CHAP. I.

THe King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, so is his title, at least so it was in times past, being through Flattery, Oppression, Superstition, Igno­rance, and the like, lifted up in himself and over the Nation, and all orders and estates of men, and consci­ences therein; yea, above all that was, or is, truly called God a­mong men; so that he said in his heart, and all that were height­ned by, and took up their rest in, this great and tall Cedar, as some­ [...]ime the King of Assyria did, I will ascend above the heights of [Page 6] the cloude; I will be like the most high: that is, as wise, as strong, as great as he: Or as did that other great and mighty Poter [...]ate, we read of in Daniel▪ reflecting upon his own glory, and the works of his own hands, boasted himself before God and men, saying interpretatively, and in the account of both, Is not this great Babel, which I have built, for the honor of my Majesty? for the spreading of my glory, and for a lasting rest, and tabernacle to me, and mine to all future ages?

§. 2. No sooner was this, thus in his ignorance of God, gone forth of the mouth of him, and his, but there apeared written upon the wall of this his, and their so great, but carnal Confidence, by the invisible and irresistible hand of God, (which only then, and now, the Daniels of the Kingdom were able to read and interpret,) MENE, MENE, TEKEL UPHARSIN. This is now not only Prophetically, but that which is come to pass, easily to be in­terpreted by every one that passeth by, or goeth in and out, this Kingdom; so that every man may see, and understand this to be the interpretation of the thing, or hand writing. Mene, God hath numbred thy Kingdom (taken a note of all the particular vanities, follies, cruelties therein,) and finished it, in respect of the glory, pride, and vanity, it now is, and hath been in. Tekel, Thou art weigh [...]d in the ballances (of God and man) and art found too light. Peres, divisit, God hath divided it from thee, and thee from it; or divided it into several peeces, and smaller parts and parcels: so that one hath one part, and another hath another: First, the Irish take one peece; then the Scots take another; and the English take the last, or rather the first and best, and they too, divide it among themselves, and strive who, shall have the better part, or the whole of it.

Sect. 3. Thus the King, in this way and confidence of his, and those that had stretched themselves with him, upon this bed of rest, which they have now found, by woful experience, is too short for them; I say he and they have found that come upon them (at the Call and Command of God) which sometime the Land of Judah did, yea, that very voyce of God hath thundered in their ears, houses, and among their friends and estates, as some­time [Page 7] did among that people, and that in these very words, or to this very purpose, He, the Lord hath, lifted up an Ensigne (for God set up his Standard first against the King, before the King (in a way of open War) set up his Standard against the Parliament, or P [...]ople; the Ensigne is lifted up of God, and given for a signe to the Nations; first, to the Irish; then, to the Scots; and lastly (though not first in a way of open War) to the English: all of them standing still in times past, and so seeming (as to the shaking of the Kings rest and glory) afar off, (though some keen and quick-sighted men had a view in God, of all this before it came:) they all obey his Call, and come forth against him and his with exceeding speed, God saying of them, none of them shall be weary, nor stumble among them; none shall slumber, or sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, till they have brought to pass his Act, his strange Act, nay, not so much as the latchet of their shoes be broken, to shew that all lets and hinderances should be taken out of the way, that the Councel of God might take place, whose arrows are sharp, every one piercing to the heart of King, Queen, Bishops, &c. and all their bows bent, men still in rea­diness to second and supply one affrightment with another: their horses hoofs shall be, saith God, counted like a flint, that every march and preparation of calamity against him might succeed; the wheels of their Carriages and Ammunition like whirle-winde, all being always in a readiness to annoy him. Their roarings shall be like a Lion, (as the King hath found,) they shall roar like young Lions; yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it; as it hath come to pass in all those great Engagements that have been against the King; and therefore saith the Text, Isaiah 5. Vers. 30. In that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea, (against the prevailing, mighty, proud waves thereof there is no standing out;) And if one of that way, or that engagement, look unto the Land, or any part of it, behold darkness and sorrow, or disappointment, and the light of this Kingly glory, or glorious Kingdom, opposed now to the Coming, and Kingdom of God (which yet they them­selves, in blindness, and in a way of tradition, prayed for,) I say all that light and glory is darkened, and eternally ecclipsed in the heavens thereof, that is to say, in the firmament of it, which was [Page 8] the persons of the King, Queen, Nobles, and all those either birds or beasts, that had taken up their shelter under the shadow of this great tree, which by the Commandment of the Watcher, or strict Observer of all things and Kingdoms, even the holy One of Israel, that for Israels sake, never slumbreth or sleepeth, is now felled down.

Sect. 4. The King, to prevent, or rather to occur, and make re­sistance against this inundation, or flood of Fears, and troubles, flowing in upon him, threatning the overshadowing, yea the total ruine of this Babel, that was so glorious in his, and others eyes, endeavours first the upholding it with the wit and policy of his Friends and Favorites, and his own personal affronts, and discountenancing, yea, openly, as in the Parliament House, me­nacing, especially the heads of that party, or sort of men, from whence his expectation of fear did come; but though this was effectual, to the casting down many Stars, that seemed to be more fixed in the Firmament of the Peoples expected Rights, and Free­doms; yet the opposition, made against the other, was so far from blunting the edg of their affections, then, to the Publique, and proceedings against the corrupt interest of the King and Bi­shops, &c. that they by opposition multiplied, and were so much the more fortified, and united against him; so that these bricks of policy, and swordless, or bloodless opposition, made against the Power prevailing against, and feared by the King, being fallen down: He speeds into the North, and there is resolved to build with hewen stones, and though the Sycamores had failed him, and his hope in them, yet now mindes to make further tryal, and change them into Cedars; sets up his Standard, and makes Proclamati­on among the Gentiles, men of looser and more apparent, corrupt, and evil lives, and so appearing more remote then others from the knowleg and fear of God, and thus calls upon these Mountains to cover him from the wrath of the Lamb, who now appeared to sit on the throne of God against him; to these in all Countries he says, Prepare ye War, wake up the mighty men in all parts; Let all the men of War draw neer, to the King, and come up to his de­fence: Beat your plow-shares into swords, your pruning hooks into spears: Let the weak say, I am strong: Let none deny his assistance of Mony, Plate, Horse, Arm [...].

[Page 9]§. 5. Thus the King, and all the fading, worldly glory, and creame of the Nation, being embodied into a potent, and re­solute Army, marches up and down like a swift Dromedary, tra­versing her waies, or as the same Prophet speakes, like a wild Asse Colt used to the Wildernesse, which no hand had yet med­led with, and therefore snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure, or according to the desire of her heart, as though none could turne her out of the way, so that all they that go to seek her for the use of man, do even make weary themselves, as though it were bootlesse to pursue after her any more; as was indeed the case of the King, and those with him, who had led at sun­dry times after so many fights, and frights, his and their pursu­ers (as they say,) such a dance, that they were weary and wa­sted, and even ready and upon the matter willing to give over; they said once and agen as David, We shall one day perish by the hands of this Saul, the fierce and first King of that, but (as some say) the last of this our Israel: but as the wild Asse is ta­ken and made tame in her moneth, so that a child may lead her, so after a while this Army, and mighty gathering together of men of Warre, become bedrid, and are taken as a wild bull in a net; so that to every child is now given to play on the hole of this Aspe, and the weaned child, to put his hand on this Cocka­trice den.

§. 6.A digression, by way of la­mentation for the many slain. Which though I so expresse in the language of the Scriptures, they being such to some upon a true account, yet I acknowledge them upon another, to be men of might, and great renown, and therefore am so far from writing this as re­joycing at their fall, that I hardly do it but with weeping eyes, and a heavy heart, and am ready to lament with David over them as he did over Saul and Jonathan his son, The beauty of Israel is slaine upon the high places, how are the mighty faine, tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askhelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoyce. Ye Mountaines of Gilboah (ye the severall places, Cities, Hills, Plaines, and Valleys) let there be on you no deaw, neither let there be raine any more upon you, that there spring not up from you, by vertue of any moisture, or blessednesse upon you from above, as it were from the seeds of the many slaine upon you, to beget a resurrection of ano­ther [Page 10] Warre; and the like dreadfull slaughter of men, and inha­bitants, the flower of this Nation, For how were the mighty slain there in the midst of Battell. O Jonathan, thou noble Brookes, thou noble, but misguided Faulkland, how wast thou slain! and many others, famous in their Generation, both on the one side and on the other, how were and are the mighty fallen, and the Weapons of Warr perished!

§. 7. But to return; after some few yeares, and in this man­ner, this Mountaine of pride, oppression, vaine-glory, supersti­tion, and cruelty, is melted with the blood of those many thou­sand slaine, for it is the day of the Lords vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversies of Sion; And therefore it is as to them and the Kingdome they sought to uphold, that the streames thereof, that is to say, all the means of their refreshing, is turned into pitch, and matter, and fuell only fit and prepared for the fire, and this fire shall not be quenched night nor day, but it shall burne continually, yea the smoak thereof shall go up for ever and ever, from Generation to Generation, it shall be wast; it shall never again be called from the dead, none shall passe thorough it any more, it shall only be for the Cormorant and the Bitter [...]e, the Owle also and the Raven shall dwell there; for God bath stret­ched out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptinesse; they shall call for the Nobles thereof to come to the support of this Kingdome, but none shall be there, and all her Princes shall be and are become nothing. Thornes shall come in their Pallaces: they shall afford them nothing but vexation, yea there shall be found in them, and in their Land of delight, only such of the creatures Ziim and Jiim, the Satyres, the Vultures and the Owle, whose place is the Wildernesse and deserts not inhabited: those Puritans and Roundheads, of whom before there was little or no appearance in the Land, for their abiding was as it were in the Wildernesse, and their presence was as strange as gastly, and as much affrighting in times past to the multitude, especially to the rulers of the Nation, as are those birds and beasts that dwell in such solitary places, to such as are unacquainted with them: so that the Wildernesse and the solitary place, such was the state of those rejected by the King and Bishops, shall be glad for them, and that desart shall rejoyce and begin to blossome as a rose.

CHAP. II.

§. 1. BUt to take up all (I intend) as I go. This rose began first to be nipt in the bud, even before the forenamed desolation of the forementioned State of men came to that height, both intended of God (though not then purposed of men) and since accomplished, and brought to passe through the over-ruling power of God, by men: And that after this man­ner and on this wise: that old Serpent the Divell and Satan, the head even of the King and his Bishops, or followers, respe­cting the whole, though not all the particulars or wholly, being now by the mighty hand of God, wonderfully bruised and broken, and laid even halfe dead, as a hopelesse, uselesse, hurt­lesse thing, which thing came to passe about the time of the Kings escape from Oxford to the Army in the North, and this came to passe thus, the old Serpent, of which I made men­tion even now (not intending the Kings person, which I did reverence and love, but the evill raigning in him, and others of his side and way, which I make mention of by the way, that I may not provoke any man, professing my selfe one that seekes unfainedly the good of all) broods as I may so speak, upon the seeds of it, both in the Scots, and English Parliaments & Armies, so that it might be said to the better part of both, that sought after freedom and rest in God in the Land, in truth, and thought that that had been the time of their joy, and rest, yet there was said to them, as to the Palestine of the West, as in the Prophet Esa. ch. 14. 29. Rejoyce not thou whole Palestine (though some of them did) because the rod of them that smote thee is brok [...]n, for out of the Serpents root, shall come forth a Cockatrice (or Ad­der, or the serpent renewed) and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent, more subtill, swift, fierce, or as the Scr [...]pture speakes, the peircing Serpent, even Leviathan that crooked, and [...]very waies turning serpent, lifting up his head, and living again e­ven in our bosome, the Parliament; For being even to death nipt with the frost, and cold, the Winter of adversity, and dis­appointment [Page 12] of the King and Bishops, is now taken by these mercilesse, mercifull men into their bosome, where receiving warmth and strength, he begins to grow strong and vigorous, not only in them, but to live and rise again in them, the Kings owne party in whom he seemed as to outward hurt, and appearing to be wholly exhaust of life and being, so that this last deceipt or Serpent became more deceiving and pernicious then the former, yea the Serpent is now turned Dragon; every Dragon is a Serpent, but every Serpent is not presently a Dra­gon, the Dragon then is Serpens annosus, the old Serpent, though in a new skin, a new and another better, though a more decei­ving appearance, as having eaten up other Serpents, a deceipt that hath (to make it the more deceiving) swallowed up into it selfe all other more grosse, and now discovered deceipts, and therefore the more likely to deceive, even as an Angell of Light in the Parliament, and those of their side, though in those of the other party, like a Lion, or a Bear robbed of her whelps, or kept long in hunger, as those were, that were made ready to devoure Daniel, that they might with greater ravening and appetite, fall againe to, and upon their desired prey.

§. 2. To all which they were prepared, and made ready, by the Scots complying, and committing whoredome with the cor­rupt principles of the King and Cavaliers, contrary to their Oath, Covenant, and first Engagement; yea, the whole Pres­byterian Order, Scotch and English (that I speak nothing of the Independent for the present) like Ahola and Aholibah, she so discovered her whoredomes, and her nakednesse, that the mind of God himselfe is wonderfully, and apparently alienated from her, like as it was from the Episcopall, her elder and first rejected sister, I say first rejected, out of the bed of God; for they like a woman prone to Adultery, have multiplied their whoredomes, in calling to remembrance the dayes of their youth, wherein they all knew themselves, and others know it of them, that they had plaid the harlot in the Land of Aegypt, in the state of Egyptian darknesse, in the Bishops dayes, wherein they bowed the knee to the same Idolls they did; so [Page 13] that they have doted, every one upon their paramore of Aegypt, whose flesh, as the Prophet speakes, is as the flesh of Asses, and whose issue is as the issue of horses, that is, that which to the full gives content to the unsatiable appetite of carnall and corrupt principled professors; i. e. such who notwithstan­ding their great pretence of Religion, and Reformation, in­tend nothing but the washing of the outside of the cup and platter, and under a pretence of long prayer, and strict government, de­voure widdowes houses, loving one part of them to be called Rabbi, another domination or tyranny of another kind: buil­ding, and setting up (like Jeroboam that made Israel to sinne) two Calves, gilded indeed with gold, having for it a glorious pretence of holinesse, and conformity to the Scripture, that e­very thing might come forth from them in the name of jus Di­vinum; these they set up in Dan and Bethel, Dan being in signification, the place of judgment. Bethel the house of God. one in the place of common justice, corrupting the very principles, and glory of a true and right Magistracy, the other in Bethel, called the Church or house of God, being nothing else but a dead, woodden, weak, worthlesse Idoll, yet done over all with gold, intitled in all the pieces and parcells of it (Directory for Wor­ship, Confession of Faith, Forme of Church-Government, Cate­chisme, the mother, and the daughter, the greater and the lesse) to a justification from the Scripture, Scripture being made now adaies to speake to every mans fancy: and thus whiles it was boasted we had arrived in a Land of promise far remote from Romish, Popish, and Episcopall tyranny, and superstition, we were, as now we see, now our eyes are open, led back again as that Army of men was that came to besiege Elisha, brought as it were blindfold, and set downe in the midst of Samaria; we find our selves in the midst of Rome, Egypt, and Babylon; but as it now falls out, in the power and hands too, of those Pro­phets, these Reformed Romanists had shut up, and besieged, who are now (as many as are such in truth) preparing food and necessaries for those that would have been the slaughter of them.

§. 4. Thus Aholah was no worse then Aholibah, and Aholi­bah [Page 14] no better, but of the same complexion and adulterous dis­position with Aholah, Judah as Israel, and Israel as Judah, the Presbyters as the Bishops, and the Bishops as the Presbyters, and both as the Papists, for what was said of the one, mutato nomine, might be said of the other; hence it was they loved exceedingly, and longed to be together in one, as appeared by the Scots complying with the King, and that party as yet cor­rupt: first at Oxford secretly, after at Newcastle, Holmby, Lon­don, Hampton Court, Isle of Wight openly; in all which they had the concurrence of the English Presbyter, who together like an imperious whorish woman, open their feet to their Lovers (whom they had courted before in private) upon every moun­tain and hill, to the apparent view, and discerning of all; so that there is now a marriage made, or a reunion at least, in heart and will betwixt the King and Parliament, Bishops and Presbyters, (which the King observed well enough, and there­fore being at the Treaty asked by one of his friends, what he thought of M. Seaman and others, he answered him in the eare, yet so as others heard, why they would be Bishops man) this union was not in God or in Christ, but in the common enemy of both Satan the Accuser, and destroyer of all good in all, so that the Bishops now lived in the Presbyters, and the Coun­cell Table, and other the high Commission, and the Courts Ec­clesiastick, Monopoly-men in the Parliament and Synod, and their first borne, their severall Committees, so that by this means, a bridge is made for one, to passe over to the other, plain and easie.

CHAP. III.

§. 1. BUt Captaine, Army, or rather Mr. Agitator, other­wise and since call'd Leveller steps in (as one late jeeringly writ) and forbids their actuall, outward and open coming together, seeing it so illegitimate, and tending so to the prejudise of all, even of the very parties themselves; and to that end whiles the King longs, or rather lusts after the Parlia­ment, and the Parliament after him; This bold, young, manly, and yet faire, and as yet untoucht Virgin, at least so in her own account, and in a good measure so in truth, and certainly so in comparison of others (those adulterous women or people I have spoken of hitherto) I mean that honest principle and peo­ple in and out of the Army, these (I say) are so bold to de­mand the King as though they meant a marriage with him, which they did not out of pure love, but to prevent his union with either of the two former, which they judged, as unfit for him, as he for them, and to that end possesse themselves of his person, and so in him, or because of him they take the greater boldnesse, to seize upon the Parliament, whom the King liked better, as being more like him, in disposition, and complexion; and this they did, having the sword, the better end of the staffe of power in their own hands, not first at least appearingly, by the approvement, and some think scarce really at all, or at least not till afterwards, and that rather out of necessity, then good will concur'd with, and assented unto, by many, if not almost all the heads of the Army; but for one end or another they are now all united as one man, having an evident, and ma­nifest presence of God upon them, they resolve to be his Sub­jects and servants for the Kingdomes good and peace, and to withstand all without difference opposing it, seeking without respect of persons, the profit and honest interest of all, the King, Queen and Cavaliers not excepted, as appeares in their Proposalls, and therefore they make addresses to him some­time more open, and sometime more private, that upon his [Page 16] concurring with them, they would prosecute his just and law­full interest, as well as their owne, and upon this account they march to London to chastise the follies of the Parliament, and checke and put a stop to her unreasonable lustings after the King, and other the onions and garlick of Aegipt, as apt to breed evill diseases in them, so that in this they were a re­viving to the King and those of his side, who thought but per­haps to attaine onely to the forbidden tree by them, i. e. to satisfie their own lusts, which yet I will not altogether affirme, but this I do openly professe, and declare, that this overture with the King, was the most hopefull, promising, innocent, candid, and Christian, that ever was made since these troubles began, and the most like to bring forth the wished for peace truth and righteousnesse, to and for the rest of all the inhabi­tants of the Nation, without respect of persons; into which, unlesse the door stand equally open unto all, it is like, nay it will certainly be shut against all, it being the nature of all good men and governments, to give downe like the Sun in the firmament, light & warmth as well to the benefit and refresh­ing of the unjust and unrighteous, (though not for their en­couragement, as such, but for their conviction) as the just and righteous, according to the patterne given us in the Mount, which is Christ himselfe, to whom the Publicans and Harlots, which were outwardly unclean, as that party of people are, which we in our selfe justifying language, have and do call Malignants, had as easie and open accesse as the Scribes and Pharises, which were only outwardly holy and cleane, but within were full of rottennesse and filth, as the most of those are, on the other side, a­mongst us that boast of their Saintship and reformation. This sun of righteousnesse, mercy, and peace, was dawning in that day, I say an appearing of righteousnesse and peace: of Justice and mercy: for the one without the other is not in God, or Christ, or good men, and therefore where they are divided as for the most part they are brought forth among men, they are not in truth, but in pretence.

§. 2. And therefore I do utterly dislike the late unreasonable Jewish, Heathenish, unchristian outcry, or clamour for justice [Page 17] to be done upon the person of the King and those of his party; and no mention made of mercy, love, grace, goodnesse, reconcilia­tion, nor reaching forth the arms, and turning of the bowels of compassion towards him and them; it being certain, the former is not of God without the later; yea, the former without the later, doth but irritate, provoke, and stir up anger, wrath, war and tumults, to the confusion of the Nation. And therefore I affirm again, That that overture with the King, as it was more Christian, so it was infinitely more probable to bring in truth and peace, then is the present course taken, though by the same party and persons.

SECT. 3. But an eclipse came suddenly upon this Sun, that it set even at noon-day upon the whole kingdom, and all the Heads of it, King, Parliament, Army, English and Scots: The common Mother of the good and peace of all being forcibly made to withhold her brests; her Son, the man-childe of all our hope, being taken up to God, and to his throne, ruling yet among men, though in a hidden and secret way: the woman her self (those weak and feeble people) being fain to fly into the wilder­nesse to hide her self, not appearing scarce with any comelinesse or beauty at all among men: she hath a place prepared of God, where shee is nourished for a time, times, and half a time, from the face of the Serpent: that is, (as Paraeus on the Revelation obser­veth well, a time seeming lon, but proving short.

SECT. 4. And now, Behold, the Divel is come down again amongst men, having great wrath, reigning, raging working, confounding, dark­ning the Councels, of King, Lords, Commons, Bishops, Presby­ters, Independents, Anabaptists, Levellers and all; In all whose counsels and projects appeared manifest weaknesse, errour, ig­norance; yea, open wickednesse and Apostacy in some: The retiring himself for rest, and recovery out of his lost estate, into his old principles, and compliances with his Bishops, and now again beginning to be revived party, who are prepared every one in secret to engage again, and to revive their old and almost [Page 18] [...] [Page 19] [...] [Page 18] crucified Cause; which immediately after broke forth into a more fierce and cruel War, almost in all parts. That which nou­rished and gave life again to this dying Cause, was apparantly, and to the view of all, the treble Apostacy of the Army it self, England's glory, that I say not, England's pride. And I pray God that spirit that is too potent in them, which was both the life and ruine of both King and Parliament, prove not in con­clusion both their own and the kingdoms ruine. 1. This Ar­mie, this so Saint-like Army fell, first from making good those ho­nest Proposals they had made in the behalf of the King; which gave too much cause to the King and his party to desist from their expectation of salvation, and hope from them, which they had too, before-hand given them just cause to look for from them. 2. They fell from any further concurrence with the ho­nest Agitators, which now they begin violently to oppose; that I say not, exasperate, yea pursue and persecute: witnesse the strife at Putney, the unrighteous and untrue suggestion that was made of them to the King, as though they intended to lay hands on him in secret, or indeed, at all: which opposition grew to that height and heat, that either side appeared in a way of open war against the other; folly in the one, begetting phrensie and fury in the other: so that the Heads of the Army imprisoned their own persons and errours, in the persons and errours of others; so that they themselves were not free, till they had repented, and set the other as free as themselves. This awakened the Spirit of God in Sedgwick, Saltmarsh, Pinnell, Ingrave, like the Angel of God that met Balaam riding beyond his Commission, open­ly and professedly to oppose and stand in their way: so that even as the dumb Asse reproved the madnesse of the Prophet; so at the light of God appearing in these men, the very naturall strength and sinews of the Army stood sensless, as a brute ama­zed animal, not able to go either backward or forward; either back to a complyance with the honest principles of the Agita­tors, or forward in their acquiescing in the Parliaments Votes and Counsels. Which leads (3) to a discovery of the third de­gree of their deparure from their faith, hope, and first good purpose: to wit, their hiding and burying that good principle of seeking without partiality the good and freedom of all, like [Page 19] the earth, our common parent, especially the new Earth, Jeru­salem, which is above, the true parent of all the Children that are truly and eternally free, in the freedom of God and Christ himself: I say, in stead of this, they bury this good and usefull talent, or rather bottle it up in one sort of Vessels, whence a­rose that great strife at Windsor about Ordinances, having this only, for the most part, like the Jewes to distinguish themselves from the Gentiles; and for this cause manifestly opposing, that I say not brow-beating, and persecuting those that professed to live in no other Ordinance, but that which is the same in all ages, Jesus Christ our Lord, following the Lamb whithersoever he goes; whose words and lives are a continuall witnessing to Christ, by whom is pulled down in all ages the partition wall betwixt Iews and Gentiles, the stricter and looser sort of men, that equal access may be for both to God, by him, they being all alike good, or alike bad before him.

CHAP. IV.

CHAP. V.

CHAP. VI.

CHAP. VII.

CHAP. VIII.

Sect. 1 TO conclude: The case then of the King, Parliament, Army, and all estates of men in the Nation, was & is this: 1. Of the King; he had the Kingdom, and in it all that was comprehend­ed, all the glory, fulnesse, beauty and riches in it, the head and foot, himself, his Queen, his Crown, his Children, his great Estate, Attendance, Honour, Glory, People, &c. But all this in the flesh, in and after, or according to the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts, which like an ignis fatuus, led him and all of the same spirit with him, huc & illuc, after se­verall objects of rest and delight, all which yet perished in the use; it being, in respect of his way of enjoying of it, but as the grasse of the field, or corn upon the house top, which withereth be­fore it be grown up: nothing is in it but that which is earthly, sen­suall and divelish; all appearances are of a like nature; but not of one and the same form, all from beneath, some black, and some white Divels: his fearing one, and following the o­ther, [Page 28] hath not suffered him to enjoy any lasting rest.

Sect. 2 The Almighty then hath by the losse of all the Kings glory, greatness, his Queen, his Servants; yea, and since, his naturall and bodily life, shut him up so, that he hath had no liberty in the a­forenamed enjoyments, as to the outward, fleshly, or sensuall man: this was therefore to the King in respect of the old man, the valley of Achor, that is to say, the valley of trouble: but in re­spect of his Person, and Gods intendment, yea, and the longing prayer and endeavour of all good men, in whom is the sure and lasting mercies of God, and the bowels of Jesus Christ, it was to him, and 'tis to all his friends, and those that took part with him, for a door of hope. In this wildernesse of trouble in respect of the outward man, God returns (which thing I will not deny) and gives in again into the heart of the King, together with himself,For the fulness of all things is in God in Christ. all things, his Crown, his Queen, his Kingdom, &c. but wash­ed and made white, that he might enjoy them eternally and without interruption in him.

Sect. 3 And to this, he was, and those they call the Royallists are in a greater propinquity, and more likelihood to attain unto, then many either of the Parliament or Army; who are like Caper­naum, lifted up in a glorious fig-leave profession as high as hea­ven; their turn will be next to be hurled down to hell, the hell in which the King was, whiles many of that side (the by-word, especially of the professing people) shall be lifted up to heaven, and made to sit with God in Christ in heavenly places; for there shall come from East and West, and places and conditions most remote, and shall sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of God, and the supposed children of the kingdom cast out: For God will not (though it may be, man would) contend for ever; neither will I (saith he) be alwayes wroth, for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousnesse was I wroth, and smote him; I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart: I have seen his wayes, and will heal him, I will lead him also, and re­store comforts to him and his mourners. For the language of Christ is to this day in the Church, speaking as 'tis written, The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath annointed me to [Page 29] preach good tidings to the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound. This I professe my self to be daily in expectation of, according as it is written, The first shall be last and the last first: the Jews, and those that professe the knowledge of God after the letter, shall be provoked, and made ashamed by a foolish and despised people: the Gentiles, which make no such profession, shall be before-hand with them in the knowledge of God and Christ, in spirit, power and truth: To which I say and pray, Deus faxit, This thing, O God, bring to passe.

CHAP. IX.

Sect. 1 THe second is the state and condition of the old, and now decayed and worn out Parliament: together with the state of all them that shrouded themselves under the shadow of this great and tall, but now fallen Cedar. This people had their day (.i.) their morning, noon, and evening-tide. Whiles 'twas yet morning, or young dayes with them, they began (according to the Country Proverb) as a new broom, to sweep all clean: and therefore made themselves, after the similitude of Christ, (the true pattern of all good and wholsome undertakements) a new threshing inst [...]ument having teeth, that with it they might thresh the mountains of Pride, Superstition, Oppression; they made them a scourge of small cords, and minded indeed to cleanse the Temple, and to cast out the buyers and sellers of doves, those more innocent and harmlesse ones in the Land, of whom these money-changers made merchandize, (as 'tis said) They shall make Merchandize of you: For they did, as Christ, [...]. cast out [Page 30] the gain gotten by doves. In one word, their going forth was like the morning Sun, rejoycing as a Giant (newly awoke out of sleep, and silence in the Land) to run his course of light and truth: so that by them, as by the Womans seed, (Christ born in spirit and power among them) the Serpents head (that is to say) the wit, power, policy, enmity that prevailed in the afore­going Hierarchy, Monarchy (for the last was above the first) was wonderfully discovered, bruised, spoiled and disappointed.

Sect. 2 And therefore this Serpent after a while betook himself to another course, sought after another and more secure place to save and hide his head; so that whiles these husbandmen sl [...]pt, though before-hand the Lord of the harvest had sowed good seed among them, the enemy came in by night, the night of their ig­norance, and sowed tares; that this garden of God, that at first seemed an earthly Paradise, was full fraught with weeds, I mean, pride, ignorance of God, self-seeking, faction, not going oc together in bearing the burthen of the Kingdom (as at first) with one shoulder; but as untamed heifers, according to the Scripture phrase, unaccustomed to the yoak of Christ, (that is to say, his presence and government in truth, peace, mercy, justice, his seat and throne) they all hung back, or drew contrary ways one to another: so that while every party and faction minded their own particular safety, honour, greatnesse, the whole King­dom was neglected, and that stool of rest intended and ex­pected by them, and from them, being removed out of the way by their own party-making; the whole wearied body of the Kingdom did begin again to fall quite to the ground. This was the forbidden fruit that the whole Parliament in their severall parties were overtaken with: for if the Paradise of God were not secure, but that the Serpent got in there to deceive the woman, no marvel he had admission here, where there was so much of the woman (weakness and inability to overcome temptation, and discern the hour of it) that they all sought their own things, and few or none the things of Jesus Christ. which might make for the rest and profit of the whole.

Sect. 2 And to that end, having severall forms and patterns in their mindes, of ways and methods to make a bed of rest to the Na­tion, [Page 31] they all proved too narrow, or too short; so that there was not room in't for all: for that which would first serve the turn of the Royall party, was too noysome and offensive, as a defiled and polluted bed, a bed of whoredom and lust; and therefore these were as a smoke to the nose of the pre-ingaged, or fore-resolved men of the Presbyterian or Scotish way, who proclaim with open mouth the jus Divinum of their own new invention; and therefore preach, and print, and hold out to the world at at home and abroad, as though Christ had said to them and that order of men, what he did, and alwayes doth to his true and onely Spouse (which is alwayes hid with him in the wilder­nesse, and not at all exposed to common view; for as Christ, so is the Church (as in union with him, or as his Spouse) hid to the world) Behold, thou art fair, my Love, behold, thou art fair, (yea, our bed (say they) is green) and the onely flourishing, fruitfull, hopefull woman or Church in the world. Yet this also takes after her sister, and justifies them that had gone before, in all their abominations, and all her children prove the sons of the Sor­ceresse, and the whore, neither had any of them a heart to plead (in the behalf of God and Christ) against their Mother, making it appear, she was not his Wife.

Sect. 4 This Woman, or prevailing party in Parliament and King­dom, usurps all power, and takes all authority into their own hand, and boasts, she is Lady and Queen of Great Britain, at least; therefore makes use of it to the establishing of her self, and depressing of all others, that would not, or could not sing her song, drink of her cup, or dance after her pipe; and there­fore makes a decree, that none should either buy or sell, that re­ceive not her mark in their hand or forehead. But whiles she is thus drunk, but not with wine, and thinks she is, and none besides her, even in that very hour, it is said to her, as to her mother before, out of whose womb she sprang, Babylon the great, How much she hath glorified her self, and lived deliciously, so much tor­ment and sorrow give her. Therefore her plagues come in one day, (while it was yet noon-tide with this new invented Idol) death, mourning, and famine (of all that power, wisdom, policy, and great riches that did sustain her) and she shall, as her elder [Page 32] sister Sodom and Samariah the Popish and Episcopal Church, be utterly burnt with fire; for strong is the Lord God in the Church, that hath undertaken to judge her.

Sect 5 And now behold all her Princes, and those that reigned as Kings by means of her; yea, all the Merchants of this seeming new, but indeed the first earth that was to passe away, that had enriched themselves by her sorceries and whoredoms, that were as so many bawds and Panders to this Adulterous woman, are now standing afar off, weeping, and making great lamentation, forasmuch as no man buyeth of their merchandise any more, for be­hold her smoke goeth up for ever and ever. Thus now the pit these dug for other, they are faln into themselves; so that it may be said to them, by those that were in the pit before them, as it was by those that were in the like case to Babylon and the King thereof, Isa. 14.10. when he came into the like condition with them Art thou also become weak as we are? art thou become like unto us? thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols is ceased: the worm Jacob is spread under thee, and the worms (such as thou hast despised) cover thee, that thou hast no glory left. Thus this party (and being but a party, and for them­selves) seeking the possession of all, lost all, the bed of rest in­tended by them proving too short, not onely for others, but themselves; so that they are now as well as others, cast out, to the loathing of their person, and shaking of the head of all a­gainst them, the very by-word of the people, and so cast into the furnace, out of which many of them may come forth, pure and refined gold; which I beseech God to grant and bring to passe.

Sect. 6 The third part this City (the old Parliament) was broken and fallen into, would be Independent, at least in respect of the two former; and therefore, though they would not come into the bed of rest, made ready, or at least preparing, and endea­voured by the other two, as protesting against the defilement of both; yet many of them had in their hearts, according to their pattern in New England (though it was not policy for the pre­sent to professe it) to make themselves the onely Sarah or Mi­stris, and to cast out al others as Agar, and not at all as the Wife [Page 33] and Spouse of God; yea, in effect, they openly declare it, though afterwards they saw a necessity of being of another minde; for they look'd upon the Presbyterian Church as an adulterous wo­man, and were loth to have any society with her, or almost any of her Assemblies, as accounting them not in a capacity to be communicated with. Yet in many, their opposition against them was but to break open a way whereby the Serpents head in them might have more certain hope of rest then in the for­mer, being now much more transformed into an Angel of light then before. And therefore, lest the tail of Anabaptists and Sectaries (so in their own account) should prejudice their ac­ceptance with their elder sister, they, to please and sooth the one, openly and before the Sun disavowed the other in their Apologeticall Narration. These neither being but a party, and mostly for themselves, were rather the vexation of the former, then the expectation of the meek and quiet in the Land, to re­ceive rest and freedom by them.

Sect. 7 Thus we see of all the children the Kingdom hath yet brought forth, whether Royall and Episcopall Parliamentary Presbyters, or Independents as such, none have been able to take her by the hand, as Joshuah, to lead her into the land of expected rest and freedom; they all (though English men) going into re­mote parts (as sometimes King Ahaz did) to take the pattern of the Altar they intended to worship God by. The Royallists seek for, as being enamoured with, the old and new Hierarchy of Rome and England. The Presbyterians were no lesse taken with that of Scotland. And the Jndependents, as much as ei­ther, with that of Holland and New-England: So that no side having seen the pattern in the Mount (which is Christ in the spirit) as Moses did, they all not knowing what was become of him (since ascended) make together a murmuring in the camp, or chief Assembly in our English Israel, the Parliament, crying out to their severall Aaronical Priests among them, Come, mak [...] us gods to go before us; for as for this Moses (Christ since ascended upon high) we know not what is become of him. But he is now come upon them as a thief in the night of their blinde zeal and igno­rance, and there shall not a man of them escape the sword of his [Page 34] justice. So that there is none of the old Parliament, as such, whether Episcopal, Presbyterian, or Independent, but as they have all drank of, and been drunk, with Babylons golden cup; so they have, and do, and will yet more taste of her plagues; yea, their torment shall be to be tormented day and night in the presence of the holy Angels, that are sent in truth from God, and in the presence of the Lamb, the meek King, of the holy, meek, and quiet in the Land. The light that shines now in the evening of the late Parliamentary glory; so that in this dark­nesse there shines forth this light unto them, to lead them forth of the wildernesse they are in, to the Land flowing with milk and honey: that is to say, the true Mount Sion, where is the Lamb, and all those with his Fathers name on their fore-heads, harping with their harps, and singing that new song which none but those that are redeemed from among men could learn; even those, and onely those in whose mouth there is found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God: To this rest shew them O Lord the way.

CHAP. X.

Sect. 1 IN the last place I shall set down the state of the top power of the Nation, as it is for the time present; I mean, the Army: for a power above them there is not visible in the Land. Con­cerning which, I shall observe first, the day of their small, mean, and low beginning, and how they came to this height of power and regiment over the whole Land.

The Parliament, in all their former power, policy, Armies, grew weak, and withered as a dry tree, and were indeed, in re­spect of good, like the dry parched ground: yet because God had not forgotten to be gracious, or left off his merci [...] which [Page 35] were of old: he causeth the earth to bring forth truth, whiles righteousnesse looks down from heaven: both which meeting and kissing each other in a company of honest and plain-hearted Christian men, many of them having much of the true annoynt­ing upon them, they are modelled, by a divine hand, into another new and distinct Army from all the rest, and are indeed (as it is said of the Branch of righteousnesse) men wondred at by all; yea, feared and suspected as well of friends as foes; not onely their enemies abroad, but even their very friends and fautors at home; insomuch, that this Hercules was very like to have been strangled in the womb or cradle, at their very first setting forth and contriving; but that there was of the seed and strength of God among them, that there could be no divination against them, nor inchantment against this new supplanter, for J [...]cob is their name. These (come forth into an Army) passe thorow the Land from one end to the other, like Leviathan in the sea, in the might of God, [...]aking (as it were) in the great waters their pastime [...]: so that all engagements against them prove as succesless as doth mans endevours to draw out that great Levia­than out of the great deep. Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish-spears: lay thy hand upon him, remem­ber the battell, and do so no more, behold, the hope of him is in vain. Shall not one be cast down at his sight of him: None is so fierce that dare stir him.

Sect. 2 A great while this Arm of God, or rather, the lighting down of his Arm upon the Royall party appeared hid or vailed under the present and yet remaining Parliament power, which like the interposition of the earth betwixt the body of the Sun and us, darkned or kept in continuall ecclipse, either thorow neglect or reproach, the new-born hope of the Nation, the Ar­my; for so they were, both in respect of crushing that power of which all stood in fear, as also that they were the onely A­sylum, or City of refuge to all the afflicted and oppressed people of the Nation. Here they centered, as in the presence of God among them.

Sect. 3 But at length they cast off the yoak, and appear free (heirs of all things) independent, in respect of all power, but God [Page 36] alone above them: and that first in their first, but ineffectuall March up to London: wherein it did befall them as it did Ta­mar, Gen. 38.27. for they had, as she, twins in one womb; for behold, while they travelled and laboured to bring forth, one put forth his hand; that is to say, there was a weak appear­ance of those principles and purposes of peace, truth, and righ­teousness (since brought forth to greater perfection:) but they that undertook the midwifery of this so hopeful new-born babe, took immediately a scarlet, bloudy, persecuting thred and tied about the finger of it at its first putting forth, concern­ing which onely this might be said, This came forth first. When also it came to passe, that as this appearance drew back again into the womb (where it hath for a while been hid) that his brother or next neighbour (for evil is always nigh to good, but never one with it) got then the upper hand, and came forth first; for which cause it was and might be calledPerru­ptor. Pa­ [...]aeus. Pharez, that is to say, A breach, or a Maker of a breach. Therefore it was said by all that undertook the Midwifery of their first born to this later unexpected and undesired brat, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee; bear thou the burthen of this af­front done to thine elder brother, Truth and Peace.

Sect. 4 This was the first appearance or defilement upon the Army; in this thing was their virginity (in which they had lived all the dayes of their affliction and trouble) first of all stained and de­flowred, whiles (like Dinah) they were not content to keep at home with God in the house of their Father Jacob, (who was and is a supplanter of none but his elder and worser bro­ther Esau, a man that lives upon the spoil of other) but [they] would be going abroad to see the daughters of the Land, and the fashions of other people, which proved a snare unto them, and was indeed a reproach to their fathers house, making his name to stink among the people.

Sect. 5 In this defiled estate, even (as I may so speak) whiles they were sore, and this great infirmity upon them, of their confor­mity to, and (as it were) prostituting of themselves to Sechem and Hamor, promising to acquiesce the one in the other, all (King, Parliament, Army) being (as it were) circumcised, and [Page 37] of one Religion, there comes upon them Simeon and Levi in the anger of God, the English and Scotish Forces (yet bre­thren in their agreed upon Covenant:) Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret, unto their Assembly mine honour be not thou united; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall▪ they both together first made, and then avenged the seeming holy, but corrupt league was made up between them: Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. After this great slaughter and captivity of men, God will (I hope) say of them as Jacob did of Simeon and Levi, I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel, restore and san­ctifie them among their brethren that abode in the Covenant and light of God. For though both sides excuse the matter (as they did) and say, Should our Sister be dealt with as with an harlot? For the Royall party being now one with the Pres­byterian, and the Presbyterian one with them, they said, Shall this holy Cause we have undertaken to defend by Covenant, be prostitute to these uncircumcised Independents and Secta­ries? Therefore they both openly and secretly prepare war against them, even whilest they pretended to lean upon them. On the other side, the Army, (who indeed had the better end of the staffe, and most cause of complaint: for though weakly, yet it may be for the most part honestly, run into their forenamed errour) also have their mouthes opened, and their hearts awakened, to see the dishonour would come by dealing with Dinah as with an harlot, suffer that honest cause they had engaged in, and taken up their swords for, to be prostituded to the lusts and wils of evil men (though themselves had too too much betrayed it a little be­fore) promised to acquiesce in that Power which they knew in heart did not adhere unto them (for though they had their hands, yet they had not the hearts of most of them); yet in effect, and interpretatively in this last Summers War they made null their promise to acquiesce in the Parliament: but since they have done it openly and declaredly, as it appears in their re­monstrance and proceedings.

Sect. 6 Now though these things afford no good savour in the no­strils [Page 38] of those, either at home or abroad, that by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern betwixt good and evill; and therefore the true Jacob in the midst of them is making his complaints of both, though not of both in the like degree. This being the time of Jacob's trouble, and Tamar's travel, there comes forth now in the late transactionsOriens, vel Ortum. Zarah, that is to say, that which should have come forth first, but was strangled in the womb and crucified in the birth, but recovers life again, and appears now to be of right the first-born, to whom the in­heritance doth belong; he that should come, and wee are not to look for another: the good and holy One in the Army, and so in the Nation, seems for the present to be predominant, and Lord of all.

Sect. 7 But Rebeccah Jacob's mother (the good people of the Land, whether the Remainder of the Parliament, or those bearing office in the Army, and the honest men of the City and Coun­try, that have an influence into this engagement) making more haste then good speed, out of a good minde notwithstanding, remembring the word and promise of God concerning Jacob, That the elder should serve the younger, that Jacob, a plain-deal­ing, smooth and honest man or men, should have the blessing, the upper hand of Esau, she makes use rather of her policy then the promise of God, she puts Jacob into the clothing or goodly rayment of this elder brother Esau; which will no more fit or become him, then Sauls Armour did David, who was fain to put it of again when he had done, and betake himself alone to his sling and stone to throw down the great Goliah, the contem­ptible means of the word and power of God, against which there neither is nor can be any prevailing. Whiles Jacob, this new and hopefull Supplanter of evill stands thus ready to administer savoury meat to the dying kingdom, as he did to his father I­saac which now in his old age could scarce discern one thing from another; yet coming neer and feeling whether this be his very son Esau (which is best beloved of his father, and most desired of the Nation) or no: findes and concludes as he did, The voice is Jacobs voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau: this deceit of this good woman, and this good mans complying [Page 39] with her therein, cost her much sorrow and grief, being fain after a while to send this her beloved son out of the way from the fury of his brother Esau; and Jacob for his own part to serve another Aprentiship, enjoying not the blessing, at least in his own Land, till after much strugling with God and man to obtain it; yea, he had it not at all indeed, till God himself touched him in the hollow of his thigh, (that is to say) till he had lost all strength and confidence in carnall and worldly courses, counsels and policies, and had nothing left him to rest in but the naked will and presence of God. For this cause he was made to halt, that it might be a signe to him of his former halting, and a caution to others to take heed of the like. This thing I desire the present power of the Nation to take heed of, and lay to heart: they have indeed Jacob's voice, talking much of God, Christ, the Spirit, Revelation, prayer, prophecie, the power and presence of the Almighty, the highest form of knowledge, and talk of things divine is amongst them: which if it be not in power and truth; that is to say, if it proceed not from the pre­sence of the true annoynting, and holy one among them, it is the most deceiving Antichrist that hath ever yet appeared in the world: and yet this I dare be bold to aver, that this know­ledge and talk of many of them (that I say not, the knowledge and talk of most) is but traditionall, and by imitation of others, having Christ in their mouth, but Sathan in their very hearts and lives, being, as the rest of the world, holy by fits, holy now and then, holy upon Sundays, holy at a Sacrament, or a Sermon, ho­ly in their severall churches of which many are members, holy upon their dayes of fast and prayer; but not holy as every true Christian is holy, in all manner of conversation, holy as God him­self is holy; holy through their union with him, and enjoying of him. These, these in the Army, God sayes, They are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day: who being as ignorant in respect of pure and divine knowledge of God, and as full of enmity in their spirits against him as others, they condemn and say yet to others (in respect of themselves) we are more holy then ye.

Sect. 8 But yet I dare not, yea I should grievously sin against God [Page 40] and his presence in the Army, should I deny that there is the shout of a King, even of the King of Kings amongst them; should I deny that he hath given to many of them, yea some of the chief and top of them, to sit together with him on his thron [...], as the Father hath given him to sit with him on his throne: these are they, to whom is given a pure language, not the language of E­gypt, or Ashdod, no not of Samaria a mixt language, a language that is neer, or very like, but not the very language of heaven, or true Canaan: such as is the language of the Jew, not such a one that is so onely in the letter, and in respect of the outward man, but he that is so in the inward man, such a one that speaks such a language that shall confound all other lan­guages; for thus saith the Lord of Hosts (the Lord of Armies) In those days it shall come to passe, that ten men shall take hold (of all languages, such as are the languages of the severall Sects and sorts of men among us) of the skirt of one, (such a one that doth not onely say, but) that is a Jew, and of the seed of Jacob indeed, they shall take hold of the skirt of such a one, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. This is in­deed the voyce of Jacob, which I and all good men delight to hear among them, the joyfull sound, the roaring of the Al­mighty like a Lion among you, whose presence is terrible to the world: For because of truth, meeknesse (for the meek shall inherit the earth) and righteousnesse (not that which is narrow and humane, but that which is divine and superlative) he shall bring mighty things to passe. But as the Kingdom hears among you Jacob [...] voyce (either pretended or in truth) so by feeling they finde your hands are too too much like Esau's hands, your little finger (in some regard) heavier then your fathers loins to the sense of City and Country; the afflictions that have been and yet are upon them by the Parliament and their Proceedings and Armyes, are much more heavie and in­tolerable, and that upon both their friends and foes, then ever were the oppressions of the King and Prelates, respecting the outward man, upon that sort of men that have now by a divine power got the upper hand of him. This is certain, the burthens of the people are many, and their fears are more, [Page 41] that one oppressing power will still succeed another; so that the Land shall never enjoy her Sabbath, this I say, not to upbraid you, but to re-minde you that you fall not into the same con­dition and censure others did that went before you; for as their inward thought was, that their houses should continue for ever; and their dwelling places to generation and genera­tion, that they call their lands and their wayes after their names. Nevertheless, we see (one year after another) man, in true Christian honour and integrity abideth not, but is like the beasts that perish being earthly, they sink again into it: This their way is their folly, which too is made manifest sooner or later: yet their posterity, they that come after them in power and place, approve their sayings, see a delight in their mouth, as it is in the margin; they have, as it were, one mouth, and are in effect the same in a new, and another seeming better dis­guise, the same Spirit appearing in another form; one evil generation and power of men opposing another.

Sect. 9 The Lord therefore rebuke the evil Spirit that seeks to undoe, deceive and misguide the Army into those courses that may any way tend to shut up the way of men to Christ their Savior, who is pretended to be among them more then among other people, and those that went before them, that it may be said of this King, (I mean not either King Charls, whose person yet I loved and prayed for) (or as the Country people speak) King Fairfax or Cromwell, but King Jesus; a King that is a Saviour, and in that he is a Saviour, a King; for every one worthy of the name, honor and title of a King, is a Saviour, a Saviour not only of his friends, but his very Enemies; King Charls would indeed have saved his friends (so, but corruptly called) but he being corrupt and ignorant of the true pattern [Christ] would fain have destroyed his (indeed but supposed) Ene­mies: let not the present Kingly power of the Nation in the Army, for there it is, interpretatively, and by way of Exe­cution, let not them dance after his pipe, and do the thing he did, and have since condemned him for; that is to say, Let not them be the Saviours of their friends only, or men of one side, this is not the true Spirit of Christ, or of Government; [Page 42] but let them even be Saviours to, and of those, yea, even of those that would in their ignorance and unbelief have destroyed them. This is truly noble, Christian, and worthy of men of high place and power; let them be a Sanctuary of rest to all, even the persons of all Roundheads and Cavaliers, yet withall standing as a Cherubin of light, right, truth, life, peace and glory, to keep the way of that tree of Life, (a true Christian Magistracy, form'd according to the pattern in the Mount, whereby may be opened unto men that long expected and looked for paradise of Truth and Peace meeting together, and giving rest to the Nation;) and that no thing or person may be admitted, that may bring any evil into it, for the defilement and disturbance of it.

Sect. 9 This, this is the business the present power have to doe, being reserved and kept as in the secret of God to such a time and purpose as this, that they might evidence to all, both friends and foes, that there is indeed such a presence of Christ, and the true anointing among them they have all this while held the world in hand with, that it may be said of this Presence, even of this Anointing among you, this King in the Army, to the whole Nation, on the one side and on the other, none ex­cluded from the grace and benediction of it; behold a King (God himself in Spirit) shall reign in righteousnesse; and Princes (for such are the children of the true Church in all lands) shall rule in Judgment; that is to say, not ignorantly and in the dark, not knowing what they doe, as the manner of the Rulers of the earth is, (being drunk with Error they stumble in Judgment;) then shall a man, (that is to say, every one that lives in the heavenly MAN) be for an hiding place, (what to one sort of men only? that's Jewish, a course that hath undone us all this while, but to every man, though to the evil or lust of no man) a hiding place, I say, from the wind, and a covert from the Tempest; as the rivers of water in a dry place: such is for certain the state of the Royall party, and in the next place the Presbyters and many others that are bitter and grieved in Spirit; in one word, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary Land, which how welcom it is in a Land of [Page 43] drought, as this Nation is, in respect of peace and rest, they know, that have been by experience sensible of the one and o­ther. By this it would appear to all the world, that you have skill not onely to kill, and to destroy, which hath been your work for the most part hitherto; but that you have heard and learned of the Father of mercies how to save: which is that one and onely thing the whole Kingdom is in expectation of from you: that it may be said of you, Saviours (not destroyers) are come up upon Moun Sion, the true seat and place of Government, to judge the Mount of Esau, that is to say, the evill of all men, by the spirit of judgement, and by the spirit of burning. Let the King­dom and all in it first taste of your good, that is to say, your mer­cy, meeknesse, forbearance, seeking not your own, but others profit, even the profit of your very opposers, whereby you wli lindeed appear to be of the onely true Royall bloud, even of the seed Roy­all of God and Christ himself: say, yea, you have much more cause to say of your selves then Saul had to say of himself, in the first day of his power, when the people came and clamoured in the ears of Samuel, as the people of England, so call'd, have of late in the ears of the Army, immoderately and to excesse, to have justice, not divine justice (for they know not, most of them, what that means) upon the person of the King, saying, Who is he of the King or Parliament's side, that said, or shall say, Shall Saul reigne over us? Shall the Army power prevail over all sorts of men in the Land (as you know, there is much mur­muring)? Bring the men, that we may put them to death. Let Saul's Answer be yours, (I confesse, you pretend to a confor­mity to a better pattern, David, who though he were annoint­ed to succeed Saul against whom there is no question but David might have had as much to say, as you have had against Charles Stuart, late in title King of England; yet David your pattern abhorred the thought of taking away his life, as you also, ac­cording to the grounds of true Christian Religion ought the forenamed and late King) And Saul said, There shall not a man be put to death this day, for to day the Lord hath wrought salva­tion in Israel. Let not your morning glory, the glory you seek, be stained with the blood of any; especially, the blood of war [Page 44] in the time of peace: be not so hasty, hot and violent in con­demning the Powers went before you, before your right [...]ous­nesse, integrity, innocency, honesty, ability, impart [...]l [...]y, and bowels of mercy, pity, and compassio [...] toward the p [...] and f [...]the [...]ss be justified on all hands to be of a nature exceeding the pretence of others. Let the Kingly and Parliamentary Powers see, and the whole Kingdom with them, that you know as well how to mend faults, as to finde them out and punish them in o hers. In one word, Set up a high Court of grace, mercy, and [...]vour (in opposition to, or union with this new high Court of Justice) to which all the afflicted and grieved in spirit may repair, and be relieved.

This I humbly suggest, and lay it at the feet of Jesus Christ among you, with whom I know it findes acceptance, for asmuch as it is his minde, and the fruit of his annointing in me, by whom alone I have been able thus to speak. He speak it in you, even in the whole Army and Kingdom, that did endite and write it in my heart; which the everlasting Spirit of grace work and grant, Amen, Amen.