To OLIVER CROMWEL Protector, THESE. Friend, The Burden of the Lord upon me, for thee, is great, and the weight thereof heavy: Therefore in the Fear of God hear and consider, for it doth concern thee.

ART thou still asleep? Are thine eyes yet closed? and thine ears stopped? Will nothing awa­ken thee? Perceivest thou not that the pre­sence of the Lord is departed from thee, and Wisdom from thy Counsels, and Spirit from thy men of War, and success from thine un­dertakings; and the fear of thee (that was once) from off the Nations? and the Magnificence and State of England, which whilst the Lord was with it, stood with dread & terror over the Kingdoms round about, sinking down, and falling, languishing, and crumbling into the Dust? How have the Men of England, who have been as strong and fierce as Lions, as swift as Leo­pards, [Page 2] whom nothing could overcome whilst their Rock was with them, Hispaniola. See the brief and perfe [...] Journal. &c. by I. S. an Eye witness, where it is related how the English Ar­my consisting of some thousands, fled before Fifty poor Spaniards, and could not be made to stand, no not so much as with their Major Gen. Heane, though he besought them for God sake; but left him alone to sacrifice his life among the thickest of his Enemies, which he then did, who slew him, and six hundred of the English, (besides two hundred which crept into Bushes, and were left behind in the woods, whom the Negroes and M [...] ­lattoes soon after dispatched) and wound­ded near Three hundred, most of the ex­ecutions being done in the back parts; and so returned weary with their slaugh­terings, and laden with their Victory, to their Town of Domingo, of which, seven English Colours which they carryed with them, were the sure Trophies. A plain demonstration what men are when God forsakes them. fallen in the Day of Bat­tle? At the rebuke of one, (as it were) how have a Thousand of them fled? And at the rebuke of a few, how have Thou­sands been put to flight, and the Carcas­ses of many hundreds fallen to the ground? The children of Ephraim being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of Battel? How heavily drives on thy expensive and great expeditions at Sea? How vain and fruitless are they in their enterprises upon a Spain. Nation whom thou hast disdained, who were in a man­ner at the soles of thy feet, whom thou thoughtst to have swallowed up quick, and their power and glory to have weigh­ed down in One day, who now defie thee, and thy strength, and with no charge (in comparison) walk up and down smiling, and as secure in their habitati­ons, whilst thou emptiest thy Treasures, and weariest out thy Fleets, without ef­fecting upon them any considerable damage? How are the Peo­ple of this Nation, who were wont to run readily under thy Conduct, & even rejoyced to hear of a Forreign Expedition, es­pecially against the Spaniard, whom they always chastised, as they did of late Master down the Mightiest The United Provinces Fleets. Powers of the world at Sea, even then when they were but newly come out of a long and sore intestine War, now become dead at the heart, lumps of flesh, and averse to War? How are the robbings and spoilings of the Merchants at their own doors, by an inconsiderable peo­ple crawled out of a Dunkirk. Hole of the Earth, from whom thy Fleets have not secured them, exceeded in a short time all that they suffered throughout the Dutch Engagements; and when some of thine have attached them, how have those uncircumcised come off with advantage, and over the English Captives have they not insulted and vaunted, Of what Nation are ye? Ye are not English men; ye are not the People who fought with the Dutch. [Page 3] The See the King of Spain's De­claration of the VVar. Subjects of the King of Spain beat them off. How doth this once contemned Enemy distress thy Counsels, provoke thee to anger, and put thee to it, how to engage them? How do thy Taxes continue, and Trade decay, and the hearts of thy old Friends draw from thee, and thine Enemies hate and watch thee mischief, and thirst after thy destruction? And of what sort of people can thy calm and most weighty thoughts give thee assurance of their standing by thee, should affliction from the Lord arise up against thee? Then thou wilt see the Guard gone, the Fence removed, the Presence withdrawn, thy Horses flesh, and not spirit; thy men shadows, thy strength to sit still.

Was it wont thus to be with thee? Did thy Sword (till of late) ever return empty from the blood of the slain, and the spoil of the Mighty? Could the spirit that was risen up against the Lord in these three Nations, and the Dominions thereunto ap­pertaining, stand before thee? Was ever any thing too hard for thee? Missedst thou in thy Counsels at any time? What e­ver thou didst put forth thine hand to do, was it not brought to pass? Was not Wisdom with thee, and Counsel as the Oracles of God? Of a little despised one, becamest thou not as the Army of God? At thy feet did not the proudest enemy fall down and bow? Didst not thou come upon Princes as upon Morter, and as the Petter treadeth the Clay? Were not the hearts of honest men knit to thee as one man? Was any thing so great that they could not entrust thee with? Was any thing so dear that they were not ready to lay down for thy sake? did they sigh at any time at the remembrance of thee? Did their faces wax pale, confound­ed, or covered? Or, was not the remembrance of thee to them sweet and pleasant, as the dew upon the tender Herb, as life from the dead, as of him that took off the yoke on their Jaws, that remo­ved the burthen from off the shoulder, that relieved the oppressed, that delivered the poor from him that was too strong for him? Wast not thou a dread and terror to the world abroad? Was it ever so with man in these later Generations, as it was with thee whilst God was with thee, whilst the Rock had not forsaken thee? Is it not time for thee to consider, and lay to heart? How canst thou sleep? How canst thou suffer thine eye-lids to give thee any slumber, whilest it is thus with thee? Be still therefore, and cool, and let the witness of God in thee, search and try thee, and hear thou what it saith in this thing.

Did not the Lord hear the groans of those who suffered be­cause of their Consciences in the dayes of the Bishops? Pull'd he not up that generation in his anger? Swept he not away the Powers that supported them, in his sore displeasure, though of many hundred years standing? And when the same spirit a­rose more exceeding fierce in another form, viz. of Presbytery, thereby taking in to the former the Nation of Scotland, and the multitudes of the same Faction in England and Ireland, who suffered by, and opposed it in Episcopacy, and fought against it in Monarchy? Lop't he not down those lofty Boughs with terror? Became he not terrible to the men of high stature? And when at length he had drawn them together as into a pit, braked he not in upon them with a furious blow of horror and amazement? And did he not smite them with a wound incurable, they & their King, and their Nobles; their mighty men of war, their Cap­tains and Counsellors, their Priests and their Officers, their Horses, with those that sate thereon, and their whole strength, leaving their Name an astonishment and a wonder, and a curse unto posterity; giving this later generation in which this spi­rit appeared, onely so much time as to shew what they would do to Us for our consciences, could they have but gotten power in their hands to have brought it to pass.

Was't not Thou one who suffered and groaned in those days? wast not Thou principally hated, despised, and sought to be cut off with the rest of us, then whom, never was a generation more contemned, and scorned, and reproached, and maligned, and thirsted after, to be rooted up from off the face of the Earth, nor more unlikely (as to men) to carry the Day against such Powers of three such Nations? Wast not thou the man who didst bear, as on a common shoulder, the sufferings of the op­pressed for conscience sake, who with thee were appointed to the same destruction? Went not then every such suffering to thine own heart? Felt not th [...]u every one of them on thine own shoulder? Couldst not thou have laid down thy life for one of them? How tender was (then) thine heart? How sounding thy bowels? Therefore flowed not in the hearts of them all to thee? In them and thee, was there not one Spirit, and one heart? For th [...]s cause did not the Lord call thee, and raise thee up to head his Armies? Made he not thee his Sword? Did he not execute [Page 5] by thee, his vengeance upon those Generations? And as thou returnedst laden with Victories in England, Ireland, and Scot­land, was not this the burthen of thy Letters and Declarations to the Parliament and Nation, LIBERTY of CONSCIENCE? Were not thy Speeches in Parliament and Council, and where e­ver thou camest, in the behalf of tender Consciences? Came not it from thee in thy Letters, Declarations, and speeches, with such weight and heaviness, as manifested thee a man pained at the very heart, and in a continued travel of soul for it, and bit­terness of spirit, and as one whose very life was oppressed? Wa­dedst thou not through the Blo [...]d and War, the difficulties and temptation, the hardships and dangers of three such Nations, so divided, and in Factions, with a restless and an unwearied spirit, till it was eased in the total overthrow of the conjoined strength of all those in whom that spirit appeared and acted.

And whilest it was thus with thee, did the Lord ever fail or forsake thee? Or wantedst thou the hearts and hands of the honest men of these Nations? Needed what thou declaredst and spakest (thou) an Interpreter? Was it to them in an unknown Language? Can the generations that are past, produce the like, of the Lord's and his people being with a man, as with Thee? VVas it not thus with thee whilest thy heart was tender, pleading the cause of the Lords Oppressed? and of his Kingdom in the consciences of men, which thou looked it upon as near at hand, and often hast exprest it in word, Declaration, and Letter, to be the design and end of the Lord in the wars, to set it up? Was ever mans words in that day, like thine, in relation here­unto? And was it not thine own observation often, That as a­ny party of men in the Parliament rose up to make Laws against it, and so to limit the spirit of the Lord, it was a sure and certain symptom and fore-runner of their being broken in pieces, and of all that were with them in spirit and assistance. And did not the ob­serving and seeing of this, become strength in thee to oppose them? Did it not carry thee thorough the difficulties that thou knewest thou shouldst meet withall therein, which to outward consideration seemed impossible to be encountered with and over­come? And become it not the over [...]hrown of [...]ll that attempted it? Hast not Thou seen this with thine eye, and compassed it in thine heart, and effected it with Thine hand? Call to minde the [Page 6] former dayes, and let the things that are past, come into thy remem­brance? And since all power was in thine hand, hast thou not See O. C. Speech to the little Parlia­ment in the Council-Cham­ber at VVhite-hall, Iuly 4. 1653. Page 25. exprest thy self that thou thoughtest something was at the door of that good we waited for, that we were at the edge of the promises and prophesies; not vainly looking on that prophesie in Daniel, And the Kingdom shall not be delivered to another people; and saidst, thou didst thank God thou hadst thy hopes exercised in these things: And to make way for that, didst thou not place the ground of the alterations and changes thou hast made? And hast thou not said, That See O P. Speech to the Parliament in the Painted Chamber, Sep. 12. 1654. Pag. 30, 31. Pag. 36, 37. Liberty of Conscience is a natural Right? That it is one of the four Fundamentals of the Government thou hadst set up, as the issue of all these Wars, for which things sake the Powers of the Government were taken up; and might that be secure, thou couldest be contented to lay them down again: But rather then to give thy consent to the wilful throwing away thereof, and that in relation to the good of these Nations and Posterity, thou couldst sooner be willing to be rolled into thy Grave, and buryed with Infamy: That, had it not been for the hopes of Liberty of Conscience, Pag 31. all the Money in the Nation would not have tempted men to fight upon such an account as they have enga­ged; and otherwise to do, was no part of the Contest with the Common Adversary: With much more of the like nature conteined in thy Speeches to the short, and the late Parliament, and to others upon occasion, as full and significant as need to be in such a thing, or can be well expressed.

But hath it proved according to what thou hast so said to those who are come to witness the Seed of the Eternal God rai­sed, & raising up in them, (which is come to, and must reign for ever & ever; to make way for the reign of which, was all the late Wars and battels of Blood?) Hath thine heart and thine actions, (since all Po­wer hath been in thine hand) been towards such as it was be­fore the Wars were ended, or as thou hast since expressed? Are there any that have, and do groan for Liberty of Conscience that suffer because of it in these Dominions? Let the Prisons in most parts of the Nation, the cruel mockings and stonings, and whippings, and beatings, and stockings; the tumults and insurrecti­ons, the finings, and long and sore imprisonments in heat and cold, in hunger and nakedness, shut up from Friends and Relations, and the wholesome air, and conveniences of Livelihood; the inhumane and barbarous usages, without regard to ages or sexes, young or [Page 7] old, children, or the hoary-headed men or women, some of which not fit to be related to modest ears, without mercy, reason, or compassion, declare and speak: together with the filthy dun­geons, & noisome holes, & close vaults, and the spoiling of their goods, with many more sore and cruel sufferings undergone by many hundreds for conscience sake, since, and within the time of thy Rule and Government, who have been as faithful as any, to the Commonwealth, and as much (in their places) have under­gone, and fought for it and Thee; Some for reproving of sin and iniquity in the Streets and Market-places; some for bidding peo­ple fear the Lord; some for giving out a Paper in compassion to the ignorant, directing them the way to Salvation in the words of the Scripture: Some for declaring against Deceit, and witnessing against the changeable Priesthood, (against whom thou hast had a Testimony) as they have been moved of the Lord: Some for that in Conscience they cannot respect the persons of men, nor swear, nor pay Tythes, (which Thou & the Army have so often & long complained of, even to the Parliament, as a sore Grievance, remind­ing them thereof, with other things, by a Petition according (as Thou See O. C. speech to the little Parlia­ment in the Council-Cham­ber at VVhite-hall, Iuly 4. 1653. Pag. 7. saidst) ye thought it was your Duty, who had many desires and thirstings in your Spirits, to find out wayes and means upon your return from the Wars, being fully bent to find out ways & means for the Nation to reap the fruit of all the Blood and Treasure that had been expended in this Cause. And because nothing was done as to the parti­culars in that Petition, but words, thou reckonedst that up a­gainst the Long to the Little Parliament.) Nor pay the unrea­sonable Fees of Jaylors, where they have not offended, nor ac­knowledge themselves transgressors where they are innocent, nor bring themselves under Engagements, who are not their own, nor guided by their own, but by the Spirit of the Lord; nor conform to the Fashions and Customs of the world: Some for coming to visite their Friends and Relations in Prison. Some have been taken out of their peaceable Meetings waiting on the Lord, and cast into Prison; some for having such Meetings in their Houses; some taken up in the Streets as they have passed quietly along, neither saying, nor doing any thing; some out of their Innes and Chambers; some for refusing to take the Oath of Abjuration, out of Conscience to an Oath; some for going about doing good, (as did Jesus of Nazareth, whom God annointed with the Holy Ghost and with [Page 8] power, who so went about all the Cities and Villages) at his Command. The time would fail to instance all the Cases and the Sufferings as to each, a Volume would not contain them: The Presidents of all the Records in this Nation (all things considered) will not paralel them: The ears will tingle of all that hear all that hath been inflicted herein by Judges, Justices, Officers, the rude multi­tude, Jaylors, Thieves and Murtherers, amongst whom they have been numbred and cast, contrary unto, and in the overthrow of Law and Government, wherein, and whereby divers of them have suffered the loss of their lives; and many more had per­ished, but that the life of the Son of God, which they witnessed, and for which they suffered, preserved them alive beyond the possibility of Creature-expectations, haveing lain in prison after the manner aforesaid, some many Months, some a Yeare, some above two years; yea At a Meeting near Northamp­ton, where this was done by order (as was said) of Major Butler, then called a Maj. Gen. & the man whose ground it was where the Meeting was kept, im­prisoned not­withstanding this Trespass upon gim, and outrae. thy Troopers have rod in with their hor­ses upon men and women, as they have been praying on their knees to the Lord in their peaceable Meetings, and violently have pul'd VVilliam Deusbury, a Mi­nister of the everlasting Go­spel. him away, who was speaking to the Lord in Prayer upon his knees a­mongst them, (a cruel unmanliness, never heard of before this thy Day; and on others who are innocent, have thy Souldiers been Miles Mal­head, and Tho­mas Salthouse, at Exeter, &c. long and inhumane Guards, keeping them close Prisoners, and imprisoning those who come to visite them, contrary to all Law, Equity, Justice, and common Humanity; yea, some have had In the North Pistols presented to their mouths, by the Troopers, hall'd out of their Meetings, and with blasphemous dammings have the Troopers sworn that there they should dye if they did not deity their Religion, and some have they The Lord healed the wound mira­culously, as it was made bar­barously. run through the Arm for re­fusing to deny the Lord that bought them.

And of many of these things thou hast not been ignorant, for the Lord, (who delivered thee out of all thy troubles and difficulties, and was thine Arm and Counsellor when thou wast the instrument of his indignation on those who did and would have done some such things as these) hath rising early, moved and sent many of his Servants and Handmaids from most parts of the Nation to thee, Messenger upon Messen­ger, and Testimony upon Testimony, who in his fear and dread have laid many of these things before thee, some in Writings, o­thers by Verbal Declaration; and from his mouth hath he by them often warned thee of his displeasure, and the fury of his [Page 9] jealousie, which is waxing hot against thee, because thereof; yea, thy warnings have exceeded whatever man had before thee, as have thy mercies; And to that of God in thee have some of them reached, and the burthens many of them have born for thee, have been great, and the sounding of their bowels that thou mightest hear, and be deliverered from the wrath which is coming, and hasteneth a-pace; and the long-suffering and patience of the Lord and his people, hath been much to thee, and his compassion not willing that thou shouldest die, but hear and live.

But hast thou heard? Hast thou delivered the poor out of the hands of him who is too strong for him? Hast thou broken the unrigh­teous bonds? Hast thou delivered the prisoner, and eased the oppres­sed? Hast thou been the sword of God upon their oppressors? Or, a Protector of them, who for witnessing of his name suffer wrong? Are the prisons clear? Hath care been taken that the innocent suffer not for conscience sake; as there hath been of speaking and de­claring thereof in the Government? Hath one offender in these cases been made exemplary by thee? Or, hath so much as one cru­el Jailor been by thy order punished? Or, are not these things done, and continued to be done in thy Name, and by thy Authority, and under thy Government? And for thy use are not those Fines imposed? Hath not thy Proclamations gi­ven encouragement for what is done? Hast not thou been told that those who do these things, have said, they have done them by authority from thee and thy Officers? Hast thou taken no­tice thereof, when it hath been so told thee? Wer't thou clear, wouldst thou let it lye upon thee? Do not understanding men know, that if it were not thus with thee, such things dare not to bee done in these Nations? Is it not plain to all that are reasona­ble, that thou, who carriedst it through so many years wars and difficulties even against some of the Powers that ruled, canst surely preserve it now thou hast all Power, and art in peace with­in these Dominions, did that spirit rule thee now, which, for it, carried thee through such warrs and difficulties? Charles Stu­art could have put off from himself the sufferings of the Puri­tans on the Bishops, and have alleged that they were a non-con­formable, factious Generation, who disturbed uniformity in the Nation, & did contrary to the Law; But that would not excuse [Page 10] him, nor his standing still, and looking on, whilst he had power to remedy it, but did not, nor that those Laws were of long standing; nor the dis-affection of the Great men, and Nobles, and Rulers, and Bishops, and Priests, and the generality of the Nation to that way from the Judgement of God, which hath ta­ken hold on Him, and his Children, and his Party, whom he hath made a dreadful example of his vengeance, and that by thy sword as an instrument. But the case between thee and us is o­therwise; no Law have we transgressed, except thou wilt have Maryes Law, which was made for, and guarded the Priests and Jesuits, to stand, and that for treble damages for Tythes. The righteous ends of the Warrs, in which we have born our part in the heat of the day, and thy Speeches and Government, (as hath been said) say otherwise; We have been experienced sufficiently the Common-wealths and thy friends whom no tem­ptation, nor difficulty, nor danger could turn us from; nor for it and thee were our lives, or any thing we had dear; which Charles Stuart had never opportunity to understand by the Puritans, but through the glass of prejudice he alwaies beheld, thought, and judged them his real enemies: nor were they and he ever one in principle, spirit, and action, espcially in such a one, and in such action as thou and we have been, being the highest on which men were ever engaged in the field; the nearest, and in the greatest engagements: Yet do we (thus) suffer at thine hands, whom we have loved above any man; whose, with all that is dear to us have we become, and thy lot and portion have we cho­sen, to stand or fall, as it should be unto thee; and so have we stood by thee against all thine opposers, whether in field or Council. Thine enemies we have accounted and made our own, and never left thee, till thou wast brought through all. And under thy Government, though speaking as aforesaid, in the behalf of Liberty of Conscience, are we (who through the un­speakable love of the Father are come to witnesse the end of the Wars, the Son of God made manfest in our mortal flesh, whose is the Kingdom, and the glory and the Dominion for ever; even his immor­tal seed raised, & raising up in us, by which we are brought to testifie against the world, and all the Deceivers therein; and against the Fashions and Customs, and works and deeds thereof, that they are evil as by his Light we have been shewn, and by [Page 11] his blood redeemed there-from in our own particulars) made the scorn and prey of all men; and have we suffered as aforesaid, by the spirit of this world ruling in them, and now risen up a­gainst the Lord and his annointed, who by the brightnesse of his coming it knows doth, and is come to destroy it. And deliver­ed up are we into the wills, and lusts, and hands of our Enemies, of Malignant, Neutral, Impeached, Secluded, and other Judges, Ju­stices, and Officers, and of the rude multitude, even of the most unreasonable and basest of men, whom we have fought against, and overcome in the field, and totally overthrown, who now dis­gorge themselves of the deadly malice and enmity they contract­ed then against us in the illegal and cruel usages aforesaid, for, and upon occasion of the exercise of our Conscience, who when the wars were ended for Liberty of Conscience, had little reason to expect such dealing as we now receive from such a Genera­tion, who by the Sword sought to have cut thee and us off for our Consciences, But were overthrown, and this after that for these things sake we were over them Victors and Conquerors; Or such a Day as this had we cause to look for, especially at thy hands, and under thy Government, whom the Lord of Hosts, the jealous God, the God of these his suffering People, hath now tri­ed and proved, to see what a one thou wouldst be, and what thou wouldst do, who didst so vow and promise to him in the Day of thy distress, when He should have delivered thee: And therefore hath He let thee remove all out of the way, whether Enemy or Powers, that thou mightest be without excuse; No Parlia­ment or Government hast thou now to wrestle withall, or to complain of as thy hindrance in this particular; or Faction therein, or Council of State, or Nation of Scotland, or City of London, or Dominion of Ireland: And in his mighty Power hath he made strong his Witnesses, and armed hath he them with in­vincible and unheard of patience, to bear, endure, and suffer so, and in such a manner, and by such hands, and in such a season as hath been said; some of whom now suffering, have a witness in thee, that they are dear and precious to the Lord, and innocent: And now art thou proved, art thou tryed and weighed in the bal­lance; behold the fruits thou hast brought forth, which the day doth make manifest, according unto which canst thou otherwise expect then to have thy reward from the Just and Righte­ous [Page 12] God, whom in requital of all his Love and Mercy, and Long-suffering to thee, thou hast (thus) dealt withall in his seed, unto whom whatsoever hath been done, hath been done unto him, who will reward every man according to his deeds. Remember what thou saidst to me at the Cock-Pit, about six Months before the Long Parliament was broken, viz. What ever men think and say of me, yet the end will make it to appear, That I have nothing in mine eye but the glory of God, and the good of these Nations: And if in mine old Age through my folly, I shall spill all these Mercies on the ground the Lord hath shewn me, know this, God will not blesse me—Now to that of God in thy Conscience, the measure of him which thou hast, in his fear and dread consider, and let it search and try thee; Hast thou spilt on the ground (now in the time that gray hairs are coming upon thee) the Mercies the Lord hath shewn thee in thy former dayes, yea or nay? Doth God blesse thee? Let his Witness in thee be heard to speak and answer. Art thou (whose heart all the Sufferings aforesaid do not now melt) in the same spirit as thou wast in 1645. wherein thou wast ready to have hazarded thy life and thine interests, on such a case for to have remedied, such was then thy tenderness, and sense, and bowels? (And yet what were the sufferings by the Bishops in comparison of these?) Or art not thou gone out of that which made and preserved thee so; and whilest so, caused thee to prosper, into that spirit which caused thee and honest men to suffer, against which thou wast made so prosperous and succesful? And being so, Canst thou ex­pect it otherwise to be with thee, then at this day it is, or look to prosper.

Is not the Cause of the suffering people of God become a de­spised thing? Is not the Interest of those his people grown very cheap, and not laid to heart? Art not thou, instead of hear­ing the loud cry of their Oppressions, and cloathing thy selfe with Zeal for their deliverance, become exceeding jealous of them, that they are designing against thee, and against thy King­dom? Doth not this make thee to deal subtilly with them, to keep Bonds and Sufferings upon them, to stop thine ears at their sufferings, and to permit those violent, cruel and barbarous usa­ges of them, to go unpunished, thereby (as thou thinkest) to keep them low, and under, and to depress their spirits, and by rendring them the prey and scorn of all, to secure thy self of [Page 13] them, as to what thou fearest they may attempt against thee? Hence cometh it not to pass, that a bare suggestion of those who thus evil entreat them, as that they are listing of men; or that their meetings are great; or they are designing, with such like, proves enough to turn thee from hearkening to the voice of Justice, which calls upon thee to punish such evil doers, and to cause thee to listen to the Enemy of thy soul, who seeks upon all occasions to perswade that those are conspiring against thee; who are so far from any such thing, that they have not to thee so much as an ill thought, but in secret mourn and weep for thee, (know­ing the condition in which thou art) and are pained at the very heart, that thou mightest once hear and return from whence thou art fallen, that so the Indignation of the Lord, which is coming like a Whirlwind, may be turned away from thee, and so thou mayest come to enjoy the mercies for which thou hast so long, and so sorely travelled, the Eternal God is our witness that it is so, and our innocency herein shal be made clear as the light, and our upright dealing towards thee as the noon-day; and here do not they who watch for, and contrive, and act iniquity, escape and find encouragement from thee, and protection? And are not the innocent sought to be cut off, for, against, and upon whom iniquity is watched, contrived and acted, as aforesaid? And this manner of dealing found not the Seed of God from the Spirit that is of this world, from the beginning? This Michaiah never prophesieth good of me, I hate him, said that spirit in Ahab; Art thou he that troubleth Israel, said he to Elijah? The Land is not able to bear all his words, for thus he saith, Jereboam shall dye by the Sword, and Israel shall surely be led away capture out of their own Land; sent the High Priest at Bethel to King Jeroboam concern­ing Amos, who spake these words from the mouth of the Lord, There is a certain People scattered abroad, and dispersed amongst the people in all the Provinces of the Kingdom, and their Laws are divers from all people, neither keep they the Kings Laws, therefore it is not for the Kings profit to suffer them; If it please the King, let it be writ­ten that they be destroyed &c. Said Haman to Ahashuerus of the Jews. There are certain Jewes whom thou hast set over the Affairs of the Province of Babylon; these men O King, have not regarded thee, they serve not thy Gods, nor worship the Golden Image which thou hast set up. Said certain Chaldeans which came near and accused the Jews [Page 14] to Nebuchadnezzar That Daniel which is of the Children of the cap­tivity of Judah, regardeth not thee O King, nor the Decree which thou hast signed, but maketh his Petition three times a day, said the Presidents of the Kingdom, the Governors and the Princes, the Coun­sellors and the Captains, concerning Daniel to King Darius. We have found this fellow perverting the Nation, and forbidding to give Tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King, said the Elders of the People, and the chief Priests, and the Scribes, and the whole multitude of them in their accusation of Jesus unto Pilate. Those who have turned the world up-side-down are come hi­ther also, whom Jason hath received, and those all do contrary to the Decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another King, one Jesus, cryed the Jews who believed not, and were moved with envy, who tooke unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the City an Uproare, and assaulted the House of Jason, & drew him out, and certain Brethren, unto the Rulers of the City. W have found this man a pestilent Fellow, and a mover of Sedition amone all the Jews throughout the world, said Turtullus of Paul to Foelix. This is what that spirit suggested throughout all Ages, on Re­cord in the Scriptures of Truth; and with this that spirit blinded the Kings, Princes and Rulers, and set them against the Lord, and against his annointed, which proved in the issue, their destructi­on. This is that the Bishops said of the Puritans, to the late King. This is that w ^ch brought forth the law in those days against their Meetings to seek the Lord upon pretence of Conventicles; and with this the late King they blinded, and set him against these people, which became the overthrow of him, his Posterity and followers, and of that generation, and of those that joined with them. And this is that spirit that is now blinding of thee, who wast the Lords Battel-Axe, and weapon of warre, to the cutting down of him, and those whom after this manner it blinded, & set against the Lord and his people, and which is now setting of thee against the Seed of God, which in this fulness of the dispensation of times he is raising up to reign for ever and ever; Unto which spirit if thou continue to hearken, and to follow, and to be guided by, thou shalt be The 11 of the 5th Mon 1656 came this word of the Lord to me, and it was fulfilled the 3 ^d. of the 7. Mon. 1658. the day on which he had his two great Victories at Dunbar and Worcester. cut off, the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it.

Therefore doth my heart mourn, & my bowels are even tur­ned within me, least thou shouldst not know in this thy Day, the things that belong unto thy Peace, and so they be quite hid from thine [Page 15] eyes; least thou shouldst not embrace the tender visitation of the Lord, whose Arms are yet open to thee, and his long suffering, and patience, and love towards thee, calling thee to return and live, that thou mayest see the felicity of his chosen, and instead of setting against, come into that Kingdom, and be made a par­taker of that glory which thou hast been long looking, and sighing, and travelling for, and which was in thine eye to be designed of God, as the end and issue of all the wars, though it thou know­est not, but is now come and coming to be made manifest, and to be set up, of which there shall be no end, which thousands of his Saints in this Nation are come to see and witness, which is not of this world, nor can be comprehended by the Wisdom of the Princes thereof, which it is come to cause to perish, and to bring to nought; therefore it is that in this mighty day of his appearance, his Visage is to them more marr'd then a­ny mans; in him they see no comeliness nor beauty whereby they should desire him; therefore it is that with one consent they are confederate; all Forms and Professions, Judgements and Opinions without the life, with the more gross and rude, and vile people of the world, and drawn together, and muster'd unto Battel in, by, & under that spirit, where they are one, and which is one in them all, as the Day doth now manifest, and their fruits do make to appear, with a rage reaching up to heauen, against the Lamb and his followers, who is lowly and meek; not resisting evil, nor lifting up its voice in the street because of violence and oppression, nor seek­ing deliverance, but laying down its body as the ground, and as the street to them that go over, who have said, Bow down, that we may go over, who haue no kindred upon Earth, nor none to enquire after their blood, or that pleadeth their cause, or that is their helper and deliverer amongst the men thereof, in this hour of its sufferings, wherein its testimony is finishing, and the measure of Iniquity fil­ling up. Nevertheless, Conquering, and to conquer he rides on, ha­ving the Armies of Heaven following him; and through the blood of his Cross, through sufferings overcoming; and yet a little while, and to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the Nation abhorreth, to a servant of Rulers, Kings shall see and arise, Princes also shall worship; for the time is come, and coming, wherein the Lords Plant of Renown shall be exalted, unto whom every knee shall bow, and every Tongue confess; and the Nation and Kingdom that will not serve it, shall per­ish; [Page 16] yea, those Nations shall be utterly wasted; every Battel of the war­rier is with confused noise, and Garments rolled in Blood; but this shall be with burning and fewel of Fire.

This is he in whom Abel and Noah, and the Fathers belie­ved, with whom Enoch walked, and was translated; whose Day Abraham saw, and rejoiced; of whom Moses and the Prophets spake that he should come; this is He who was in the Church in the Wilderness; with the Angel that spake to him in Mount Sinai; and with the Fathers who received the lively Oracles: This is He who was manifested in time; the holy Thing that was born of the Vir­gin; who by the eternal Spirit offered up himself once for all; and by one offering perfected for ever those that are sanctified. This is He whom the Apostles witnessed to be risen and ascended far above all Prin­cipallities and Powers, and every Name this is named both in Hea­ven and Earth, that he might fill all things; who is the Head of his Church; the fulness of him who filleth all in all; the Mysterie hid from ages and generations, Christ in us the hope of glory: The ma­king known of which is the Riches of the Glory to the Gentiles: This is He that was with thee in thy streights, thy strength, thy Coun­sellor, thy Deliverer; to whom thou didst promise, to whom thou didst vow, and who requireth thee now to perform; this is He, a measure from whom thou hast, which hath shewn thee evil, and re­proved and judged thee for sin, and caused thee to breath after God; and after Justice, and after Righteousness, which sometimes did refresh thee, and warmed thine heart, strengthened thee, and gave thee many and large openings: This is He, the making way for the setting up of whose Kingdom was the design and end of the Lord in the Wars: This is He who was to come, so earnestly looked for, who is come the second time without sin unto salvation; and whom to be come, Thousands of his Saints do witness; Eternal living prai­ses be unto him who hath loved us, and visited us with the Day-spring from on high, and washed away our sins in his Blood. This is he that calleth thee to lay down th [...] Scepter at his feet, whose Scepter is a Scepter of Righteousnesse; by it to be guided and acted, that so thine Enemies may be confounded, and thine House esta­blished. This is He who is the Heir of all things, by whom the worlds were made; the brightness of his Fathers glory, and the ex­press Image of his Person; the upholder of all things by the Word of his Power; the Light of the World; the Covenant of Light to the [Page 17] Gentiles; the Life of Men; the true Light, that lighteth every one that cometh into the world; who is come into the world, but the world knows him not; who hath suffered, and still suffers at thy hands, and by the people under thy Government; who preserved thee when thou wast a sufferer, and exalted thee when thou wast little in thine own eyes, despised and contemned; and when thou didst plead the Cause of his innocent people, who suffered without cause; who because thou hast hardened thy heart, and turned a­gainst him, hath turned from thee his presence, Wisdom from thy Counsels, Spirit from thy Men of War, and Success from thine undertakings, and is stripping of thee of thy Fence & Guard, and making thee naked and bare, and is coming against thee; therefore prepare to meet him whilest he is in the way, who shew­eth thee where thou hast been, and where thou art; and what thou hast done, and what thou art doing, and the way to re­turn, which is yet open. His tender Visitation of Love this is to thee, who hath long waited to be gracious, and born and suffered thorough him who is a lover of thy soul, known unto thee by the Name of

To RICHARD, Protector of these Na­tions These Present.

SEeing thy Father is fallen asleep, and thou his Son art set upon the Throne of the Government of these Nations, I am moved of the Lord to counsel thee, To heed him by whom Kings reign, and Princes decree Justice, the Principle of God in thee, which moves to Justice, and to Mercy, and the fear of the Lord; and discovers and judges the contrary; which if thou doest, and givest up to be governed by it, the Lord will dash in pieces all the consultations against thee and thy Fathers house, and will settle the Throne under thee, and make thee a dread and a terror to all the Nations round a­bout, [Page 18] as he made thy Father: But if thou shalt refuse to hearken un­to, and to be guided by it, the Lord will This was fulfilled the later end of the Month called April, and the beginning of the Month called May, following, when the Army caused him to dissolve his Parliament, and the session of Parlia­ment succeeding, to resign bis Protector­ship; as was also fulfilled, what I had seen in the Eternal, in the Month called June preceding, as I was walking in the great Court in White-hall, and weighing in that which is not of this World, O. Protector, his Council, (which was then sitting) his Family and Government, viz. The earth rising, and as it were, open­ing on the right hand, and the left, and overturning him and his Government, his Council, and Family— VVith which, as soon as I came out of White-hall Gate, I acquainted a Friend of mine whom I met by the Banqueting-house, and which I again saw as I was on my way to Bristol, a mile or two out of London, as I was turn [...]d about by the moving of the Lord, and the direction of his spirit, sitting on my Horse, and looking on VVhite-hall By which doubling of the Vision, I knew that it should (as it qu ckly hath) assuredly come to pass. o­verturn thee; for he hath overturned, over-turned, overturned, that he may reign whose right it is, and he is come to reigne whose right it is, of the encrease of whose government and peace there shall be no end; upon the Throne of David, and upon his Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with Judgement and Justice, henceforth, even for ever. Thus in bowels of love & tenderness, in obedience to the Lord, as I am moved of him, that it may be well with thee and thy Posterity after thee, have I written, who am known to thee by the name of

To the General Council of the Army, in whom is risen the Spirit of the Good old Cause, these following Parti­culars are tender'd, in order to the carrying thorough of what is by them begun, for the good of the Nation, and all honest men in it. By a Friend, who though re­mote in person, yet wishes well to the Cause and them, and to both on that foot, thus contributes, Viz.

HEed the Principle of Righteousness in you all, which shews your goings astray; and reform what it shews you to be amiss in your selves, as to God or Man.

2. Purge the Army of every Branch that springs not from the Root of the Good old Cause; and see that the degenerate plant be pluckt up.

[Page 19]3. Call back every honest man that was cashiered for the Cause.

4. Make some of Parliament, Court, Council, Army, examples, who acted in the late hateful degeneration, and would have betrayed and destroyed you and the Cause.

5. Read over, consider, and stand to your Virgin Declarati­ons, and do your first works.

6. Declare in what ye understand the good old Cause to con­sist, and your resolutions to adhere thereunto, and never again to deviate therefrom.

7. Entrust such every where with places of Power and Com­mand, in whom doth live, and is the Spirit of the Cause.

8. Summon the surviving Members of the famous Long Par­liament (who managed and carryed thorough the Good old Cause) and Council of State, in Statu quo. Declare that the ob­struction is removed: That the People obey them, as before that obstruction, to all intents and purposes. And a General Indempnity of all that hath been done, whether in the ma­king of that obstruction, or pursuance of the same.

9. Protect the (now) Protector, and let him enjoy his Person­al and Paternal Estate.

10. Vex the Midianites, (i.e. the Lawyers) and smite them, for they vex you with their wiles wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peer and Cosby, (i.e. the King and Protector.) Re­form the Laws, and the Administration of them; and severely punish the perverters of the Righteousness of each.

11. Remember Amalek (i.e. the soul-murthering, and Consci­ence-binding Clrgy-man and what he did unto you by the way when ye were come out of Aegypt, how he met you by the way, and smote the hindmost of you, even all that were feeble behind you, when ye were faint and weary, and he feared not God. Therefore blot out the re­membrance of Amalek from under heaven, (i.e. the principle that is against Liberty of Conscience) ye shall not forget it.

12: Set at liberty forthwith all the Consciencious People called Quakers, now in Bonds because of their conscience to God, (the good old Cause) on whose sufferings presented the late Parlia­ment, the said Parliament instead of enquiring into the mat­ter, set their foot (as they had done a little before) on the good [Page 20] old Cause, viz. In asserting a coercive Power in Religion, Worship, &c. and would have done on you once for all, and have destroyed You All; yea after all your Conquests of them all, had not the Spirit of the Good Old Cause lifted up your foot upon them All.

April 27. 1659.

A Copy of another LETTER sent short­ly after to the said Council of Officers.

SEeing the Lord hath heard you in your distress, and the voice of your Cry hath entred into his ears, when yee were near swallowing up by your proud Enemy, and hath delive­red you when there was scarce a step betwixt you, and the destru­ction of you and your friends, and the Publick Cause of these Nations, and hath spared and given you (once more) space and time to recover strength, and your dying reputation amongst honest men, before yee go hence, and be no more. It lies upon me (as a some­time fellow-labourer with you in the work of the Nation; yea, as moved of the Lord) to warn you, That yee bring forth fruits meet for repentance; for, verily friends, it is your day of trial from the Lord, wherein He is trying you, proving you, to see whe­ther there be such an heart in you, to do according to all yee have said in your late April 6. 1659. Representation (even that yee would fear him, and keepe all his Commandments alwayes, that it may be well with you and your children for ever.) And for this purpose he hath (once more) overthrown your Enemies, and in the thing wherein they dealt proudly, hath shewn himself above them, and put the Power of these Nations into your hands, to try You, and prove You, and to see whether ye will do as ye speak. If therefore the Good old Cause against Tyranny and intollerable Op­pression, in matters Civil and Religious, (as ye exprest it in your said Representation) whereupon ye first engaged, and unto which the Lord hath in such a continual Series of Providence given so signal a Testimony; and for the carrying on whereof, there hath been such a plentiful pouring forth of Treasure, Prayers, Tears and Blood, during [Page 21] the late War; (in the difficulties and dangers whereof, ye also (the li­ving Monuments (as ye say; and truly ye are so, and 'tis good for you ever to mind it) of Patience & Mercy (have had your shares) be not throughly asserted & vindicated. If in very deed & good earn­est ye appear not now as ever, equally endeared to the Good old Cause, and utter Enemies to all Tyranny, Oppression, and disturbance; of the publike Peace, under what pretences soever. If whilest your Lives and present Capacities are continued to you, ye pluck not the wicked out of their Places wheresoever they may be discovered, either among your selves, or in any other Places of Trust. If Law and Manners so frequently declared for, and so earnestly expected by all sober unbyas­sed men, be not reformed. If the Course of Justice and Bowels of Mercy be not opened. If the wayes of holiness he not encouraged. If a stop be not put to the inundation of Malignancie and Prophaneness: If there be not such a publike asserting of the Good Old Cause, and a Iustification and confirmation of all proceedings in prosecution and maintenance thereof, and Declaration against its Enemies, as may (for the future) deter all persons from speaking or attempting any thing to the prejudice thereof, and of the Persons that have acted in the prose­cution of it, and afford present Security to the Civil and Religious Right and Liberties of these Nations, and the Peace thereof. It the Liberty of good and well affected People in repairing with freedom to their Meetings for the Worship of God (of late much violated by in­dicting and imprsoning Yea, cruel whipping. their Persons) be not still asserted. If wh [...]re­insoever ye have back sudden, ye do not take shame to your selves, as (in your said Representation ye confess) ye have Cause; and say, you desire to take frame and further, that ye cannot but bewail your own great failings and turning aside: And if (by the doing of these things) ye do no receive the [...]earts of your faithful friends, and vindicate your own integrity against all censures and jealousies, & make it to appear, that ye did indeed engage in judgment and consci­ence for the just rights and liberties civil and religious, of your Coun­try, and not as a mercenary Army, as in your, said Representati­on yee say and affirm (and as hath been before rehearsed) yee have as members of the Army, often solemnly declared, not with­out appeals to God say ye) for your sincerity therein. If from hence­forth the people of the Lord shall suffer, or be continued in their suf­ferings, because of their conscience to God (the Good-old-Cause). Hear O heavens, and give ear O earth, and be yee witnesses, and [Page 22] all good men; ye shall not All are wit­nesses of the fulfilling of this. prosper, the Lord hath spoken it. Therefore up and be doing; fear not, nor be dismayed, the presence of the Lord will be with you in these things (as heretofore) and his arme stretched out for you (as in former daies) against your Adver­saries. That which touched and awakened the honesty in you, and brought you into sensibleness, and to confess, and to act hitherto (viz. the grace of God, the light of Christ in you) will carry you through, yee abiding and believing therein. This is your day, a day yee thought not of, nor could scarce hope for; viz. to have the publick Interest saved utterly from sinking, during the late desperate wrecks and dashings on the rocks, and your selvs in it deli­vered into a capacity to save and secure it, and your own particulars, who were first designed to be sunk. If a man should have told you this, ye could not have believed it. This is your hour of tryal, wherein, as I said, the Lord is trying you, to see whether, be­ing delivered, and having power in your hands, ye will stand by, and secure your selves and it. Nothing (now) but integrity, uprightness of heart, truth in the in­ward parts, and proportionable actings wil serve If ye Notwithstanding this close and pe­remptory VVarning from the Lord so in­forced and obrested, yet May (so called) the 12. following, being the eighth day af­ter the date of this warning, and the 20. after their Deliverance, and the 36 after the Date of their said Representation; in which they so much complained, and confessed, and bewailed, and Resolved, and Declared to the contrary (as hath be [...]n said) They started aside point­blanck, in changing the Cause of Li­berty of Conscience in the 6th. Article of their Address, which by some of them was that Day, viz. May 12. Presented to the Parliament, and the 27. of the 10th. Month following, (called December) they were gone; those men whom they shut our, flowing over their Heads, (whilest the Officers lay under) that day into the Parliament, by the hand of those very Souldiers who were chiefly instrumental in the keeping them out, and had declared for the Officers, which is remar­kable; but that which makes it the more observable, is, That the Hand is fallen First on those very Officers that presented the said Address, who were looked upon, and were in their day, the chief­est among them for Conscience Liberty. Here's starting aside, and a Farewel indeed; the Lord is righteous, let men tremble before him. start aside again, farewell; ye have confest against your selves, and your Representation is witness against you; Deliverance shall come another way, but ye and your House shall perish. A war­ning from the Lord God it is unto you all, by and through him who is,

To the Supreme Authority of these Na­tions, the PARLIAMENT of the Common-wealth of England, am I moved of the LORD to write.

THis Day to have seen, was lately beyond the thoughts, of any, He that should have told you but a very few daies before the late Parlaments dissolution, that the Power which was so near the swallowing up of all, should be so soon scattered: That those who were made instrumental (through a wrong pilotage) to waste this Common-wealth on such desperate Rocks, during these last six years (the interval of your steerage) should bee awakened to see their danger, and to set (yea pray you) to the Helm again; that they and you together, should be put into such a capacity (the like was never) to assert and settle the Common-wealth, (preserved in and after all) and to secure it themselves and you. That the hopes of Englands enemies should so suddenly be dasht, when at the highest pitch and confidence to have prevailed against it, and their designs struck backwards, who were ready to cry Aha! she is broken, which was the Gates of the people, she is turned unto us; we shall be replenished, when she is laid waste: shee is given us to consume (when as the Lord was there) this is the day we have looked for. That your friends who (seeing such things) for very anguish and vexation of spirit, were even giving up the ghost, should be (as it were in the twinkling of an eye) revived and brought back again from the gates of the grave, I say, He that should have told you, but a little while since, that so it should be, could ye have believed it? Would yee not have said, he dreamed? Or, are ye not like them that dream? now that the Lord hath (thus) turned back the captivity of the Common-wealth; yea, whilst yee are told of it, whilst your eies are seeing, and your hands exercised in the work thereof. What man could have seen this day through the late thick clouds, what arme could have brought about such an act? What Counsel have designed it? But this the Lord hath done, [Page 24] that he may bring to pass His Act, His strange Act. This wonder hath he wrought (beyond all his mighty works of wonder done be­fore your eies) that it may appear that his own arm hath brought salvation, and that his fury hath upheld him, when he looked, and there was none to help, and wondred that there was none to uphold These are his doings, who is come to reward every man according to his works: And thus it becom'd him to do, who is come from Edom with dyed Garments, from Bozrah glorious in his Apparel, travelling in the Greatness of his Strength, who speaks in Righteousness, mighty to save. And wherefore hath he done it? Friends, let me deal plainly with you, and suffer me a little whilest I am speaking to you from God. Ye were wronged, ye were slandered, ye were abused, ye were cast out (and the Commonwealth with you) as abominable; you (and what the Lord had done for, and by you, were made the scorn and the derision of the Nations, whom his dread on you had made to tremble, (I have seen it, saith the Lord, and am witness) and he is come (who is a God of Faithfulness and Truth, the Judge of the whole Earth, who will Judge the World with Righteousness, and the People Earth, who will Judge the World with Righteousness, and the People with Equity) to do you Right, and this Right hath he done you (in a wonder) before the face of all People, and proportioned your healing to your wound; yea your reparation hath he caused to exceed your Suffer­ings; Friends, fear not, for God is with you. And this He hath done that He may try you, and prove you, and see whether ye will do ac­cording to all that ye have said and declared; according to all that the Nation hath bled for, and suffered; according to all ye have vow'd and promised to God in secret, in the day of your di­stress, if ever he should give Power again into your hands: Ac­cording to all that ye ought to do, and to what is the end of the Lord in this his late wonderful and astonishing dispensation: And ve­rily (Friends) this is your Day of Tryal from the Lord, wherein he hath given you the Day ye desired, (a full opportunity, the fullest that was ever: Look not for such another) to do as ye have said, and to perform what he requireth of you, and with you he will be (therein) as heretofore, and greater things ye shall do, ye abiding with him. Moved of the Lord God Almighty I am, to tell you so, who hath given all Nations, Kingdoms, and Peo­ple, a Day, and to those who have gone before you, a Day; and to him that came after you, a Day; and this is your Day; therefore in this your Day, know the things that belong un­to [Page 25] your peace: Be liberal to God in suffering no man to suffer for his Conscience, as he hath been liberal to you in suffering none to injure you and go unpunished, what ever were their Con­science. Be liberal to the Nation in giving it its Right, as it hath been liberal unto you, in hazarding its all in your service for the recovery of its Rights. Repeal the Laws against Conscience, and the Liberties of the Nation; and make no Laws but what may answer that of God in the Conscience, and the Nations Liberties. Reform the Laws, and the evil administration of them. Check the Licentiousness of the Clergy. Take away the cruel oppressi­on of Tythes, and compulsive Maintenance; and let them who pre­tend to be Gospel-Ministers, be content with Gospel-Maintenance. Join not with them, nor consult, whom God hath curst, (whether Ministers (so called) or People, or both joined together) nor fear them, least God How this hath been ful­filled, is mani­fest. confound you before them. Make no Laws a­gainst the Truth of God in the Conscience. Come into a sensible­ness (in common) of the sufferings and welfare of the People, so as the People by your tenderness, may feel you touch't with the sence of their sufferings. Be not lifted up, because God hath plea­ded your Cause, and executed Judgement for you; but be ye therefore laid low, to execute Judgement for God, and to plead the Cause of his People. Think not your Mountain so strong that ye shall never be moved, but rather be in expectation It was but the 12th. of the Month called October fol­lowing, and the door was a­gain shut a­gainst them. every day, (not knowing what shall be to morrow) that it may be moved and rea­dy, because it may be moved to give a good account to God and man when it shall be moved. Take heed of taking liberty to do and speak as ye please, because ye are Judges of the Law; but so speak, and so do, as those who shall be judged by the Law of Liberty. Final­ly, Let VVhat a tender Visitati­on was this of the Lords love? and how will it leave them without excuse in the day that is at hand, ( yea that already is begun upon them) wherein he that search­eth the heart, and tryeth the Reins, will ren­der to every man according to his work, as in the end of this Letter I have spoken from the Lor [...] my Truth, mine Out-casts, dwell with you, saith the Lord know it in your own particulars, the Light which makes manifest; the Christ which shews you all ye have done; Be ye a Covert to them from the face of the spoiler; For, yet a little while, and the Extortioner is at an end, the Spoiler ceaseth, and the Oppressors are consumed out of the Land: And in Mercy shall the Throne be established, and he shall sit upon it in Truth, whose Right it is, in the Tabernacle of David, judging and seeking Judgement, and hastening Righteousness. The Zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall perform this; Of whom I am moved in much love, and bowels, and tenderness, thus to write; and from whose mouth I have written, that it may be well with you, if ye heed [Page 26] and do it: If otherwise, ye will be left without excuse in that Day that is at hand, wherein he that searcheth the heart, and trieth the Keins, will render to every man according to his work.

This following LETTER was for the Council of State, directed and sent to a Member thereof, and of the Parliament.

MAjor Dawbone returned yesterday in the evening, with his Party, having visited Bathe, and Lambsdown, and Bassets-House, and Freshford in Somerset, and Bradford in Wilts, and crost the Countrey again to Stroudwater, and Painswick in Glocestershire, and Malmsbury, which was much to the terrify­ing of the Enemy, who dispersed themselves, and dared not to stand or appear, and the reviving of your Friends in those parts in this his March, which was about one hundred Miles to and again, he neither saw nor left any Party of them (as he could hear of, for he sought them diligently, and marching by night) in those Countreys, but found not the spirits of men so subdued, as that they were not ready to rise, if the bond of the Lord were taken off them, and there should appear a reasonable encouragement, which speaks a necessity of the expeditious and continual marching of your Horse up and down in all parts, especially where these insurrections have been, and that ye give orders for that purposes, least (as I have wrote) these scattered parties get time to draw together (the most desperate of them) and lay the foundation of a­nother War, into which the rest may flow, and so put ye to extremity for Force and Money, ere ye have time to breath for the security of the Common-wealth: And this let me [Page 27] tell you, that had not the Lord confounded them by his Power before, and persecuted them by his Tempests that Night, the winde and rain fighting against them, and caused Massey to be taken, of which they had notice, (though he was suffered to escape) and given timely discovery, and broken their spirits, in which the Lord onely is seen) the Countrey had generally flowed in as one man from all parts, on this place, and those here had generally rose with them, and your Interest here by this time, had (in all probabil ty) been extinct, if not totally hazarded by reason thereof, throughout this Nation, and (as I have said) should the Lord but withdraw his band upon them, (so wonderful it is to see how they are chained and tormented) would be sud­denly in the same resolution. Therefore it concerns you whilst ye have time, to bear down this enemy, and so to secure places necessary for defence, and the Countrey, that this spirit get not up again, and put you to new diversions. And seeing that the Arm of the Lord hath thus inexpressibly delivered you, and given your enemies once more into your hands for his despised peoples sake, see that ye improve it for, and not against him and those his people; and the doing Justice on those whom he hath given into your hands, least out of this Serpents egg do come a Cockatrice, and his fruit he a fiery-flying Serpent, and the Lord deliver you and your Forces into the Power of those who seek the destruction of you and your Interest. And beware of falling under this spirit, or of thinking that the Breach between you can be healed: For I declare it to you from the Lord, That it is irreconcilable; it cannot, it will not be healed; yea, the Day will come, and now is, wherein it will be said, We would have healed Babylon, but she would not be healed; Let us depart every one to his own place. Therefore in the Power and Dread or the Almighty, stand, and bear over it, crush it to pieces, stamp it to powder; so ye will find it to crumble as the Clay, and fall before you as the Mire of the Streets: But if ye fear it, and because of its afflicting you, and that it may not afflict you, ye sacrifice to their Gods, and a1fflict the People of the Lord, and offer up his Sons and his Daughters in Sacrifice, causing them to pass through the fire, through sufferings [Page 28] for the pacifying of it. Be it known unto you from the Lord, it shall prosper against you, and leave you neither What is become of those in Parlia­ment, Council, and Army, to whom this was principally intended? what Place or Interest is now left them? I speak not to upbraid them in the least, or to insult o­ver them, the Lord is my witness, I mourn for them, but that the Lord may be glori­fied, whose word he hath fulfilled. Is not the life of him and his People gone for its life, whom he and they let go out of their hand? Is not the King of Israel gone home to his House heavy and displeased? As I wrote to them in the Name of the Lord, telling him and them, that it should be so, and that is was Faithfulness in me to tell them or him so, and that we would be to me if I should not, being required of the Lord, of whom I had received it, how­ever the King of Israel might take it, and go home to his House heavy and displeased; yea, that they knew the story, and that they should read and apply it to themselves in the case, they who were concerned, who had done that thing; for it was their porti­on, and should assuredly come upon them from the Lord. See Mene Tekel, pag. 39, 40 Again, are they not bowed down, and humbled? Is not their last done? Are not their Locks off? Are they not bound? and have not they bound themselves? Can they work any more such deliverance in the earth for themselves or their Countrey, as hath been through their hands? Must it not (now) come from another place? Are they not submitted? and have they not submitted themselves? Are they not lowr'd, and have they not brought themselves low, and their friends, and the Cause of liberty of Conscience, even to the ground, to the dust? Do not their Masters put them to grind at their pleasure? Do they not dishand and do with them as they will? And when they have gone forth, when affliction is on them, and sh [...]ck themselves as heretofore; have they not found the Cause, (which whensoever they brought it in their hand, & could say of a truth, Lord here is the Cause, he never failed to deliver them, what ever were their streights and difficulties.) I say, have they not found their Cause, their Locks, their Power gone, & themselves bound as with Fetters of Brass? Is any strength left in them. Yea, is not their Kingdom rent from them, and given to a Neighbor of theirs that is better then they, even to David, according as I spake to, and warned them from the Lord, that so it was, and so they should find it. Me. Tek. p. 40, 41, 42, 43. Let God be glorified, and all men fear and tremble before him. Righteous art thou O Lord, just and true are thy wayes, O thou King of Saints; who would not fear and tremble before thee, be­cause thy judgements are made manifest? place nor Interest. From the Lord God Almighty (whose power wrought, and yet works through me for the confounding of the Enemy in this his bloody design against inno­cent People and the Common-wealth, (for its laid all on them, as if they had designed the shedding of the blood of these) who watcht over you when ye slept, & had regard to your safety for his Peoples sake, when ye knew not the depth and nearness of your dan­ger) am I moved thus to write, that ye may be warned and left without excuse in the day when these things shall befall you, which will not be long if ye shall so turn it; for verily I see them (in that which is not of this world) all desperately bent against you, and ready to over-run you, should He but withdraw his hand which yet re­strains them, even ( some of them) almost to distraction: And withdraw he will, if ye turn this great Deliverance (which was for) against his People: Which that it may never be by you, O how are my bowels turned within me. My dear Friends, for [Page 29] your sake, that so the Lord may never have cause to reckon with you on this account. But if it so be, the will of the Lord be done, He will be a City of Refuge for His People, and those a­mongst you who in faithfulness discharge your own souls up­right to him against such proceedings, will find a hiding place in the day of his fierce wrath, which is hastening upon the heall of the wicked. The time draweth nigh; Blessed are all they who in that day shall be found written in the Lambs Book of Life. In Bowels of love, and truth or heart, as foreseeing the things that are at hand, yea at the door, and in obedience to the Lord have I thus written.

Another Letter sent to a Member of the Parliament, and Council of State.

I Have formerly writ to thee concerning the Affairs of the Common-wealth, as opportunity presented: The occasion of this is in reference to these our New-English Friends, the Bearers hereof, late of, and near the Town of Salem in New-England, who having passed through the rigorous execution of their cruel Laws, as to Imprisonments, Whippings, Scourgings, Confiscation, and Sale of their Goods and Estates, are at length banished upon pain of death, which is their state at this present, having not above four dayes time to transport themselves for England, whither to come, and to spread the merciless sufferings of them and their Friends before those in Authority, it lay upon them from the Lord, for which purpose they are arrived here, and are now passing for London, to unload themselves of their heavy bur­then before the Parliament, to whom, or to such as they shall appoint, they (with their friends and fellow-sufferers in England) are able and ready? what by Copies of their Laws, and the Or­der [Page 30] of Banishment (which they have under the Secretaries own hand, and the manner of prosecutions, as to apprehensions, imprison­ments, fines, distresses, scourgings, whippings, beatings, cutting off of ears, burnings, selling for Bondmen and Bondwomen in other Plantati­ons, to make appear such Monstrous cruelties as England hath not known before this day to have proceeded out of it, much less from such as once suffered, and quitted their Native Countrey because of Conscience, which makes it the more to be admired; and all this for no other cause but their Conscience to God, be­cause they cannot come to their Worships, and eat the sacrifices of such men of Blood; because they meet together to wait upon the Lord, and speak to one another to fear God: Because they entertain strangers, and receive the servants of the Lord into their Houses: Be­cause they are such as are called Quakers, whom without warrant to apprehend, even upon suspition that they are such, and im­prison, power is given to their Officers; and against whom in re­ference to all their barbarous executions, they have not so much as with one of them proceeded according to due order or pro­cess in Law, but with rage and cruelty, and with a high and strong hand endeavour and determine (as themselves have said) yea, in open Court have not been ashamed to declare) because they have power in their hands to wear out, cut off from, and expel the Countrey this whole Generation.

The consideration whereof, and what may be the conse­quence of this, as to the body of friends there, ( in whose On the 27. of the 8. Month, 1659. the Government of Massathusets Bay in New England, murdered at Boston viz VVil­liam Robinson, and Marmaduke Ste­venson, two servants of the Lord, whom they slew, and hung upon a Tree, for no other cause but for their conscience to God, being legally convicted of no one Opinion or Practice, but were put to death barely for being such as the world calls Quakers, and coming into their Jurisdicti­on, whose innocent Blood cryes aloud to the Lord for Vengeance, who will assured­ly bring it upon them, and it hastens: For such a Barbarous piece of murderous cruelty, (throughly circumstantiated) was never [...]eard of, being from men who sted their Native Countrey because of Conscience, on their Countrey men for their conscience, who stood it out to the death, (glory to the Lord for ever, who was near them) but their bloody persecuters (when in old England) could not look so much as a Prison in the face But of this a particular Relation may shortly be made publick. blood ere this time they may have imbrued their hands) and this Na­tion, and as to you who are in Authority, should such Bloodsheds, Murthers, Rapines and Cruelties be suffered in your Domi­nions, hath filled my heart with griefe and sorrow; and in the depth of my spirit am I moved of the Lord, the Maker of hea­ven and earth, in whom is the breath of all men, to write to thee about it, who hast been sometime Governor of that Countrey, [Page 31] and knowest their manners and powers, and the cruelty of their spirits, and art eminent in Authority in this Common­wealth, that thou mayest consider and lay it to heart, and be zealous for the deliverance of those who have no helper; for which purpose I have enclosed to thee their Address to the Parliament, which thou art desired to help into the House, and by such ways and means, and with such Members to proceed and work, as thou shalt think fit, for the more speedy and effectual accomplish­ing of what therein is justly desired, and is requisite in the case. I am not unsensible of the multitude of business which throngs in upon thee for the Publick in this hour, nor of the burthens thou bearest in reference to that, and the spirit a­mongst you that hinders the doing of what ye would for honest men, and the Commonwealth: Nor of the Cross that is to be endured in undertaking a thing of this nature; but when I consider that it is the Eternal Truth of God in them, for, and because of which they suffer; which Truth must (and the time is at hand, when the measure of sufferings is full, which hastens) reign over all; (the Zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall perform it.) And when I consider how the Lord tenders his Truth and suffering-people, even as the apple of his Eye, and will not suffer a Cup of cold wa­ter given to a Disciple in the Name of a Disciple, to go without a Dis­ciples reward: Forasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my Brethren, will the Son of man say, (and the hour is near) when he shall reign in his Glory, and sit on the Throne of his Glory, and all the holy Angels with him:) ye did it unto me. And when I consider what need every man will have of the Mercy of the King, in the day when he shall seperate the sheep from the Goats, and say to the sheep on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world. And to the Goats on his left hand, Depart from me ye cursed, into everlast­ing fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels, which is at the door. And when I mind the movings of God that is upon me, I am pressed in spirit to render this unto thee, that thou mayest have thy reward in the day which is nigh, wherein the Righteous God shall render to every man according to his works.

Therefore dear Friend, let this my Request be acceptable unto thee, and what in thee lyes, do in the behalf of these poor, despised, suffering People, the Lord's Banished, who are appointed as Sheep for the slaughter, and for Gods sake are killed all the day long; and are beaten, and made to cry by Reason of the Oppressor: That so the Blessing of the God of Abraham may rest upon thee and thy Posterity for ever. For this I know, That the Day is at hand wherein if man shall not, yet the Lord will thoroughly plead the Cause of his People; and then those who have shut their ears at the cry of the poor and needy; when they cry in their ca­lamity, the Lord The Case of these suffering friends, was presented to the Council of State by that Member of the Council and Parlia­ment to whom it was wrote, it being judg­ed that so to do, was the quickest expedi­ent in a matter of such weight and conse­quence as the Estates, Liberties, & Lives of so many Families of people who fear the Lord; which they took into considera­tion, but passed away, re infecta, without doing any thing, as also did the Parlia­ment, ( who were shut out of their house the 12th. of the Month following) to the Speaker of which, and many of the Mem­bers, several Abstracts of the cruel whip­pings, imprisonments, beatings, confis­cation of Estates, Burning, and cutting off of the Ears of many innocent per­sons, were delivered sometime before by the hands of some of the chiefest sufferers. There is yet a little time for them that remain in Power, to hear the Cry of the poor and needy, and to deliver them who are appointed to dye, least the Lord refuse to hear them in the Day of their ca­lamity, and so this his Word be fulfilled upon them. will not hear them. So to that of God in thee which mourns with them that mourn, and weeps with those who weep, and suffers with them that are in ad­versity, as being in the body, I commend, and leave this thing, and remain

To the General Council of the Officers of the ARMY, and those with them who are now consulting the good of the COMMON-WEALTH.

IF ye mean to prosper, or that the Lord be with you as here­tofore; with his presence to help you out of all your streights and Difficulties, Purge out from amongst you the spirit of the sixth Article of your late Here lyes the bottom of their mis­carriage, and the very ground and cause of all their misery; For having by the sixth Article of their Address presented the Parliament May 12. 1659. Point blank changed the Cause of Liberty of Conscience, Viz From the Good Old one, to a New Bad One; from that which at first, and all along they engaged in, and for, and declared to that which they engaged against; which whilest they engaged against in the behalf of Liberty of Conscience, ( the Dominion of God) he never failed to deliver them, what ever were their straits and difficul­ties; and so having drawn forth their Ad­dress, after so wonderful a Deliverance, against their Declarations, ( as I lately shewed them from the Lord in the hand­writing, Mene Tek [...]l, which he caused me to draw against them, wherein they were weighed in the Ballance, and found want­ing) their Kingdom became divided a­gainst it self, and was numbred, and is fi­nished. Nevertheless the Lord gave them therein time and space of Repentance, and this other Day also, wherein he war­ned them, as in this letter, being loath to give them up, who had been the Sword of his Excellency and th [...] hel [...] of his strength, by whom he had wrought such wonderful Deliverances, in which he was glo [...]fi [...]d, but they not heeding, this their day passed over also in such a man­ner, as is b [...]yond the wonders of the twenty years preceding, which made the earth to tremble: And although some of them when they saw the waters flowing over their heads, came again to the Cause, and placed liberty of Conscience in the 7th. Head of the ten Particulars, agreed on by them as the thi [...]g [...] in whi [...]h (it is said) they were Resolved to live and dye; in the very words of the third Ar [...]icl [...] [...]f t [...] [...]e [...]t [...]ement which I produced against the sixth Article of their Ad­dress, in proof of my cha [...]g [...] upon [...]h [...]m, that they had Point-blank changed the Cause, there [...]y ju­stifying the Lord and me in what I had so charged upon them from his mouth, and condemning them [...]elves; yet it [...]as [...], [...]heir [...]ur was over. And so he who led into capti [...]ity is [...]ed into c [...]p [...]v [...] [...] [...]he who k [...]l [...]d with t [...]e sword is killed by the sword; He [...]e [...]s the pa [...]ience and faith of [...]h [...] S [...]s. Address to the Parliament, and whatso­ever is against Liberty of Conscience, the Dominion of God, which he hath owned, and will own, and set over all; so shall ye prosper, the Lord hath spoken it. If otherwise, and that upon Political, or other ends, ye cherish that spirit, or suffer it to live, or act, or be in you, or oppress the People of the Lord, or of the Land, and so by an evil or an heart of un­belief, ye again depart from the living God who hath once more delivered you, know this from the Lord, Ye cannot prosper This con­cluded them, (they not heed­ing in this their hour) and then was no reme­dy; the word of the Lord is ful­fill'd upon them; for he is come to reign whose Right it is, of the encrease of whose Govern­ment and Peace, there shall be no end; Upon the Throne of David, to order it, and to esta­blish it with Judgement, and with Justice, from henceforth even for ever: The Zeale of the Lord of [Page 34] Hosts shall perform this, and the hour is at hand: Therefore my dear friends, let this my Counsel be acceptable unto you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening of your tranquillity: For from the Lord God Almighty, ( the Angel of whose presence went before you, and hath been your Rereguard) am I moved thus to write; who am known to you by the Name of

Another Letter sent to a Citizen of LONDON, and a Commissioner of the MILITIA there.

I Received thy Letter, and thy Love; by this time ( I suppose) thou hast an answer in thy self, as to the desire of my com­ing up; seeing that the General Council of Officers have not laid the Basis of their Government in Justice and Righteousness; but in the mixtures of corrupt and bad Interests, and the men of each, which God hath cursed, and not onely so, but have quickened their strange composition with the Their decla­ring for the Priests, & cour­ting, or falling under the spirit that rose up against them, was that which slew them. black spirit of that generation, who from the beginning Time hath, & doth, and will make this most manifest. hitherto hath been, and from henceforth will be the destruction of all who are swayed by it. So this gives rather a reason of my silence, then that I have (as yet) any thing upon me to move to you-ward, Indeed I must say, This last turn was also of the Lord, and at the very time of it when I had heard nothing by the hearing of the ear; I bore and went thorough as of them that went before) the travel thereof, and, the Power of the Lord, wrought in, [Page 35] and thorough me, to the accomplishing of this thing, Which For being so closely pursued, presently upon their Return from defeating G. Booth, what other thing could be expected but their utmost endeavours for the preservation of themselves; and how otherwise could that be done but by the laying aside of those who gave the Prosecution. desperate necessity on the Offi­cers part, and the just † hand of the Lord on the Parliament, who had their Day, and misused it, hath constrained. But what? was it that they might take up, and Court the accursed thing, and close with the Men and Interests, whom God had spewd out, In particular, the business of Tythes, with which they never before yoked the Commonwealth, (I say the Common­wealth) but left it hanging on the pen­dant Twig of the Statute for trebble da­mages, which was ready to fall with its own weight, the weight whereof, and of the cruel sufferings of the Generality of the People of these Nations, (except the Interested, and their creatures) by reason of Tythes, particularly the People of the Lord, in their Persons, Estates, and lives, was so great, and the cry so loud, that the Parliament upon their very first sitting after their interruption, as a Retribution to the Lord for their wonderful return, did appoint among their first things, a Committee of their own Members to send for the Sufferers then in Prison, to examine their respective Cases, and to make report of them to the Parliament, which upon examination appeared so hard and foul, and conse­quently the laws by which they suffered, the witnesse of the Lord in them answering to the cry of these sufferings, that they though fit to set them at liberty, and not to remand them to their old captivities, which is a witness against themselves in the case, unto wch answereth the witness of God in them, which is greater then all, and will be their great cond [...]mnation. Now for the Parliament to exact the payment of Tythes in such a time and season as by these their own proceedings, gave honest men every where reasonable cause to expect their utter taking away; for them to establish those very Laws for Tythes by which those conscientious men suffered, which laws they so judged in appointing a Committee of their own to send for the prisoners, and examine their cases, who suffered by those laws; which Prisoners so suff [...]ring by those laws, thei [...] Com­mittee so set at liberty as aforesaid, and to or er the Judges to cause such their Order to be read in the Courts at the several assiz Sin this Nation by which the same People were rendered into a ca­pacity of sufferring a new by these very [...]aws which by their former proceedings the Parliament had judg'd so gri [...]vous, and this in the behalf of a generation of men who had been even then designing against them throughout this Naion, by Plot and Force to have overturned them, against ano­ther generation who had stood by th [...]m in that great hour, and were very much inst [...]umental in the overturning of those designs, who also had been alw [...]yes [...]heir sure, tryed, and constant Friends, which the others were not, ( most of them) but the contrary. This was that which displeased the Lord, being an ill r [...]quital of that their wond [...]rful deliverance for the sake of those his people, and caused (among other things) his just hand to bring that Turn upon them, of which I am a witn [...]ss, even of the curse of the Lord, which passed thorough me against them, upon that their Re­solution. and pointed at with the most legible Characters of overturning and Blood, as those, and that which he abhorred; and so lay a bottom for their station, in that unto which is his sore displeasure; That the Lord hath given them the great deliverance: Or, that they should have observed the direction of his provi­dence in laying aside of such Men and things, and the narrowing of All to [Page 36] Truth and Righteousness, the end of his workings, and unto that have taken heed, and on that Basis to have raised in Ho­nesty and Justice, such a Government of the Commmwealth as God would bless. Surely these men, the last and best of them who re­main, have had their Day wherein to know, and to do the things that belong unto their Peace, and the good of the Commonwealth, which the Lord hath given them for that purpose, and to try them also, and to prove them, and to leave them without excuse, who upon proof and tryal having already brought forth the Grapes of Sodom, and the Clusters of Gomorrha; what now re­maineth but a fearful expectation of the speedy and final overthrow of the things that are, which already This the Lord shewed me, even that the Parliament, Council of State, Com­missioners of Sequestrations, and the things that then were, were waxing old, and ready to Vanish; and that this gene­ration of men, (the men then in power) were but as the last blinch of a Candle, and as a little lightening before death; and it is but a very little time, and they are wax­en old, and vanished, (the men then in power and conduct:) And so what he shew­ed me, hath the Lord soon fulfilled; to whom be glory for ever: The rest he will assured­ly accomplish in its season, and the hour is at hand; for it is that which will follow the Revolution of all these things, as certainly as are the Revolutions; which Revolutions he makes for the accomplishing of it, and the things make haste. was old, and are ready to vanish, that he may reign whose Right it is; and he is come to reign whose is the Right, of the encrease of whose Government and Peace there shall be no end, upon the Throne of David, and upon his Kingdom, to order it, & to establish it with Justice and with Judgement, from henceforth even for ever: For He hath tryed all men, and found them wanting: He hath gi­ven a Day to every sort of men; but they have proved faulty, and have turned against Him; Therefore his own Arm will bring to himself Salvation, and his Fury shall sustain him; and none but him, on whose shoulders the Government is laid, who is King of Righteousness, and Prince of Peace, will he trust to rule the Earth, after He hath brought man low, & made him to appear as a thing of nought: For this purpose is he shaking not onely the Earth, but the Heavens also, and bringing great distress, tribulation and anguish, Clouds and thick darkness, even that the desire of all Nations may come and take to himself the Dominion: And he is come, and is ta­king to himself the Dominion, whose Kingdom is an everlasting King­dom; and the Scepter of whose Kingdom is a Scepter of Righteous­ness: On whom we wait; in whom we trust; who will be unto us a City of Refuge in the Day wherein he will punish the Host of the high ones of the earth, and the Kings of the Earth, upon the earth, [Page 37] and will gather them into a Pit: And the Sun shall be confounded, and the Moon abashed; then shall the Lord reign before his Ancients gloriously: And the Day is at hand, even the Day wherein the Lord will come in ten thousands of his Saints, and will execute venge­ance upon all, and convince all that are ungodly among men, of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed; and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him; and every eye shall see him they also which have pierced him; and all kindreds of the Earth shall wail because of him: Even so Amen.

Thus my Friend, thou hast some account of my spirit in this thing, to the end that thou, and the Honorable Woman from whom thou wrotest, and her Husband, ( my dear Friends, to whom is my Love) may see that I slight ye not, but that your kindness is accepted by

To those in the Army and else where, who under the Bur­then of the Night that is come upon them, do cry out, Watchman! What of the Night? Watchman! What of the night? Am I moved of the Lord to write, and it is to them the tender Visitation of his Love. The BURDEN of DUMAH.

DUmah was one of the Cities of the Mountains, in the Land of Canaan, which fell by lot to the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Judah, situate among the uttermost Ci­ties towards the coast of Edom, (which is Esau, Jacob's elder Brother) and bearing the Name of Ismaels sixth Son, who was the Son of Hagar the bond-woman. In the night of the burden of Babylon, when the Watchman was set by the Commandment [Page 38] of the Lord to declare what he saw, after that he had seen a Chariot with a couple of Horse-men; a Chariot of Asses, and a Chariot of Camels, and had hearkened diligently with much heed, and had cried like a Lyon, My Lord! I stand continually upon the watch in the day time, and I am set in my ward whole Nights, and behold there cometh a Chariot of Men with a couple of Horse-men. And after he had answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the graven Images of her Gods he hath broken to the ground. O my Threshing, and the Corn of my Floore! That which I have heard of the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you. He called to me out of Seir, (which is Edom, whither he was gone) Watchman! What of the Night? Watchman! What of the Night? (This in the Letter without, but read in the Spirit within.)

BUt as for you who shall not return to the Lord, nor come to the immortal in you which witnesseth for God, but shall conti­nue to go on in the stoutness of your hearts, and the stubborness of your spirits, in Rebellion against the Lord; know this, not onely what is already, but what is yet to come to pass, of that which I have spoken to you in the Name of the Lord, in the Mene Tekel. Hand­writing sent against you, shall assuredly come upon you, and ye s [...]all know that there hath been a Prophet amongst you; For, our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: A fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the Hea­vens from above, and to the Earth, that he may judge his People. Ga­ther my Saints together to me, those who have made a Covenant with me by Sacrifice. And the Heavens shall declare his Righteousness, for God is judge himself: Selah. Consider this ye that forget God, least he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. And the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy Angels with him, and shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory; and before him shall be gathered all Nations; and he shall seperate them one from ano­ther, as a Shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on his left; and the King shall say to them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, receive the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: And unto them on the left hand, Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels: And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. And so I am clear of your blood.

I beheld till the Thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Dayes did fit, whose garment was white as Snow, and the Hairs of his Head like the Pure Wool: His Throne was like the fiery flame, and his Wheels as burning fire: A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him; Thousand Thousands ministred unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the Judgement was set, and the Books were opened; and another Book was opened, which is the Book of Life; and the Dead were [Page 44] judged out of those things which were written in the Books, ac­cording to their Works. I beheld then, because of the Voice of the great words that the Horn spake; I beheld even till the Beast was slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame▪ And behold, One like the Son of man came in the Clouds of Hea­ven, and came to the Ancient of Dayes, and they brought him next before him, and there was given him Dominion and Glory, and a Kingdom, that all People, Nations, and Languages should serve him; His Dominion is an everlasting Dominion, which shall not pass away, and his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed; and the Kingdom, and Dominion, and greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven, shall be given to the People of the Saint of the Most High, whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all Dominions shall serve and obey him. Amen: Hallelujah, the time is at hand.