the
Conqueror's successor, which was Charles, was cast out; thereby we
have recovered ourselves from under that Norman yoke. And now
unless you and we be merely besotted with covetousness, pride and
slavish fear of men, it is and will be our wisdom to cast out all
those enslaving laws which was the tyrannical power the king
pressed us down by.[108:1] O shut not your eyes against the light;
darken not knowledge by dispute about particular men's privileges,
when Universal Freedom is brought to be tried before you; dispute
no further when truth appears, but be silent and practice it. Stop
not your ears against the secret moanings of the oppressed, under
these expressions, lest the Lord see it and be offended, and shut
His eyes against your cries, and work a deliverance for His waiting
people some other way than by you."
He then summarises the prevailing ills, and indicates their manifest and
immediate duty, as follows:
"The main thing that you should look upon is the Land, which calls
upon her children to be free from the entanglements of the Norman
Taskmasters. For one third part lies waste and barren, and her
children starve for want, in regard the Lords of Manors will not
suffer the poor to manure it.... The power is in your hands, the
Nations Representative, O let the first thing you do be this, to
set the land free.
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