BEhold, to obey is better than sacrifice; and to hearken, is better than the fat of Rams. Listen therefore, and encline your Ear, be attentive, and read without preju­dice: For the Righteous God hath laid it upon me, once more to Warn the Men in Authority, the Rulers of this Nati­on; even from him that fits upon the Throne, to the infe­rior Governors of the people, that they cease from their iniquities, and fear the living God.

Know ye therefore, large hath the love of God been towards you, and with wonderful loving-kindness hath he visited you; his patience verily is beyond expression; for your iniquities have highly provoked him: How [Page 2]many Warnings hath he given you, all which hitherto have been but little regarded by you? O let his righte­ous Witness in all your Consciences arise, and it will te­stifie the wonderful Mercies of your Maker towards you. Have you answered the End and Requirings of the Lord from you, in his Overturning your Enemies for you, and thus setling the Government of the Nations upon you? Came you not in without any Conquest? Can you justly glory in your own strength, that it was your own Arm that hath done this for you? Was it your own Valour that vanquished your enemies? Or is it not the hand of the Lord that hath thus exalted you, and aba­sed them that had the Government before you? I say, Have you answered the Requirings of the Lord? Let his Witness be awakened, and arise in all your consciences, and answer to me. Did he lay no injunction upon you when his heart was enclined to exalt you? Did he not enjoin you to amendment of Life, to shew mercy, to glorifie your Maker, to be Patterns of Piety, and good Examples to the People; to let Mercy, Truth and Righteousness live amongst you, and be exercised by you towards the people who are now fallen under you; to shew favour to the Righte­ous, to help the helpless, and to remedie the wrongs of the poor and needy; to suppress Vice and Vanity in Court, City and Countrey; to be a terror to evil doers, and a praise and en­couragement unto them that do well? And have none of you in the time of your distress promised to the Lord the per­formance of these things? Did the Lord (I say) set you upon the Throne, and thus restore you to outward Dignity, when you seemed to be going down into the place of forgetfulness, when you had little hopes to have such a Day without a secret enjoining to these things? Did he give you the desire of your hearts, onely to be revenged of your Enemies, and to aggravate and multiply the mise­ries of his People? If his Witness were awakened in your Consciences, surely you would say, Let God be justified, and sinful man condemned?

Oh my Friends, how haue you trifled away God's pre­cious time, and your own Deliverance! How hath Vice and Vanity abounded in the Nation since the Day of your Exaltation in England? Does not Iniquity, Pride and Luxury Lord it amongst you both in Court, City and Coun­trey, with an impudent forehead? Is not Prophaneness coun­tenanced by you? Are not the wicked and ungodly had in estimation with you? Do not the unrighteous boast in your strength? And hath not your Horn exalted them through­out the Nation? Are not the Merchants of Babylon grown familiar with you, and the Sons of Belial advanced by you? Or is there any people receive such favour from you as the Rotten Interest, who are now indulged by you? What's become of Sion? Are you acquainted with her? Do you minister true comfort to her? Is she advanced or discountenan­ced in your Court and the Kingdom? Are you true Subjects to Sion's King? Rules he as Caesar in the Kingdom of your hearts? Do you know Him, and pay Tribute to Him? Do you ob­serve His Laws, Statutes and Ordinances? Do you own His Light in all your Consciences to be your Leader, Judge and Lawgiver? Oh happy were England had she such a King, and happy were Englands King had he such Counsellors?

But alas! alas! Sion is in the Dust, and no man regards her; her Enemies now seem to be too many for her, and make themselves merry over her: They who should be as Nursing-Fathers to her, withdraw their affections from her; she sits weeping in the House of Mourning, for the misery that is coming upon this People; while the drun­kards of Ephraim tunn themselves with Wine, and intoxi­cate their Brains with strong Drink; and the greedy She­pherds devour the silly Flock, and the lustful ones love to have it so; while the Priest and People conspire together against the Lord and his Annointed Jewels, to stop the Mouth of Truth, and fill their prisons with innocent peo­ple; yet can they not center here, Mordecai's Seed is a great Mote in the Devils Dish, which the old Dragon seeks to devour by some unrighteous Decree from Caesar: For the [Page 4]Crown they count sure of their fide, and that's the top­stone of Egypts strength. To the Refuge of Lyes they now betake themselves, and by their Majestical Craft do abuse both their Prince and the Countrey, Cum Privilegio, and all for want of a good Understanding.

For would but Caesar and his Council stop their Ear to their Trencher-Chaplains, and the alluring inchantments of such devouring Monsters, who seek to subvert and mur­ther the Innocent: I say, would but the King and his Council once be perswaded to come into calmness, and take counsel of God's ORACLE, the Light in their Con­sciences, and by it be guided, how soon would the dark, misty Fogs of Egypt and her Magicians, be dispel'd, and driven back into the bottomless pit. No croaking Frogs durst then come forth to abuse the Honor of a Prince; nor wound his Reputation, by enticing him to Cruelty; nor scrue his Prerogative above the Peoples Tranquility: For the End of all Government appointed by God, next to his Glory, is the good of the People Salus Populi Suprema Lex.. For the great God of Hea­ven and Earth so loved the world, that he sent his Son a Light into the world, not to destroy mens lives, but to save them; yet to punish the evil-doer according to the nature of his Crime, but not with Imprisonment, Death or Banishment for every small offence, much less for that wch is no offence at all.

For what ever is not Malum in se, an evil in it self, ought rather to be indulged, than so severely punished. For a man to be covered with his Hat before Authority, is no evil in it self, though falsely so counted by the evil ambi­tious one; nor for a man to be honestly imployed upon your Popish Festival dayes, is not sinful or evil in it self, though sinners rashly so judge it, and wrongfully impri­son the Righteous for bearing their Testimony against it. Nor is the Conscientious refusing of an Oath, an Evil in it self; for Christ the Oath of God expresly commandeth, Swear not at all, and therefore it is (must of necessity be) an evil in him that punishes the Innocent for not violating [Page 5]the Law of God, with imprisonment [at pleasute] and lose of Estate. Far be it from the Sons of Innocency to Plott or Confederate against the Person of a Prince; and as far be it from them by stooping to the Will of Man, to violate the Law of the Living God; and it should be far from the Prince to punish such a People for not transgressing the Com­mand of Christ. And did not our Adversaries answer us with more rashness, rage and raw Arguments, than good rea­soning, concerning our not Swearing, if Sic volo sic jubeo, stet pro ratione voluntas, were not too predominant with them, we should not in that particular receive such hard mea­sure from them.

Man placed in Authority, should Rule for God, and ought to have his Eye within his Head, his minde (I mean) staid upon the Light of Israel, God's Witness pla­ced in his Soul, and read and meditate in that Book day and night, even all the dayes of his life: And this is not durus sermo, a hard saying, but a well-doing. This was that made David honourable, and a man after God's own heart, and Solomon his Son, the wisest King that ever sate upon a Throne.

O that England's King and his Council would summo co­natu, seek after true Wisdom, which if any man want, let him ask it of God; the way to find it, is to beg for it, of him alone who hath the disposal of it; the King of Da­vid, the God of Solomon, who dwells in the Light, which enlightens every man that comes into the world: His Wisdom is to be prized more than Gold, she is of more worth to a Prince than Pearls or Rubies; Cabinets of Jewels are not to be compared to her, and glistering Diamonds come too short of her; the Tongue of Men and Angels can­not sufficiently commend her; the High and Lofty are not worthy of her: 'Tis the Sons of Innocency that have Right unto her, and the Children of the Day that are ador­ned by her: Rough Esau's Birth is a stranger to her, and must not have the Honor to be acquainted with her; that brood for a mess of Pottage would sell their Birt-right, [Page 6]and abandon her: 'Tis onely smooth Jacob, or Valiant Is­rael who wrestles with his God, as a Prince (who in his heart affects her, and fixes the delight of his soul upon her, and as the Jewel of his God does honour her) that is worthy of her: On him must the blessing come.

And have not England's King and his Senators need of such a Counsellor? Is not this WISDOM worthy to be inquired of by them? Or are they wise enough to do wel without her? The Wisdom of this World is not to be compared unto her.

For know this from the Lord, never had King more need of wise Councel, nor such a Council more need of a wise King, then you have at this season. Alas poor Mortals! whither are you posting in the dark? Hold in the Reins, and curb those pamper'd Steeds that carry you so swiftly (as it were on the wings of the wind) down into the Gulf of endless misery. Stop poor men; dis­mount, dismount, ride on no further; repose your selves, and deliberate a little season; see if you can come to a [Page 7]a little Rest; Retire your selves within, come into your Bed-Chamber; commune with your own hearts, and be still: Li­sten, and incline your ear to that still Voice of the Righte­ous God, that gently calls upon you in your Consciences, and counsels you to shew mercy, and use moderation, that reproves for sin in the heart. Come I say, to the Cross of Christ, O ye Great Council of the Kingdom, and all that are in Autho­rity in this Nation, and know a bridle to your Lusts: Learn of the Lamb of God, and of his Light which he hath placed in your Consciences) to be meek and lowly; let your minds sink down unto, and center in the Seed of Life, which lies low in you all, that Babe of Glory who lies in the Manger, and all this time hath had no room in the Inne. Mind (I say) the breathings of that Innocent Babe within you; observe the sweet sound of his Voice who never sinn'd, who yet calmly reproves you when you sin against him; obey his com­mand; his yoake is easie, and his burthen light; he will counsel you to part with nothing that is worth your possessing; Vice and Vanity, with all manner of iniquity and lust, are loathsome to him, for these he is angry with you; yet in the Light he is willing to be reconciled to you: Lo, how he calls upon you in his love, and shews pity towards you: Ah how like a tender Father does he bear with you! How long hath his Mercy spared you! How unwilling is he to enter into judgement with you, would you but turn unto him at his reproof! Nothing will he require of you, but what would be ex­ceeding good for you, (which indeed is a duty sies upon you, and were you but willing, he would give you Power to per­form) to honour him that made you, by believing and walking in the Light. Believe in him who in the secret of your hearts lets you see when you are entering into, or have committed any sin, or are hatching mischief in your hearts against the Innocent; Believe that Voice to be the Voice of God, the Light in your Consciences, and give up your selves unto it, and be guided by it; Keep friendship with it; Forsake all that which is reproved by it, and follow the Light whither­soever it leads you; if it lead you through the Cross to your carnal minds, out of sin, out of mire and dirt into the path [Page 8]of purity and holiness; out of Passion, into Patience; out of Pride, into true Humility; out of Hatred, into hearty Love: (O blessed Change, if you were willing to be changed by it!) out of Revenge, to a free forgiveness; out of Folly or Worldly Wit, into Divine Wisdom: Who would not go after such a Guide! Who would not serve such a Noble Lord, that sends not his servant upon any service by himself alone, but goes alongwth him, or rather before him, and is a Guide unto him! What he commands him to do, he onely requires the heart, a willing mind, and does the thing himself, or gives power to perform it. Such a Lord is Israel's God; all the gods of the Heathen are not to be compared unto him. He calls, My Son, give me thy heart; and, Come unto me all yee that are weary and heavy laden with the load of your iniquities, and I will give you ease. O Golden Promise of a gracious God! which he freely performs to all his people: To as many as receive him, (and believe in him, and are willing to be guided by him, to leave Lust, and walk in the Light, which makes war against it) he gives pow­er to become the sons of God; [mark] to these he gives power to become the Sons of God. O bountiful God! O merciful King of Saints! worthy of all Honour, Glory, and everlasting Prai­ses: Thou gives power to those that have rebelled against Thee, and have been Traytors to Thee, to be at peace with Thee, to be reconciled to thee, and receive pardon from thee; yea, to become thy Children upon their submission to thee: 'Tis thou Righteous God, works all our good works for us, and in us, and then accep­test of thine own. Here is a pattern for all Princes and great ones to forgive your Enemies. O! let Revenge live no longer in you, but be buried in the grave of eternal forgetfulness; Let the Immortal Witness of God arise in the Court of your Con­science, that Love and Innocency may live, and the contrary Nature dye.

'Tis time, yea high time for every Individual of you to turn your minds to God's gracious Gift, his Light in your Consciences, that all Arbitrary Power and Oppression may be turned out of your hearts, that bitterness of spirit may no longer live, or burn in your breasts. O beware, beware of [Page 9]the Spirit of Revenge, and down with all Idolatry, and Idola­trous Superstition; for Dagon cannot, nor must not stand before the Ark of God. O come to the Grace of God in your own particulars, you that are the Council to Englands King, & you inferior Officers; come I say, & receive the wholesom Instructions of that Divine ORACLE of God in your Consci­ences which brings Salvation with it (to all that are willing to be saved by it, and love the Light better than their Lust) which beats down the Devil's Kingdom, and teaches, and will teach you (be you but willing to be taught by it) to de­ny ungodliness and all worldly lusts, Pride, Arrogancy, Scorn, Frowardness, Covetousness, vain-idle-talk, Drunkenness, Swear­ing, Passion, Cruelty, Luxury, and all Superfluity of Naughti­ness, Revenge, Hatred, Malice; these are all Ungodliness, and makes that man who lives in the commitment of them, unlike to God. You being willing to bear the Reproof of the Lord for these, and what other sins your hearts are ad­dicted to, and in love withall; you being willing to part with these Whorish Lovers, base Lusts, who have stoln away your hearts, and separated you from your God; the Light of God in your Consciences which testifies against these things that they are evil, will beget in you a dislike and loathing of all these filthy noysome lusts which defile the soul, because they grieve the Holy Spirit of the Righteous God; & then you wil see every sin (as it is) to be ugly; Pride to be an Evil Seed, which the Enemy hath sown in the heart; Riotousness, Luxu­ry, Lust, Revenge, Swearing, Drunkenness, and the like, to be all fruits of the Devil's begetting, generated in the heart of man in the time of darkness and ignorance: Then shall you see the wrath of God due to that Nature which delights to wallow in such miry wickedness; so shall you come to know the holy Fear planted within you, that when the Tempter comes to assault you, he cannot enter upon you. The faith­ful Souldier and follower of the Lamb is kept upon his Watch; he sees the Thief comes to rob and steal the heart from the Lord, but consents not to the Thief, but resists the Temp­ter, who then flies from him; He dares not do such a wicked­ness, [Page 10]and sin against his God. This would be a blessed Condi­tion, and happy are all they that are found therein.

And verily my friends, it is high time that you meet the Lord by unfeigned Repentance, and forsaking of your sins; for his wrath is kindled against you, because your hearts are not right before the Lord. How long, Ah how long have you sought to hide your Counsels from the Lord, and to beguile the Children of the Light, and deceive the Simple with fair sugred words, when the poison of Asps hath been under your tongue! but the Sons of Wisdom, the true Children of the Day have not been deceived by you.

Think you the Lord is well pleased with you? Can you be perswaded that he sees you not, or that he reveals not your vanity and subtilty to his Seed? Or do you believe that he winks at your wickedness, and will not visit for all your iniquity? O be not so foolish and unwise; for verily such as you sow, such shall you reap; and if you persist in your obstinacy against the Lord, and withstand the Day of your Visitation; if you will still run on in the race of ini­quity, and cast the Testimony of his Law-behind you; if you will let your minds still pursue the pleasures of this world, and prefer the transitory things of this life before your souls Peace; if you will count worldly gain to be godliness; if you will speak smooth things to your King, de­ceitfully, and counsel him to rejoice and make merry over God's Witness in his Conscience, as if he should never come to judgement; if you will lend your ear to the Charming Sorceries of the Hireling Priests, the English Rabbies, who now are doting upon Romes Trash and Trumperies, who preach for Hire, and Divine for Money, and Proyhesie lyes unto the people; who chiefly seek for their gain from their quarter, and greedily hunt for the Golden Fleece, but profit not the Flock, but leave them as they found them, (if not worse) ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth; if you will make Covenant with Death, and confe­derate with Amaleck in his cruel Conspiracy against the In­nocent; If you will be one with Haman in helping the wick­ed [Page 11]one to obtain the help of Caesar against the Helpless; if you will involve your selves into that cursed League, and bind your selves (as it were) with an Oath against the Inno­cent; if you will be on the Serpent's side against the Seed of the Woman, and strengthen the hands of the bloody She­pherds who seek to devour and woory Christ's sheep; if you will give your Power to the false Prophet, and let him ride upon you, and make you his Vassels to afflict and torment the Innocent; if instead of helping the Woman against the Dragon, who is now casting out the Floods of his Wrath and Mischief against the Lambs of Christ, and help the old Dragon to cast the harmless into nasty Holes, Caves and Prisons; If you will not quit your selves like men of Ho­nour, and shew your selves to be of a good understanding, fearing God, and hating Cruelty; If you will not look into the Royal Law of God, and do to us and all men, as you would have us and all men do to you: But if you will suffer us to fall into the hands of our Enemies, whose very mercies are cru­elties, and you stand by, and rejoice at our Calamity: If you will not while you have Power, be a bridle to the Wicked, nor Rebuke this Exalted Spirit that seeks to Raise and En­rich it self in the Ruines of the Lord's People, but give your Consent and Countenance to the Wicked in their Cruelties against us; if you will stop your ears at the cry of the Righteous, and suffer our Adversaries to oppress us all the day long, and plow great furrows upon our backs, and make our Afflictions grievous to be born.

Then know this assuredly, The Lord will remember the afflictions of Joseph; and though our Brethren sell us into the hands of the Aegyptians, and intend our utter Ruine; though you and they in your secret Contrivances and Ima­ginations devise mischief in your Beds against us, yet the Righteous God will not forsake us, he will stand by us in all our Troubles, and his blessing upon us, his presence with us, his comfort to us, nor you, nor any Mortal can take from us. In all our sufferings he is, and will be with us, and in his due time he will work Deliverance for us, and in the [Page 12]mean he will support us in all our Tribulations, he will fill our hearts with joy, when the hearts of the wicked shall faile them; he cannot forsake his own: He will fill us with Divine Wisdom, and give us Courage to bear all the Wrongs and Injuries which the Wicked shall be suffered to lay upon us; He will Arm us sufficiently with his Patience, and give us such Spiritual Weapons as shall wound the Head and Heart of the Wicked: The innocency of our Sufferings shall kindle a Fire in the Hearts of our Adversaries, that shall burn like an Oven, and shall not be quenched.

The more you strive to suppress the Truth by persecu­ting those who live in it, the more shall Truth prevail and prosper: And if you should seeke to fill all the Prisons in the Nation with us, or to take away that from us, which is not dear unto us, if the God of our Life require it of us; For We, our Life, our Goods, our All, is freely given up unto our God when he requires them of us. We can in his Strength glory over your Weakness, and in the hight of your Fury we fear you not: We know him to be with us, who is greater than he that is against us, and He will not faile us in the time of our greatest need.

That way you think to Raise your selves, and Ruine us, shall be the Ruine of your selves; that very Way shall Deliverance come out of Sion to the Captive SEED. For alas poor men! you strive not onely against us, but you contend against your Maker; the God of Israel is en­gaged with us, he Fights our Battels for us; for he is within us, then why should we fear what man can do against us? Did ever any of Cain's Brood (you are no better who ere ye be, if you join with the Beast and false Prophet against the Lamb) prosper long in their afflicting of God's People? Why should you wilfully throw away the Mercies of your Maker? Are you able to contend with him? Or did ever any strive against him, that were not broken and confoun­ded by him?

If you can pluck God Omnipotent & Eternal from his Throne, [Page 13]and raze his Witness out of your own hearts, & utterly extin­guish his searching, shining Light in your own, and the Peoples Consciences; Then may you go on in your persecuting of the Saints, and challenge the Peace of God to be your Portion: But if not, What is Man that he should Vye thus with his Maker? Therefore be perswaded yet while the Light of God does shine in your hearts, to be guided by it; least for your disobedience to it, the Lord God Omnipotent, the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah, (who now suffers as a Lamb within you) Arise in his fury, and put on Strength; If he Roar out of Sion, he wil make all the Beasts in the Field to Tremble, he will be dreadful to the Wicked. If you persist in your Impenitency, Cruelty and hard heartedness, and seek to dye your selves in the Blood of the Innocent—Then Know this assuredly from the Lord, The Righteous God will visit you for your Iniquity, the Blood-thirsty Men shall not live out half their dayes: A short work will the Lord make in the Earth; Vengeance, Vengeance from the Lord God, shall speedily overtake you, though we forgive you, and never lift up a hand against you, The Dreadful God in his Terrible Wrath. will be avenged on you, you shall all surely surely perish, both YOU and your KING.

O that Men would yet let the Fear of God take place in their hearts, it would Deliver them out of the Snares of the Cunning Hunter, who continually goes about like a Roar­ing Lyon, seeking whom he may devour. O that men would once learn to be wise, and cease from their Worldly Wis­dom, and seek after God's pure Wisdome, which is only found and obtained in the Light. Surely they might do wel to take heed unto his Light which shines in their hearts, which secretly reproves all the Deeds of Darknesse, And would draw them from Iniquity unto Holiness; from Pride, into pure Humility; and from under the Power of Satan, unto God: But this is the Misery and Condemnation of the [Page 14]World, That Light is come into the world, and men love Dark­ness rather than Light, because their Deeds are evil. 'Tis but now, as it was ever; The Seed of the Serpent cannot love, or be at peace with the Seed of Life; for Truth ever bears its Testimony against the World, That the Wayes, Customs, Wor­ship and Traditions thereof, are evil: And that's the reason why the Heathens rage, and the cause of the Enmity be­tween the two Seeds, even from the time of Righteous A­bel, to this day. Search the Scriptures, and there you may find plentiful proof of this true Assertion.

Never did the Light of the Gospel since the Primitive Times, shine in more purity than now it does. Never had the Lord a people since the dayes of the Apostles, who walked more innocently and inoffensively as to God and Man, than he hath raised up, and manifested in this Ge­neration; And never did any people, who made so large a Profession of God and Godliness, as the Priests and Profes­sors do at this day, that ever manifested more Enmity, Ma­lice and Opposition against the Innocent for the Hat and Knee, Thee and Thou, and such like things, than these men do at this day. Oh wonderful! That men who pretend to such a hight of Profession, should be so dark, so sottish, and have so little understanding in the Mysteries of God's King­dom, at this time of the Day, when Truth hath gained so much ground in the Nation, as all the strength of Anti­christ shall not be able to recover one foot thereof from the Lamb and his true Followers in the Warfare against the Beast. Oh! I am wounded, I am wounded to see the Wickedness of the Wicked, to see the Beast and false Pro­phet boast it self in its own strength, and thus triumphing­ly exalt his Horn against the Heritage of God, and vaunt as if he were not to be moved; to see the undermining subtil­ty of the old Serpent, seeking the Lives of all the Inno­cents in these Nations, onely because Truth cannot feed Deceit, nor put into the Mouth of the false Prophet, but reproves sin in the Gate, and makes Spiritual War against the Man of Sin; because in the living Power and Authority [Page 15]of the Eternal God, it reproves Pride, Covetousness, Lust Wantonness, Swearing, Revenge, and makes war against the Drunkards of Ephraim: Because it upholds not the Devil's Kingdom for term of life, but preaches up the Hope of Glory, the Power of the Living God in his People to be all-sufficient to destroy and put an end to the Divels works; this makes the Divels roar, and increases the rage of Anti­christ and his Adherents against the followers of the Lamb, and makes the Brats of Pride gnaw their very tongues for Madness, because the Sons of Meekness dare not in awe to God bow to that exalted Spirit, or feed the Beast with flat­tering titles.

Tell me you that are well read in Histories, if ever you found any Pagans or Christians (so termed) since the foun­dation of the world, that ever persecuted an Innocent people for wearing their upper Garment, which God hath given them to be a Covering for their Head; and for using the Lan­guage, which Christ, the lip of Truth, and all his Lambs ever used one to another; yea, which all Nations under the Heaven, in the Rudiments of Teaching, use for a Foundation. O that men should be so void of the Fear and Dread of the Living God, as to suffer their hearts to be so filled with fury against the harmless Flock, who lifts not up a carnal wea­pon against their enemies! What is your meaning to hatch this Mischief against them, thus earnestly, to feek so subtilly to destroy them.

What evil, Ah! what evil (O thou Enemy to the righ­teous God) do'st thou know by his Lambs. In the fear of the Lord I challenge thee to declare it to them, if thou canst, either in Doctrine, Life, or Conversation. How often have thy dreaming Priests attempted to impeach the one, and the Serpents eye watched over them for the other. And how often have they been foiled, and their eies even failed and grown dim, and wearied themselves with their watching for our halting; How hath the righteous God confounded their wisdom, and driven it backward, and [Page 16]powred shame and contempt upon them for their portion. How many have perished in their foolish expectation of the Fall of the Righteous! How often, yea how wonderfully hath the Lord stopt the mouths of these greedy dumb dogs, who never have enough, and silenced both Priest and Peo­ple, Professors and Prosane, even by his Babes and Suck­lings, who are nourisht at the breasts of his consolation, and drink at the water of life freely, and can now no longer like foolish children dabble in the dirty Pools of the pollu­ted Priests of the Nation, nor buy their lying merchandizes any more. So that now for want of just matter of accusa­tion against them, they are fain to flye to their old Refuge of Lyes, subtil Inventions, false Accusations, to ensnare the Innocent touching the things of their God, wherein the Serpent knows they dare not violate the Law of their God in the least, or act the Hypocrite's part, to save his Head, and lose his Soul: And therefore they run to their rotten Laws Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, Oath of Abjuration., never constituted by God, nor approved of by Man who lives in his fear, to be a Snare to the honest-hearted: And would but you Rulers of this Nation do to these Innocent Ones, as you could have all men do to you, the persecuting Seed would not for these things harm one Saint. But the Will of the righ­teous God is worthy to be done, who in his due time will sweep away the Refuge of Lyes, which the Wicked one fa­thers upon Christ's Flock.

Hast not thou O ENGLAND, in the time of thy late Troubles, had large Experience of the Innocency of these People? Have they ever had a hand in any Plots or Con­spiracies against thy Governors? (though often falsly accused:) Let God's Witness arise, and it vvill give in true Evidence on the behalf of the Innocent; for I bear them record in the Name of the Lord, They are a harmless and a peaceable People, (those called QUAKERS, vvho live in [Page 17]the life of Truth professed by them) and seeks not the life of any, nor desires any harm in their hearts to their very Enemies:

They cannot confederate, nor never could (since they came into the life of the Lamb) with this or that part a­gainst any Government; but were ever counted as Sheep for the Slaughter, and many of them have deeply suffered for Conscience-sake; as is sufficiently known to many thousands in the Nation; but more now of late than ever.

O England! England! Art thou so drunk with Ini­quity, so blinded with mad Zeal, Art thou grown so fond of Romish Trumperies, that thou wilt needs quarrel and fall out with thy surest friends, and not be satisfied without the blood of the Innocent? I bear them record, they are the choicest, the very best of thy real Friends, and the purest Gold that is current in thy Kingdom.

Canst thou not bear with the tenderness of their Consciences? There is not a people in the Nation (I am bold to speak it) that would so freely give to­leration to tender Consciences, as they would do: Thou allowest some Grains (I well know) to thy Gold; and why not a little lawful Liberty to a truly tender Conscience? Why wilt thou offer to urge an Oath upon them? God's Witness in all Consci­ences knows their yea and nay is as binding unto them, as all the Oaths and Bonds of the best of thy Inhabitants beside them. And why dost thou, O Supream Power, imprison, or suffer any to be impri­soned or disquieted for working in their Calling up­on those called Saints dayes? Is this the Toleration thou intendest to allow to tender Consciences? O! [Page 18]What's become of the Word of a King?

And tell me now, O ye men in Authority, and all sober-minded people, if Passion be down, and Pre­iudice removed: What is that O man, in thee (what­soever thou art) high or low, rich or poor, that is offended because the honest-hearted bows not with his body to it, or stands not bare without his Hat before it? Or frets and fumes like a Fool, or a Fel­low new come out of Bedlam, if a man do but speak proper English to him, Thee or Thou to a single per­son?

Is it the Babe of Humility, or the Seed of Pride that is so soon puft up into passion, that sometimes to an affectionate kind word, it answers discourte­ously with blows or buffetings?

Oh England! England! When wilt thou come in­to the Humility? When will thy Malice cease against the Innocent, and thy surious folly finde an end? When wilt thou leave persecuting thy own Bowels?

Not so long as the Beast and false Prophet have Dominion over thee; not till the Righteous God a­waken thee with his Judgements: And verily O England, 'tis time that thy Governors knew, thou ripens fast, thou art fattening for Destruction, while thou licks up that which formerly thou vomited, and canst now conform (though with gripings in thy Conscience) to Popery and Popish Prelates, and per­secute the Saints in Prison for not submitting to thy Popish Festivals.

Oh whither are you wheeling, you great Counsel­lors of the Kingdom! O England, England! wouldst [Page 19]thou not even drink the very dregs of Popery, if the Lord would try thee? But he hath a Cup for thee to drink, which will awaken thee, he hath Arrows in his Quiver that will wound thee to the heart, and lay thy persecuting Head-pieces in the Dust, though the Innocent lift not a hand against them.

The Righteous God will plead the Cause of his People, he will suddenly smite the stiff-necked and stout-hearted, that say of his Son, the Light of the World, Nolumus hunc Regnare, we will not have this man to Rule over us; He will make the fat Bulls of Ba­shan Roar; he will make the Beast feeble in his si­news, yea as weak as water.

Down goes the Beast and the blind Guides toge­ther, & they that are willing to be deluded by them, who make war against the Innocent: An irrecover­able wound shall the Wicked receive, and then shall they know the evil they have done in outstanding the day of their Visitation, and helping on the miseries and afflictions of God's People.