I Hope it is not ill taken, that I make no more fre­quent Addresses to the Parliament; things that are of trouble in point of Provision for your Ar­my, and of ordinary direction, I have, as I could, often presented to the Councel of State, together with such Occurrences as have happened; who I am sure, as they have not been wanting in their extraordi­nary care, and provision for us, so neither what they judge fit and necessary, to represent the same to you; and this I thought to be a sufficient discharge or my duty on that behalf.

It hath now pleased God to bestow a mercy upon you, worthy your knowledge, and of the utmost praise and thanks of all that fear and love his Name; yea, the Mercy is far above all praise, which, that you may the better perceive, I shall take the boldness to tender unto you some circumstances accompanying this great Business, which will manifest the greatness and seasonableness of this Mercy: We having tryed what we could to engage the enemy three or four miles West of Edinburgh, that proving ineffectual, and our victual failing, we marched towards our Ships for a recruit of our want; the enemy did not at all trouble us in our Rear, but marched the direct way [Page 4]towards Edinburgh, and partly in the night and morn­ing, slips through his whole Army, and Quarters him­self in a posture easie to interpose between us and our victual; but the Lord made him lose the opportuni­ty, and the morning proving exceeding wet and dark, we recovered by that time it was light into a ground where they could not hinder us from our victual; which was a high act of the Lords Providence to us. We being come into the said ground, the Enemy marched into the grounds we were last upon, having no minde either to strive to interpose between us and our victual, or to fight, being indeed upon this lock, Hoping that the sickness of your Army would render their work more easie by the gaining of time; where­upon we marched to Muscleburgh to victual, and to ship away our sick men, where we sent aboard near Five hundred sick and wounded Soldiers: And upon seri­ous consideration, finding our weakness so to increase, and the Enemy lying upon his advantages; at a Ge­neral Councel it was thought fit to march to Dunbar, and there to fortifie the Town, which we thought, if any thing, would provoke them to engage; as also that the having of a Garison there, would furnish us with accommodation for our sick men, would be a place for a good Magazin (which we exceedingly wanted) being put to depend upon the uncertainty of weather for landing Provisions, which many times cannot be done, though the Being of the whole Army lay upon it; all the Coasts from Leith to Berwick not having one good Harbor, as also to lie more conveniently to re­ceive our recruits of Horse and Foot from Berwick. Having these considerations, upon Saturday the thirti­eth [Page 5]of August, we marched from Muscleburgh to Hed­dington, where by that time we had got the Van-Brigade of our Horse, & our Foot and Train into their Quarters, the Enemy was marched with that exceed­ing expedition, that they fell upon the Rere-Forlorn of our Horse, and put it in some disorder; and in­deed, had like to have engaged our Rere-Brigade of Horse with their whole Army, had not the Lord by his Providence: put a cloud over the Moon, thereby giving us opportunity to draw off those Horse to the rest of the Army, which accordingly was done with­out any loss, save of three or four of our aforemen­tioned Forlorn, wherein the Enemy (as we beleeve) received more loss. The Army being put into a rea­sonable secure posture, towards midnight the Enemy attempted our Quarters on the Westend of Hedding­ton, but (through the goodness of God) we repulsed them. The next morning we drew into an open field, on the Southside of Heddington, we not judging it safe for us to draw to the Enemy upon his own ground, he being prepossessed thereof, but rather drew back to give him way to come to us, if he had so thought fit. And having waited about the space of four or five hours, to see if he would come to us; and not finding any inclination in the Enemy so to do, we resolved to go according to our first intendment to Dunbar: By that time we had marched three or four miles, we saw some Bodies of the Enemies Horse draw out of their Quarters; and by that time our Carriages were got­ten neer Dunbar, their whole Army was upon their march after us; and indeed, our drawing back in this maner, with the addition of three new Regiments [Page 6]added to them, did much heighten their Confidence, if not Presumption and Arrogancy. The Enemy that night, we perceived, gathered towards the Hills, labor­ing to make a perfect interposition between us and Berwick; and having in this posture a great advantage, through his better knowledg of the Country, which he effected by sending a considerable Party to the strait Pass at Copperspeth, where ten men to hinder, are better then forty to make their way: And truly this was an exigent to us, wherewith the Enemy reproach­ed us with that condition the Parliaments Army was in, when it made its hard conditions with the King in Cornwal; by some Reports that have come to us, they had disposed of us, and of their business, in sufficient revenge and wrath towards our persons, and had swal­lowed up the poor Interest of England, believing that their Army and their King would have marched to London without any interruption; it being told us, we know not how truly, by a prisoner we took the night before the fight, That their King was very suddenly to come amongst them with those English they allowed to be about him; but in what they were thus lifted up, the Lord was above them.

The Enemy lying in the posture before mentioned, having those advantages, we lay very neer him, being sensible of our disadvantage, having some weakness of flesh, but yet consolation and support from the Lord himself to our poor weak Faith, wherein I beleeve not a few amongst us shared, That because of their Num­bers, because of their Advantages, because of their Confidence, because of our Weakness, because of our Strait, we were in the Mount, and in the Mount the [Page 7]Lord would be seen, and that he would finde out a way of Deliverance and Salvation for us; and indeed, we had our Consolations and our Hopes. Upon Mon­day Evening the Enemy whose numbers were very great, as we hear about Six thousand Horse, and Six­teen thousand Foot, at least: Ours drawn down, as to sound men, to about Seven thousand five hundred Foot, and Three thousand five hundred Horse; the Enemy drew down to their Right Wing about two Thirds of their Left Wing of Horse, to the Right Wing shogging also their Foot and Train much to the Right, causing their Right Wing of Horse to edge down towards the Sea. We could not well imagine, but that the Enemy intended to attempt upon us, or to place themselves in a more exact condition of inter­position: Major General and my self coming to the Earl of Roxboroughs House, and observing this po­sture, I told him, I thought it did give us an oppor­tunity and advantage to attempt upon the Enemy; to which he immediately replyed, That he had thought to have said the same thing to me; so that it pleased the Lord to set this apprehension upon both of our hearts at the same instant; we called for Colo­nel Monk, and shewed him the thing; and coming to our Quarter at night, and demonstrating our appre­hensions to some of the Colonels, they also chearfully concurred; we resolved therefore to put our business into this posture, That six Regiments of Horse, and three Regiments and an half of Foot, should march in the Van, and that the Major General, the Lieute­nant General of the Horse, and the Commissary Ge­neral and Colonel Monk, to command the Brigade [Page 8]of Foot, should lead on the business; And that Co­lonel Prides Brigade, Colonel Overtons Brigade, and the remaining two Regiments of Horse, should bring up the Canon and Rere; the time of falling on to be by break of day, but through some delays it proved not to be so till six a clock in the morning: The Ene­mies word was The Covenant, which it had been for divers days; ours (The Lord of Hosts) The Major General, Lieutenant General Fleetwood, and Com­missary General Whaley, and Colonel Twisletons, gave the Onset, the Enemy being in very good posture to receive them, having the advantage of their Canon and Foot against our Horse; before our Foot could come up, the enemy made a gallant resistance, and there was a very hot dispute at swords point between our Horse and theirs: Our first Foot, after they had dis­charged their duty, being over-powered with the Ene­my, received some repulse, which they soon recovered; but my own Regiment, under the Command of Lieu­tenant Colonel Goff, and my Major White, did come seasonably in, and at the push of Pike did repel the stoutest Regiment the Enemy had there, meerly with the courage the Lord was pleased to give, which proved a great amazement to the residue of their Foot: This being the first Action between the Foot, the Horse in the mean time did with a great deal of cou­rage and spirit, beat back all opposition, charging through the Bodies of the Enemies Horse and their Foot, who were after the first repulse given, made by the Lord of Hosts as stubble to their swords. Indeed, I believe I may speak it without partiality, both your Chief Commanders, and others in their several places▪ [Page 9]and Soldiers also, were acted with as much courage, as ever hath been seen in any Action since this War: I know they look not to be named, and therefore I for­bear particulars. The best of the Enemies Horse and Foot being broken through and through in less then an hours dispute, their whole Army being put into confusion, it became a total Rout, our men having the chase and execution of them near eight miles; we believe that upon the place and near about it, were a­bout Three thousand slain, Prisoners taken or their Officers you have this enclosed List; of private Soldi­ers near Ten thousand, the whole Baggage and Train taken, wherein was good store of Match, Powder and Bullet, all their Artillery great and small, Thirty Guns; we are confident they have left behinde them not less then Fifteen thousand Arms: I have already brought in to me near Two hundred Colours, which I herewith send you; what Officers of quality of theirs are killed, we yet cannot learn: But yet surely divers are, and many men of quality are mortally wounded, as Colonel Lumsdel, the Lord Liberton, and others; and that which is no small addition, I do not believe we have lost twenty men, not one Commissioned Officer slain that I hear of, save one Cornet, and Major Rooks­by since dead of his wounds, and not many mortally wounded, Colonel Whaley onely cut in the Hand-wrist, and his Horse twice shot and killed under him, but he well, recovered another Horse, and went on in the Chase: Thus you have the prospect of one of the most signal mercies God hath done for England and his People this War. And now may it please you to give me the leave of a few Words, It is easie to say, the [Page 10]Lord hath done this, it would do you good to see and hear our poor Foot go up and down making their boast of God; but Sir, It is in your hands, and by these emi­nent mercies, God puts it more into your hands to give glory to him, to improve your Power and his Blessings to his praise; we that serve you, beg of you, not to own us, but God alone; we pray you own his people more and more, for they are the Chariots and Horsemen of Israel; disown your selves, but own your Authority and improve it, to curb the proud and the insolent, such as would disturb the tranquility of Eng­land, though under what specious pretences soever; relieve the oppressed, hear the groans of poor Pri­soners in England: Be pleased to reform the abuses of all Professions, and if there be any one that makes many poor to make a few rich, that suits not a Com­monwealth. If he that strengthens your Servants to Fight, pleases to give you hearts to set upon these things in order to his glory, and the glory of your Commonwealth, besides the benefit England shall feel thereby, you shall shine forth to other Nations, who shall emulate the glory of such a patern, and through the power of God turn into the like. These are our de­sires, and that you may have liberty and opportunity to do these things and not be hindred, we have been and shall be (by Gods assistance) willing to venture our lives, and not desire you should be precipitated by im­portunities from your care of Safety and Preservati­on; but that the doing of these good things may have their place amongst those which concern well be­ing, and so be wrought in their time and order. Since we came in Scotland, it hath been our desire and long­ing [Page 11]to have avoided blood in this business, by reason that God hath a people here fearing his Name, though deceived; and to that end have we offered much love unto such in the bowels of Christ; and concerning the truth of our hearts therein, have we appealed unto the Lord. The Ministers of Scotland have hindred the Passage of these things to the hearts of those to whom we intended them; and now we hear, that not onely the deceived people, but some of the Ministers are also fallen in this Battel. This is the great hand of the Lord, and worthy of the consideration of all those, who taking into their hands the Instruments of a foolish Shepherd, to wit, medling with worldly policies, and mixtures of earthly power, to set up that which they call the Kingdom of Christ, which is neither it, nor if it were it, would such means be found effectual to that end, and neglect, or trust not to the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit, which is alone powerful and able for the setting up of that Kingdom, and when trusted to, will be found effectually able to that end, & wil also do it. This is humbly offred for their sakes, who having lately too much turned aside, that they might return again to Preach Jesus Christ, according to the simplicity of the Gospel, and then no doubt they will discern and finde your protection and encouragement, beseeching you to pardon this length, I humbly take leave, and rest,