WHereas it hath pleased God, out of his gracious Providence, to manifest to the good people of this distracted Commonwealth,From which the Authors of this Declaration have revol­ted. his Rule and Government amongst us; we do now ap­peal to the great God,And who holds them in a chain, that they can goe no farther than he pleases to suffer them. whom we must own as the great Commander of our Armies, and Ge­neral of our Forces, acknowledging him to be the first Worker amongst us.

By many signal tokens it hath been made ap­parent,Whilst they stood to their first principles, and were o­bedient to their Governor. that God hath owned in a most espe­cial manner the poor Souldiery of this Nation, which must needs strike real reflections upon the Consciences of all sober and honest men,That is, till they rebel­led, and no farther. who have adventured thus far, and have found Jeho­vah-Jireh, God in the Mount among us all.

As God hath made and appointed us for the generalThat is, either as a King makes use of his Armies to destroy his Enemies, or as a School-master his rods, to scourge his Scholars to make them more obedient. good of the Nation, so we do most seriously, with real hearts own theAs they stile them, that is, the Quakers and Anabaptists. Godly [Page 4]of this Nation, and will be a Covert to them, although to the destruction of our lives and for­tunes, if God so pleases for the general good of them all.

As for the breaches that are amongst us, weAs the Authors of them. claim an interest in them; for the Great God, for our sinful deserts, in our backsliding from himAnd in violating the many ingagements and protestati­ons, which they themselves have at sundry times made to their Governor., hath laid this visitation upon us; and so we must own his most just dealings with us. The consideration of which, does cause re­flections upon our heartsWhich are very good, if they were in sincerity, which (their actions considered) are much to be doubted. humbly to own these his chastisements, and to consider these remarkable tokens of his love: For if we con­sider theBoth to God and the whole Nation in these distur­bances which they have lately made, whereupon (if God be not very mercifull) the inevitable ruine of Reli­gion and all civill Govern­ment will ensue. unworthiness of our dealings, and theWhich they have (to their great disgrace) too often made, and as often broken. specious pretences which have gone along with us under fair glosses, we must confess, that what distractions are amongst usAre occasioned by their unnatural rebellion., are not an­swerable to our just deserts; But we know that the dealings of the Almighty are not to be found out; therefore we confess that we have found GodFar beyond their deserts. merciful, although we have transgressed, for with him is mercy, that he may be feared; and he hath thus dealt with us, that we mightBut as yet there is but lit­tle probability that they do ever intend it. take notice of his long suffering, and good­ness to us; to his gloryAnd their shame and disgrace. let us ascribe it, and with thankful heartsAnd with renewed lives, and serious resolutions of better obedience for the future. return hearty praise for these great mercies received by us,

And now to come to a furtherWith as much dissimulati­on as ever. serious con­sidetation of Gods good dealing with us, we do desire to praiseThey indeavour to per­swade the people, that the Lord is the Author of their Rebellions, who are no o­therwise united, than as a Company of riotous persons, who combine together to do some outragious Act. the Lord for his uniting of the Army with such unanimity and courage, to stand for, and maintain theThat is, their own private interest and advantage. Good old Cause so long contended for, and which the LordThat is, when they kept close to their first principles, which by their [...]ebellion they are now far wide of. hath formerly so much owned,Nothing more true. although our back­slidings [Page 5]might have given cause of a far greater judgement than hath yet befallen us, which we hope will be prevented by ourWhich must be after ano­ther manner than they now do. return, and owning our first Principles, with so much cordi­al affection as is at this time declared amongst us, althoughAnd is very probable will be far beyond their expecta­tions. great opposition might be ex­pected: But that God that can throw down at a blast the loftiest Cedars, can also raise out of the earth smallAnd after make fuel of them, as he did Nebu­chadnezzar, to punish the disobedience of the Chil­dren of Israel, and after punished him for so doing. shrubs to glorifie him, and to do his work;Hereby doth plainly ap­pear what the ends and aims of these fellows are (which is) that all that are higher than themselves may be thrown down, that so themselves may the better be exalted. which with heart and mind is so much desired by the faithful Members of the Army, as is at this day experienced amongst us.

Therefore we pray and hoped it will stir up the faithful of this Nation toThat are bound in Consci­ence both to God and man to oppose them in their pre­sent undertakings. this consideration, that although objections may be raised against, andNot so much as they do de­serve. aspersions cast upon theThat is, of Low and base birth. poor despised instruments of thisIn English, Rebellion. Work; yet are weAs thieves when they joyn in a Confederacy to rob; for, saevis inter se convenit Vrsis. una­nimously resolved to maintain ourWhich they never intend. first good principles, and to own the Good old That is self exaltation. Cause, as we have already testified; first, by our Ad­dresses for the rooting out of allThat is, such as stood faith­ful to their first Principles and refused to joyn with them in their desperate designs. superfluous and ill affected Members of the Army: and se­condly, by our real desires and concordance with theThat is, Hasehigge, Vane, and others of the same metal. faithful, known so to be,The only naming of them is Declaration enough to satisfie any sober person, what their crimes were for which they were turned out. which were turned out without any just, or lawful account given therefore.

They take it for granted, that because God doth per­mit them a while, to go on in their pernicious Courses, therefore (of necessity) he must countenance and al­low them as good. As God hath been pleased to instruct us so far as to begin the work, so we hope the Lord in his time will perfect the same, for theWhich must be either by their conversion or destruction. ge­neral good and comfort of this Nation; not doubting, but the honest people of this Com­monwealth will take notice that we are notThe contrary doth very cleerly appear to all that have but one eye to see (except Hewson) but Hypocrita cupit videri justus. self-seekers, nor desire to be self-ended, but [Page 6]conscientious in these things;Which if they did in reali­ty but half so seriously consi­der, as they do here seemingly pretend, I doubt not but they would soon give off the course which they have now undertaken. assuredly know­ing that the Lord judgeth the mo [...]t secret thoughts, and that no practice nor thing for­med against God shall prosper, who is able to do his own work without any instruments at all.

If these fellows had any sparks of Conscience left in them, or did in the least understand what they say, they would not dare to make such protestations and invo­cations of the a [...]d of God, their actions being so odious; but I fear I wrong them to speak of Conscience, to which they have bid fare­wel many years since. Therefore with serious reflections upon Lord to bless these our honest desires, and to our consciences▪ we do most humbly implore theIt hath been the practice of Rebels in all ages, to cloak their wicked designs with the names of Religion, and the Glory of God, whose footsteps these men now fol­low. go along with us in our hearty endeavours to glorifie him: And truely, since the Lord hath been pleased to stir up our hearts in this great work, to the glory of God be it spoken, we have likewise from theThat is, Quakers and Ana­baptists. Faithful of the NationLike will to like, as the Devil said to the Collier. received so great encouragement & concurrence in our desires,That is, in doing mis­chief. in one and the same thing, that it doth greatly encourage us. And we hope we shall with an unanimous courage shew our selves forOr in English, for the throwing down and destroying of Religion. our good God,For their own private interests. for the Good old Cause, andTheir fellow Traytors. for the good people of this Nation; to whom we do mostAs unfeignedly as they have made all the rest of their protestations. unfeignedly present these justThey are still fixt in their resolutions to do mischief. intendments we are fixt upon.

And we likewise return mostThat is, full of insincerity. sincere thanks to theThe Abetters in their w [...]k­ed designs. honest people of this Nation, especial­ly to ourThat is, Cobling Friends, as Hewson and others. Cordial Friends in this City, and the places adjacent, for their manyWhoever yet did any acti­on how desperate or perniti­ous soever it was, that were without exhortations and encouragements from those of their own opinions. good exhortations, and the great encouragement we have had from them in these our proceedings.

And truely we hope the Lord willThat is, so far as he intends to use them is instruments to punish this Nation for their sins. bless ourTo do mischief. real endeavours in these ourIn English, unhonest. honest principles; for we are not only desirous to [Page 7] In English, to rebel ag [...] their Lawful superiour, who (they fear) will bring them to condign punishment for their offences. destroy any Arbitrary power that shall oppose us herein, but likewise to beThat is, faithful Brethren in Iniqui­ty. unanimous for a present applying of our selves to the performance of that we do declare. And we desire to make these ourWhich is their shame, and in the end will prove their confusion. purposes apparent, hoping that the good people of this Nation will with serious heartsThat is, joyn together against them. join with us, as they have begun; and do not question but those to whom we have access will faithfully own us, and give us incouragement in the same.

ThesePharisaical-like applaud their own wayes, how repug­nant soever they be to the word of God. honest Resolutions of ours we thought fit toThat the World may see their knavery. declare to the good people of this Nation, not doubting but that they will own, and stand by us, as long as we stand for the Good old Cause▪ (Which if they do expect, and seriously desire, as they do here pretend, let them speedily forsake their wicked designs, and unfeignedly turn to the Lord with their whole hearts, and obey the word of God which sayeth, Let every Soul be subject to the higher powers, for their is no power but of God, and the powers that be, are or­dained of God: whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. desiring the Lord to own us all, and to bring us to the wished effects of our Spi­ritual and Temporal desires, for the publick good of the Common-wealth; and in the end to eter­nallize us in the blessed union and fellowship of himself in glory, is the hearty prayer and desire of all the Honest and Faithful Souldiers in the Army.