Petition of Two Sisters, Reason 3
The third reaſon is, that this Incloſure is againſt the common wealth of the Iewes.
GOd ſaid to Abraham, Get thee out of thy Countrey, and from thy Gen. 12. 1.kindred, & from thy Fathers houſe, vntounto the land that I will ſhew thee, and I will make thee a great nation, and will bleſſe thee, and will make thy name great, and thou ſhalt be a bleſsing. All Chriſtians muſt be Abrahams ſonnes, Rom. 4. 11.and account this commaundement of God ſpoken vntounto them, and goe out (by their loues, affections, ſtudies & cares) of their father Adams houſe, that is, the wor…; and liue héere in this world, as their father Abraham did, like poore pilgrims and trauailers: and then ſhall God bleſſe them, and make them a bleſſing, euen the very members of Jeſus Chriſt: who alſo when as he was in this world, followed thoſe very ſteps of Abraham, and liued here as a trauailer or pilgrime, and not as a Citizen, or as an inhabiter. But how contrarie is this doctrine to the practiſe, and very ſpéeches of theſe Incloſers, who ſay, Is it not lawfull for vsus to vſe the earth to the moſt aduantage? This is their maxime and principle: but Abraham and Saint Paul doe tell them, that they ſhould vſe it as though they vſed it 1. Cor. 7. 31.not. That they ſhould vſe it as wiſe trauailers doe their Innes in their iourneis, who ſéeke not for gaine or ſuperfluitie there; who care for no more then will ſerue their turnes. Let the inhabitants of the earth ſéeke to make their moſt aduantage thereof: But Gen. 14. 3.all Chriſtians who dwell therein as Pilgrims, ſéeke for no more then will ſerue their turnes; let them goe out of their countries in hart and affection, with Abraham their father, and be Hebrues, that is, paſſengers with him, as the Hebrue word ſignifies; and not Canaanites, that is, marchants, whoſe trade is in this life. Thus much Abraham, the Zach. 14. 21father of the faithfull Iewes, and the bery name of the Hebrues doth teach them a leſſon worth the learning; for this is the ſinne of our age, that we are too much in louelove with this earth, more than our forefathers, nay more than Pagans hauehave béene.
The Jewes whoſe fields lay together, Numb. 22. 24. Eſay. 5. 2. Pro. 24. 3.did not incloſe them: as the field of Boaz, which lay altogether and yet was not incloſed, plainely proues. Their Orchards and Vineyards were walled about; their common fields were bounded Ioſh. 15. 45. Deut. 27. 11with ſtones or mountaines: But our righteouſneſſe muſt exceede theirs, and Matth. 5. 20therefore we ought not to incloſe.
Among the Jewes alſo, eueryevery yeere Exo 23. 10.the poore might gleane in their fields, and they were commaunded not to rake Leuit. 19. 9.them too cleane, but to leaue ſomthing for the poore, and not to gather in the outſides of their fields, but to leaue them alſo for the poore. Boaz did very notably fulfill this lawe. Nay, eueryevery ſeuenth yeere what grew in their cornefields of it owne accord, they were commaunded to ſaue, and to ſuffer the poore Deut. 24. 19 Leuit. 25.to gather and reape it. And doth not this plainly commend and commaund tillage? The poore muſt hauehave ſome thing left them eueryevery yeere for to gleane, and they muſt hauehave eueryevery ſeuenth yeere all the whole croppe that grew of it owne accord. And were not the Jewes then bound to ſowe their fields, ſo that the poore in Iewry had good and plentifull gleanings left them eueryevery yeere, and the whole croppe of rich mens lands eueryevery ſeuenth yeere? But Incloſers will cut ſhort all this, for neither will they ſowe any thing at all, and ſo bar them of their gleaning and reaping; or if they ſow any ſmall quantitie, they will rake ſo cleane, that the poore ſhall get very little that commeth to gleane after their rakers.
The Prophet Ieremie doth propheſie of the returne of the Jewes from Babylon out of captiuitie, and vnderunder the type of them, of Chriſts Church thus. O virgine Iſrael, thou ſhalt be adorned Iere. 31. 5.with the Timbrell, and thou ſhalt goe forth with the dance of them that be ioyfull: Thou ſhalt yet plant vines on Epheſ. 4. 6.the mountaines of Samaria and the planters that plant them, ſhall make them common. As Chriſts Church hath a common Father, and a common Sauiour, and common Sacraments, and a common countrey, and a common inheritance in heauen: ſo on earth ſhe ſhould alſo hauehave a brotherly communitie in her earthly affaires; and ſhe ſhould make her grapes cōmon. This did the Jewes in the ſhadow; and ſhall not Chriſtians doe thus much more in the cléere ſunneſhine of the Goſpell?