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The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth - As Revealed in the Writings of Gerrard Winstanley, the Digger, Mystic and Rationalist, Communist and Social Reformer by Lewis Henry Berens
page 185 of 360 (51%)
and who shall not enjoy it, when indeed it is the portion of
everyone, and ought not to be striven for, nor bought, nor sold,
whereby some are hedged in and others are hedged out. Far better
not to have had a body than to be debarred the fruit of the Earth
to feed and clothe it. And if every one did but quietly enjoy the
Earth for food and raiment, there would be no wars, prisons, nor
gallows, and this action which men call theft would be no sin. For
Universal Love never made it a sin, but the Power of Covetousness
made it a sin, and made Laws to punish it, though he himself lives
in that sin in a higher manner than those he hangs and punishes....
Well, He that made the Earth for us as well as for you will set us
free, though you will not. When will the Veil of Darkness be drawn
off your faces? Will you not be wise, O ye Rulers?"

After further expatiating on the blessings inherent in Righteousness and
Universal Love, and on the inevitable evil consequences of Self Love or
Covetousness, he indicates the practical steps by which these evils
might be removed, as follows:

"If ever the Creation is to be restored, this is the way, which
lies in this two-fold power:

"First, Community of Mankind, which is comprised in the Unity of
the Spirit of Love, which is called Christ within you, or the Law
written in the Heart, leading Mankind unto all Truth, and to be of
one heart and one mind.

"The Second is Community of the Earth, for the quiet livelihood in
food and raiment, without using force or restraining one another.

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