The pamphlet opens with a Preface by a certain John Taylor, whose name appears last on the list of signatures attached thereto, and who was probably one of Winstanley’s more recent converts. In it he states that he has had “some conversation with the author of this ensuing declaration, and the persons subscribing, and by experience find them sweetly acted and guided by the everlasting Spirit, the Prince of Peace, to walk in the paths of Righteousness.” “Such as these,” he declares, “shall be partakers of the promise—Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.”
The body of the pamphlet itself is headed:
“A Declaration to the Powers of England, and to all the Powers of the World, shewing the cause why the Common People of England have begun and give consent to dig up, manure, and sow corn upon George Hill in Surrey, by those that have subscribed, and thousands more that give consent.”
It commences as follows:
“In the beginning of time the great Creator, Reason, made the Earth to be a Common Treasury to preserve beasts, birds, fishes and man, the Lord who was to govern this Creation. For man had dominion given him over the beasts, birds and fishes; but not one word was spoken in the beginning that one branch of mankind should rule over another.... But since human flesh began to delight himself in the objects of the Creation more than in the Spirit of Reason and Righteousness ... and selfish imagination ruling as King in the room of Reason therein, and working with Covetousness, did set up one man to teach and rule over another; and thereby the Spirit was killed, and Man was brought into bondage and became a greater slave to some of his own kind than the beasts of the field were to him. Hereupon the Earth (which was made to be a Common Treasury of Relief for all, both beasts and men) was hedged into enclosures by the Teachers and Rulers, and the others were made Servants and Slaves. And the Earth, which was made to be a Common Storehouse for all, is bought and sold and kept within the hands of a few, whereby the Great Creator is mightily dishonoured, as if He were a respecter of persons, delighting in the comfortable livelihood of some, and rejoicing in the miserable poverty and straits of others.”
Winstanley then makes his appeal to those who had been entrusted with the government of the Nation, in the following touching and yet suggestive words:
“O thou Powers of England! though thou hast promised to make this people a Free People, yet thou hast so handled the matter, through thy self-seeking humour, that thou hast wrapped us up more in bondage, and oppression lies heavy upon us.... If some of you will not dare to shed your blood to maintain tyranny and oppression upon the Creation, know this, That our blood and life shall not be unwilling to be delivered up in meekness to maintain Universal Liberty, that so the Curse, on our part, may be taken off the Creation. We shall not do this by force of arms; we abhor it, for it is the work of the Midianites to kill one another, but by obeying the Lord of Hosts, by laboring the Earth in Righteousness together, to earn our bread by the sweat of our brows, neither giving hire nor taking hire, but working together and eating together as one man, or as one house in Israel restored from Bondage. And so by the power of Reason, the Law of Righteousness in us, we endeavour to lift up the Creation from that bondage of Civil Propriety which it groans under.”
He again explains the work they are entered upon, and their reasons for attempting it, as follows:
“The work we are going about is this, To dig up Georges Hill and the waste grounds thereabouts, and to sow corn, and to eat our bread together by the sweat of our brows.
“And the First Reason is this, That we may work in righteousness, and lay the Foundation of making the Earth a Common Treasury for All, both Rich and Poor, That everyone that is born in the Land may be Fed by the Earth his Mother that brought him forth, according to the Reason that rules in the Creation.”