But now the "time of deliverance was at hand, and God would bring his people" (cf. Obadiah 1:17, Psalm 53:6) out of their Egyptian "slavery" (Exodus 6:5-6) and "restore them their freedoms, " thereby enabling them to enjoy "the fruits and benefits of the Earth" (James 5:7). Intending to "restore the Creation to its former Condition" (cf. Genesis 3:17, Romans 8:22), the Diggers justified their actions as a fulfilment of the prophecy "Th is Land which was barren and wast is now become fruitfull and pleasant like the Garden of Eden" (Ezekiel 36:35). In addition, by renewing "the ancient Community" and distributing the earth's produce to the poor and needy, they performed gospel injunctions to feed the hungry and clothe the naked (Matthew 25:36). Th e Diggers thus welcomed those that would willingly submit to their communal precepts-especially the Golden rule "to do to others as we would be done unto" (Matthew 7:12), promising to provide newcomers with food, drink, clothing, and other necessities. Th ey were also opposed to using weapons in self-defense, and when one was struck, he turned the other cheek. 10 Nonetheless, Walton's inhabitants were predominantly hostile to the "new Plantation" on St. George's Hill. Winstanley claimed that several Diggers were imprisoned in Walton church and beaten by the "rude multitude, " while the acre of ground they had worked was "trampled down" and "re-levelled, " their "new Creation utterly destroyed" by the "Country people" thereabouts. 11 Undeterred, a "considerable party" of Diggers returned intending to sow hempseed. Within days they had issued their first manifesto, Th e True Levellers Standard Advanced, the London bookseller George Th omason dating his copy 26 April 1649. Everard and Winstanley headed the list of 15 named subscribers, contending that so long as a system of landlords and their rent-paying tenants persisted, the "Great Creator Reason" remained "mightily dishonoured. " Buying, selling, and enclosing land, which had been gotten through oppression, murder, or theft , kept it "in the hands of a few, " placing the "Creation under bondage. " Nor would the English be a "Free People" until the landless poor were permitted "to dig and labour the Commons" and "Waste land, " averting starvation through their "righteous Labours. " 12 About a month later, while fetching wood to build a house, the Diggers were ambushed, their cart sabotaged, and a draft horse maimed. 13 At the end of May when Fairfax visited St. George's Hill with his entourage, he found nine "sober honest" men and three women "hard at work" among some sprouting barley. 14 On 1 June, Th omason acquired the Diggers' second manifesto, A Declaration from the Poor oppressed People of England, signed by 45 men. Renouncing their subordinate position-"Slaves, Servants, and Beggers" subject to the "Lords of the Land"-these poor, hungry signatories condemned hoarding the
