... Is Mother Earth
A step-dame to her numerous sons, who earn
Her unshared gifts with unremitting toil;
A mother only to those puling babes
Who, nursed in ease and luxury, make men
The playthings of their babyhood, and mar,
In self-important childishness, that peace
Which men alone appreciate?"--SHELLEY.
"The end of law," says Locke, "is not to abolish or restrain, but to
preserve and enlarge freedom." Winstanley evidently held the same view;
for he commences this, his last and greatest book, as follows:
"WHERE TRUE FREEDOM LIES.
"The great searching of heart in these days is to find out where
true Freedom lies, that the Commonwealth of England might be
established in peace. Some say, It lies in the free use of Trading,
and to have all Patents, Licenses and Restraints removed: But this
is a Freedom under the Will of a Conqueror. Others say, It is true
Freedom to have Ministers to preach, and for people to hear whom
they will, without being restrained or compelled from or to any
form of worship: But this is an unsettled Freedom.... Others say,
It is true Freedom that the Elder Brother shall be Land Lord of the
Earth, and the Younger Brother a Servant: And this is but a half
Freedom, and begets murmurings, wars and quarrels.
"All these, and such like, are Freedoms; but they lead to Bondage,
and are not the true Foundation-Freedom which settles a
Commonwealth in Peace.
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