The power of the sword

And doth not the nakedness of man appear very manifest, that some parties are truly like Dives, that fares deliciously every day, goes in rich apparel, silk and gold upon their clothes, chests full of silver, houses full of corn and other fruits of the earth; and yet sees others starve for want before their faces. And these very rich men notwithstanding makes a profession of Christ, as though they were his servants. O doth not these men openly declare their hypocrisy, and discovers their own nakedness, that all the world may see that they are proud, covetous, envious and the power of darkness itself, and so open enemies and traitors to Christ! All the title they have to their land is by the power of the sword. Did Jesus Christ do so? O no, no; he was universal love, and bids everyone do as they would be done by.
   This power of the sword doth not only kill and rob; but by his laws, made and upheld by his power, he hedges the weak out of the earth, and either starves them or else forces them through poverty to take from others and then hangs them for so doing.

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   And all the strivings that is in mankind is for the earth, who shall have it; whether some particular persons shall have it and the rest have none, or whether the earth shall be a common treasury to all without respect of persons.

Gerrard Winstanley (1609?–1660?)

first published in 1650

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