In his great work _Of Civil Government_, John Locke takes
practically the same view as Winstanley of the duties of Parliaments and
of the function of Law. In chapter ix. (part ii.) he says: "The
legislative or supreme power of any Commonwealth, is bound to govern by
established _standing laws_, promulgated and known to the people, and
not by extemporary decrees; by indifferent [impartial] and upright
judges, who are to decide controversies by those laws; and to employ the
force of the community at home, _only in the execution of such laws_, or
abroad, to prevent or redress foreign injuries, and secure the community
from inroads and invasion. _And all this to be directed to no other end,
but the peace, safety, and public good of the people._" Italics are
ours.

CHAPTER XVI

GERRARD WINSTANLEY'S UTOPIA

THE LAW OF FREEDOM (_concluded_)

"Day unto day utters speech--
Be wise, O ye Nations! and hear
What yesterday telleth to-day,
What to-day to the morrow will preach.
A change cometh over our sphere,
And the old goeth down to decay.
A new light hath dawned on the darkness of yore,
And men shall be slaves and oppressors no more."
CHARLES MACKAY.

It is in the chapter we have just been considering, the fourth chapter
of "The Law of Freedom," that we find Winstanley's last recorded
utterances on cosmological and theological problems. Nothing seems to us
more strikingly to show the broadening and development of his powerful
mind than a comparison of the views here expressed with those contained
in his earlier writings on the subject. True, the underlying ideas are
practically the same: he still realises the existence of a Divine
Spirit, the Spirit of Reason and of Love, of Righteousness and of Peace,
animating, inspiring, pervading and governing the whole Creation; he
still holds to his doctrine of the Inward Light, the spark of the Divine
Spirit of Reason, within man, prompting each and all to act righteously
and equitably one toward the other. Yet he is decidedly less mystical.
He lays emphasis on the necessity to study the works of God rather than
the Word of God; and has evidently become less anthropomorphic and more
spiritual, less mystical and more rational, less religious and more
ethical, less theological and more philosophic, less scholastic and more
scientific. However, we had better let him speak for h