of God and Christ most dear And false Dissembling now must die if Scriptures you will hear You preaching men if Truth you 'l own see Truth be acted to Or else to Christ you will appear to be his mortal foe Scribes Pharisees and the Theif that Judas was by name Great preachers were but for no deeds the Truth they much did stain No deeds you 'l say Yes that they had its true they had indeed But what deeds were they you can see no herb but stinking weed For Persecuion ever was the Work that came from them And deadly foes they ever were to Christ and righteous men And here I end having put my Arm as far as my strength will go to advance Righteousness I have Writ I have Acted I have Peace and now I must wait to see the Spirit do his own work in the hearts of others and whether England shall be the first Land or some other wherein Truth shall sit down in triumph But O England England would God thou didst know the things that belong to thy peace before they be hid from thine eyes The Spirit of Righteousness hath striven with thee and doth yet strive with thee and yet there is hope Come in thou England submit to Righteousness before the voice go out my Spirit shall strive no longer with Flesh and let not Coveteousnesse make thee oppresse the poor We have Declared our Reasons for our Digging plentifully enough and you Rulers of England will you alwayes be like deaf Adders c We have received many affronts from Lords of Mannors and their Servants divers times yet nothing makes us be at a stand Whether England shall be the first Land that shall fall off from the Beast and set Righteousnesse upon the Throne or no but the late Action of the head of the Souldiery in granting a party of Horse to come and weaken us Gentlemen of the Souldiery be not offended for you promised me in Whitehal Gallerie that you would not meddle with us but leave us to the Law of the Land and the Country Gentlemen to deal with us and so you did a long time and we hope in time that love and patience will conquer our furious enemies Yet we understand which a little troubles us yet content That the Generall gave his consent that the Souldiers should come to help to beat of the Diggers and to pull down their Houses it is true the Souldiers with the Gentlemen our enemies came and caused others to pull down our houses but the Souldiers did not meddle none but one but expressed sorrow to see the Passages But though they were modest and expressed tenderness ●et the Generals grant and the Soulders presence was a great crush to our business Gentlemen of the Army we have spoke to you we have appealed to the Parliament we have declared our cause with all humilitie to you all and we are Englishmen and your friends that stuck to you in your miseries and these Lords of Mannors that oppose us were wavering on both sides yet you have heard them and answered their request to beat us off and yet you would not afford us an Answer Yet love and patience shall lie down and suffer Let pride and covetousness stretch themselves upon their beds of ease and forget the afflictions of Joseph and persecute us for righteousness sake yet we will wait to see the issue the power of righteousness is our God the globe runs round the longest Sun-shine day ends in a dark night and therefore to thee O thou King of righteousness we doe commit our cause Judge thou between us and them that strive against us and those that deal treacherously with thee and us and doe thine own work and help weak flesh in whom the Spirit is willing FINIS

A New-yeers Gift FOR THE PARLIAMENT AND ARMIE SHEWING What the KINGLY Power is And that the CAUSE of those They call DIGGERS Is the life and marrow of that Cause the Parliament hath Declared for and the Army Fought for The perfecting of which Work will prove England to be the first of Nations or the tenth part of the city Babylon that fals off from the Beast first and that sets the Crown upon Christs head to govern the World in Righteousness By Jerrard Winstanley a lover of Englands freedom and Peace Die Pride and Envie Flesh take the poor's advice Covetousnesse be gon Come Truth and Love arise Patience take the Crown throw Anger out of dores Cast out Hypocrisie and Lust which follows whores Then England sit in rest Thy sorrows will have end Thy Sons will live in peace and each will be a friend London Printed for Giles Calvert 1650. A New yeers Gift SENT TO THE PARLIAMENT AND ARMIE GEntlemen of the Parliament and Armie you and the Common people have assisted each other to cast out the Head of oppression which was Kingly power seated in one mans hand and that work is now done and till that work was done you called upon the people to assist you to deliver this distressed bleeding dying nation out of bondage And the people came and failed you not counting neither purse nor blood too dear to part with to effect this work The Parliament after this have made an Act to cast out Kingly power and to make England a free Common-wealth These Acts the People are much rejoyced with as being words forerunning their freedome and they wait for their accomplishment that their joy may be full for as words without action are a cheat and kills the comfort of a righteous spirit so words performed in action does comfort and nourish the life thereof Now Sirs wheresoever we spie out Kingly power no man I hope shall be troubled to declare it nor afraid to cast it out having both Act of Parliament the Souldiers Oath and the common peoples consent on his side for Kingly power is like a great spread tree if you lop the head or top-bow and let the other Branches and root stand it will grow again and recover fresher strength If any ask me What Kingly power is I Answer there is a twofold Kingly power The one is The Kingly power of righteousnesse and this is the power of Almightie God ruling the whole creation in peace and keeping it together And this is the power of universall love leading people into all truth teaching every one to doe as he would be done unto Now once more striving with flesh and blood shaking down every thing that cannot stand and bringing every one into the Unitie of himself the one Spirit of love and righteousnesse and so will work a through restauration But this Kingly power is above all and will tread all covetousness pride envy and self-love and all other enemies whatsoever under his feet and take the kingdom and government of the Creation out of the hand of self-seeking and self-honouring Flesh and rule the alone King of Righteousness in the earth and this indeed is Christ himself who will cast out the curse But this is not that Kingly power intended by that Act of Parliament to be cast out but pretended to be set up though this Kingly power be much fought against both by Parliament Armie Clergie and people but when they are made to see him then they shall mourn because they have persecuted him But the other Kingly power is the power of untighteousness which indeed is the Devil And O that there were such a heart in Parliament and Army as to perform your own Act then People would never complain of you for breach of Covenant for your Covetousness Pride and too much Self-seeking that is in you And you on the other-side would never have cause to complain of the Peoples murmurings against you Truly this jarring that is between you and the People is The Kingly Power yea that very Kingly power which you have made an Act to cast out therefore see it be fulfilled on your part for the Kingly power of Righteousness expects it or else he will cast you out for Hypocrites and unsavory Salt for he looks upon all your Actions and truly there is abundance of Rust about your Actings which makes them that they do not shine bright This Kingly power is covetousness in his branches or the power of self-love ruling in one or in many men over others and enslaving those who in the Creation are their equals nay who are in the strictness of equity rather their Masters And this Kingly power is usually set in the Chair of Government under the name of Prerogative when he rules in one over other And under the name of State Priviledge of Parliament when he rules in many over others and this Kingly power is alwayes raised up and established by the Sword and therefore he is called the Murderer or the great red Dragon which fights against Michael for he enslaves the weakness of the People under him denying an equal freedom in the Earth to every one which the Law of Righteousness gave every man in his creation This I say is Kingly power under darkness and as he rules in men so he makes men jar one against another and is the cause of all Wars and Complainings he is known by his outward actions and his action at this very day fills all places for this power of darkness rules and would rule and is that only Enemy that fights against Creation and National Freedom And this Kingly power is he which you have made an Act of Parliament to cast out And now you Rulers of England play the men and be valiant for the Truth which is Christ for assure your selves God will not be mocked nor the Devil will not be mocked for First you say and profess you own the Scriptures of Prophets and Apostles and God looks that you should perform that Word in action Secondly you have Declared against the Devil and if you do not now go through with your work but slack your hand by hypocritical self-love and so suffer this dark Kingly power to rise higher and Rule you shall find he will maule both you and yours to purpose The life of this dark Kingly power which you have made an Act of Parliament and Oath to cast out if you search it to the bottom you shall see it lies within the iron chest of cursed Covetousness who gives the Earth to some part of mankind and denies it to another part of mankind and that part that hath the Earth hath no right frow the Law of creation to take it to himself and shut out others but he took it away violently by Theft and Murder in Conquest As when our Norman William came into England and conquered he turned the English out and gave the Land unto his Norman Souldiers every man his parcel to

our later Kings granted more freedom to the Gentry than they had presently after the Conquest yet under bondage still for what are prisons whips and gallows in the times of peace but the laws and power of the sword forcing and compelling obedience and so enslaving as if the sword raged in the open field England was in such a slavery under the Kingly power that both Gentry and Commonaltie groaned under bondage and to ease themselves they endeavoured to call a Parliament that by their counsels and decrees they might find some freedom But Charles the then King perceiving that the Freedom they strove for would derogate from his Prerogative-tyranny therupon he goes into the North to raise a War against the Parliament and took WILLIAM the Conqueror's Sword into his hand again thereby to keep under the former conquered English and to uphold his Kingly power of self-will and Prerogative which was the power got by former Conquests that is to rule over the lives and estates of all men at his will and so to make us pure slaves and vassals Well This Parliament that did consist of the chief Lords Lords of Manors and Gentry and they seeing that the King by raising an Army did thereby declare his intent to enslave all sorts to him by the sword and being in distresse and in a low ebb they call upon the common people to bring in their Plate Moneys Taxes Free-quarter Excise and to adventure their lives with them and they would endeavour to recover England from that Norman yoak and make us a free people and the common people assent hereunto and call this the Parliaments Cause and own it and adventure person and purse to preserve it and by the joynt assistance of Parliament and People the King was beaten in the field his head taken off and his Kingly power voted down and we the Commons thereby virtually have recovered our selves from the Norman Conquest we want nothing but possession of the spoyl which is a free use of the Land for our livelyhood And from hence we the common people or younger brothers plead our propriety in the Common land as truly our own by vertue of this victory over the King as our elder brothers can plead proprietie in their Inclosures and that for three reasons in Englands law First By a lawfull purchase or contract between the Parliament and us for they were our Landlords and Lords of Mannors that held the freedom of the Commons from us while the King was in his power for they held title thereunto from him he being the head and they branches of the Kingly power that enslaved the people by that ancient Conquerors Sword that was the ruling power For they said Come and help us against the King that enslaves us that we may be delivered from his Tyranny and we will make you a free People Now they cannot make us free unlesse they deliver us from the bondage which they themselves held us under and that is they held the freedom of the Earth from us for we in part with them have delivered our selves from the King now we claim freedom from that bondage you have and yet do hold us under by the bargain and contract between Parliament and us who I say did consist of Lords of Manors and Landlords whereof Mr. Drake who hath arrested me for digging upon the Common was one at that time Therefore by the law of Bargain and Sale we claim of them our freedom to live comfortably with them in this Land of our Nativity and this we cannot do so long as we lie under poverty and must not be suffered to plant the commons and waste land for our livelihood for take away the land from any people and those people are in a way of continuall death and misery and better not to have had a body than not to have food and rayment for it But I say they have sold us our freedom in the common and have been largely paid for it for by means of our bloods and money they sit in peace for if the King had prevailed they had lost all and been in slavery to the meanest Cavalier if the King would Therfore we the Commons say Give us our bargain if you deny us our bargain you deny God Christ and Scriptures and all your profession then is and hath been hypocrisie Secondly The Commons and Crown land is our propriety by equall conquest over the Kingly power for the Parl did never stir up the people by promises and covenant to assist them to cast out the King and to establish them in the Kings place and prerogative power No but all their Declarations were for the safety and peace of the whole Nation Therefore the common-people being part of the Nation and especially they that bore the greatest heat of the day in casting out the oppressor and the Nation cannot be in peace so long as the poor oppressed are in wants and the land is intangled and held from them by bondage But the Victory being obtained over the King the spoyl which is properly the Land ought in equity to be divided now between the two Parties that is Parliament and Common-people The Parliament consisting of Lords of Manors and Gentry ought to have their inclosure Lands free to them without molestation as they are freed from the Court of Wards And the Common-people consisting of Souldiers and such as paid Taxes and Free-quarter ought to have the freedom of all waste and common land and Crown-land equally among them the Souldiery ought not in equity to have all nor the other people that paid them to have all but the spoyle ought to be divided between them that stay'd at home and them that went to Warr for the Victory is for the whole Nation And as the Parliament declared they did all for the Nation and not for themselves onely so we plead with the Armie they did not fight for themselves but for the freedom of the Nation and I say we have bought our Freedom of them likewise by Taxes and Free-quarter therefore we claim an equall Freedom with them in this Conquest over the King Thirdly We claim an equall portion in the Victory over the King by vertue of the two Acts of Parliament the One to make England a Free-Common-wealth the Other to take away Kingly power Now the Kingly power you have heard is a power that rules by the Sword in covetousnesse and self giving the earth to some and denying it to others and this Kingly power was not in the hand of the King alone but Lords and Lords of Manors and corrupt Judges and Lawyers especially held it up likewise for he was the head and they with the Tything-priests are the branches of that Tyrannical Kingly power and all the several limbs and members must be cast out before Kingly power can be pulled up root and branch Mistake me not I do not say Cast out the persons of men No I do not desire their fingers to ake