THE Earth is the Lords and the fulnesse there­of, the world and all that dwelss therein: For he hath founded it upon the Seas, &c. The divine goodnes delights to bring forth it selfe in the whole creation: and upon all things stamps his own likenes.

Especially the heavenly man, takes pleasure to bring forth a brief Epitome of himself in his image man: The fa­milies [Page 2]of Heaven have ingraven their likenes upon the Fa­milies of the Earth: The new Jerusalem the City of God, bestowes her shape and beauty upon these Cities: But the highest glory of God in his Kingdome, is drawn forth in the Kingdomes of this world, and therefore they are above all, The Kingdomes of our Lord and of his Christ.

Above all the Nations, this of England (with her two si­sters Scotland and Ireland) is with peculiar favour seperated from the World: Being an Island imbraced with armes and Seas of righteousnesse, peace, safety, and the knowledge of God: The bosome of the earth where the divine glory chu­seth to treasure up his richest Jewels: His private lodging whereinto he delights to retire himself, and out of which he pleases first to arise, and thence to proceed to visit the whole World.

Nothing heer but is spoken by God; made by the Word of God; and doth again speak God. A fruitfull and beautifull Earth, meeting with and married unto a pleasant and pow­erfull Heaven, in a healthfull and temperate Spirit and Ayre doe bring forth abundance of excellent fruit: Especially those rich Flocks of Sheep that cover the Earth, shewes the Soyle to be the Lambs, and to were his Livery; and so to be his Store-house, from whence he will cloath the world with garments of Salvation.

In the disposition of the People of England shine many sparkes and beames of divine majesty, ingenuity and free­dome; gentlenesse and mildnes; zeal and devotion; gravity and wisdome; stoutnes and courage; noblenes, and greatnes of spirit; aptnes for generall and high undertakings: which renders them feard, honored and beloved abroad; and fit instruments of good to the Ʋniverse. As other Nations are furnisht with mines of Gold and silver: England with rich [Page 3]minds full of true worth; indeed a Race and seed of heaven­ly Lords obscured under earthly infirmities, yet so, as their luster doth discover it selfe and shine out.

But that which indeed exalted us to Heaven was this: That this excellent People, in a happy Country, were by the Ministry of mighty Angels, moulded into a govern­ment after the pattern of the highest and perfectest glory of God; in Father, Son and Spirit: Or to make England a hap­py Canaan, Father, Son and Spirit agree together to dwell in it, and to bestow themselves upon it in their severall fulnes: and doe themselves, vail'd and covered over with fleshly formes, unite and govern us in righteousnesse and peace.

First, the Father advances the King in his own likenesse, and by living in him, makes him to be Pater patriae the Fa­ther of his Country: the Head and Supreme: The Husband and Lord of the Kingdome. In him (as in God the Father) is all the Majesty, Honour, Justice and Riches of the King­dome.

• 1. In unity, bound up close in one Person: all in its Center: hence it comes, and hither it returnes.
• 2. In Head and Fountain; the originall from whence honour and justice flowes.
• 3. In Priority or prerogative: in him as highest and Supreme.
• 4. But more hid and deeply conceald, not so outward and visible as in others.

Hence is the King the Anointed of God: God eminently: I said ye are Gods: in nearest conjunction unto God: The greatest representative of God: His Vicegerent: Next un­der God: in immediate fellowship with God: God and the King.

Secondly, The Sonne appears in the People (especially [Page 4]as they are form'd in one Representative the Parliament) and by his fulnesse, makes them the Body of the Head: The Wife, the Spouse; And so gives them all the Majesty, Ho­nour, justice and Riches of the Kingdome: and that that is in the King to be in them.

• 1. Divided and multiplied; not bound up in center, but drawn forth into circumference, and come forth in many.
• 2. In stream, and flowing forth for the use and benefit of others.
• 3. In second place, in subordination to the first.
• 4. Imbodied and drawn forth into open view, more visi­ble and manifest unto others.

Thus are they the Kings yoak-fellows, a meet help & have what ever he hath; his Son and heire. And being raised in­to a Parliament by the Kings Writ, are then fit mediators tween the King and the People: by whom the People offer up gifts to the King, and the King gives favours, pardons, and priviledges to them.

Thirdly, The Spirit the third Person, he by the Law, and by mutuall Covenants bindes these two together, and is the marriage that joynes them, or the house of love in which they both live in peace and happines with each other, and disposes both into a just and equall distance; yet a perfect agreement; or give them both to subsist in proper and di­stinct Rights, and both in union together; that they both fully have what is due to them; and both have what each o­ther have: the same; and that equally without robbery; without injury or wrong to each other. The Law gives to the King his Prerogative, his authority in unity; in Fountain, &c. And diversifying or multiplying give the same in ano­ther way to the body; and yet takes nothing from the King. So gives it to the King as is most advantagious to the body; [Page 5]and so to the body as is most advantagious to the head. The body hath it best in the Kings having of it, with that honour, safety and union as shee cannot have it in her self. And the head hath it best in the bodies having of it with that fruitful­nes and strength that he cannot have it out of them: Yea, in this Spirit and Law, in this bond of perfection they both have it in each other; and could not, nor cannot have it long nor well, if they have it not together. The Royalty of a King as a fountain, freely giving it self into the Authority of Par­liament, as a husband giving himself to his wife: and the Par­liament only being what shee receives from the King; so they mutually nourish, support & uphold each other; and being divided and seperated, they presently wither away and dye. They both have it and both give it; the body gives it to the head, and receives it from the head in severall waies; and this is its life and perfection, that it passes by vines and arteries from one to another, and are knit together by nerves and sinewes; so that what honour the King hath, he gives to his People, and what riches and substance the People had, they gave it to the King: the People honorable in the Prince, and the prince mighty and strong in the People. The body breaths, sees, tasts, &c. in the head; & the head workes, walkes, and digests in the body.

Thus the Trinity are truly The foundamentall Lawe & con­stitution of the Kingdom; which is the cause of ability, strength and peace of the Kingdom: the Pillars that kept it upright: the health and soundne of it, where by it was able to subsist in prosperity, and florish in it self, and to defend and maintain it self against enemies from abroad.

In this estate we for a while flourished and enjoyed a hea­ven upon earth, or an earthly heaven: a sweet figure or sha­dow of the Kingdome of glory: and but a shadow; yet such [Page 6]a shadow as was in union with the substance: King and Peo­ple being knit together by the Spirit, and by the same spirit knit to God & Christ. Such a figure as had the original living in it in infirmity and weaknesse. Twas the true light shining in darknesse; but the darknesse comprehended it not: We knew not our own filicity: God was nigh to us, the Kingdome of God in all his glory was in the mid'st of us and we were not aware of it. The Lord did Reign amongst the Children of men, and they knew it not; while he was present, they set him of a distance; and would not receive their own life: but in enmity did cover the face of God, the majesty and King­dome of God, and gloried in their poor shadow.

Twas a beautifull but earthly vessel raised up for a time, a temporary greatnes, a corruptible Crowne: that we have seen standing and flourishing in prosperity, but its period of happinesse is come: and you shall now see it in its decli­ning, diseased, corrupt estate end falling.

YOu have seen the fair inside of England; now you shall see the filthy outside of it. The holy God took it into conjunction and felowship: now casts it off into rejection and reprobation. In the first, his glory shin'd: in this its abomi­nable wickednesse and wofull ruine appear.

This Heavenly glory, being in love with the earthly sha­dow of it self, desires to approach nearer unto it, and to dwell with it, in a more intire and perfect union, and to swallow it up into it self, that it might no longer subsist out of him, but be found in him: But as God approaches, this earth fled from his brightnes, being a fraid to be swallowed into its own Life: and being weake and jealous of the great love of God; chose rather to continue its old form, and its earthly happinesse. The goodlines and majesty of God was cloathed and hid in this worldly Kingdome; as a treasure in an earthen vessel: Twas his pleasure to break the vessel, to rend and tear the old garment, that he might come forth and cloath that with his glory, that cloathed him with its base­nes: But the Pot-sherd did strive with his Maker, and would not yeeld or offer up it self to God: but doated upon it selfe and its own beauty: Therefore God threw it off into a dark and inordinate idolizing it self: to a worldly and satanicall seperation from God; and love of it self: making it self the substance, and God the shadow; and so grew to an earnest minding of its present happines, and threw off God into a strangenesse and distance; not to be conversed with in this world; but referd him to another; making those two which God hath made one. Hence grew in the whole Nation, King and People in all parts, an eagar love of world­ly things: and as God threatens to take it down, that he might set up the heavenly, so much the more earnestly did they cleave to it, and fall further and further from God, and more and more laboured to load themselves with thick clay; and so the whole Kingdome in opposition to the di­vine will, are in ambition and covetuousnesse set to advance their worldly state: heer is the fatall breach betwixt God and man, twixt Heaven and England.

This breach is made by the Devil, the wicked one, the God of this World: by which the Kingdome is become Satans, and divided from God.

And being thus cut off from its head and life God, it can­not but fall into divisions: The Spirit of God fayling the band of union, it must quickly be in distraction: There was a destroying in the whole; but it first appeared twixt head and body: Thus.

All parts finding their foundation fayling, and some di­sease and disturbance in the body, each begin to stickle for it self and its own interest, as distinct from the other.

The King having a misgiving that his greatnes did not increase, but rather sinck; thirsts after more absolutenesse: thinks it a debasing to his Royalty to have any in conduction with him: as good be no King as to be in dependance upon others: and so growes weary of the Parliament.

The People finding their liberty and priviledge sinking too, begin to be jealous of their Prince; and accounting him a Tyrant, afraid they were going into slavery; finding an ob­struction in the body, that favour did not flow so freely from the head as it use to doe, disdaining to be kept at a distance from Government and the affaires of States; growing impati­ent of the Princes waies, censure his actions, and to have a longing itch after government.

Drawing thus severall waies, there growes of head and members two factions. The Count and Royall, and episcopall party: and the Country People and puritan party: These two grow from jealousies and discontents to malignity one against another; to watch for advantages one against the other, and to seek the advancing themselves and the ru­ining of each other; labouring all that the could to rob each other, and to pull and snatch from each other to [Page 9]strengthen themselves; and so growing to a deadly enmity: and when the body meet in a Parliament, and so head that party, they are strongly divided; and the whole Kingdome being shaken and broken fall to peeces according to the working of their severall and various principles.

To the King goes men of honour, as the Nobility and Gentry much: whose honour is predominate over their reason and Religion. The Episcopall patty being Monarchi­call; growing out of the root of the King; and paternall much the Fathers of the Church; men of implissit Faith, whose con­science is much regulated by their superiours; men that are high and great admirers of Kinglinesse; taken much with that Ordinance of a King. And a vast number of loose men men of no Religion; but the King.

To the Parliament, men who of a lower state, and exerci­sing their own reasons in Religion: zealous and wel-affected People; men of industry and labour, that love freedome and to be somthing themselves: Men whose consciences are their owne and so strict in them: Cities, Corporations, Bodies; and men that highly honour the Parliament; men zealous for generall and common Good.

And by the accesse of these Parties to each other, they are strengthened in their opposition of each other, and fit­ted for their mutuall ruine.

The Kingdome being divided into two par­ties, the King first carries away The Golden ball of Government; who (though taken off, and seperated from his true Basis, The King of Kings) yet is assisted by a mighty Angell, by whose help he rules awhile alone; and with more good, and lesse evill then those that succeed: In which hee appeares in High and masculine vertue: as a Father, mighty, severe, and terrible: The great and undoubted Image of God living in a supremacy, beyond and above all questons; honoured with fear and devotion: But alas, being alone he soon declines, his good Angel leaves him, and so not able long to manage the Scepter; But oppressed with his owne guilt, and the curse of GOD, quickly is forced to resigne it to o­thers.

It hath been the Kings plea That he is accountable for his actions to none but God; and therefore hath frequently in his Declarations appealed from man to GOD. And Divine justice hath reserved your cause to Himself, and kept your Parliament a long while from accusing you of any thing, only charging your instruments. And when they attempted to bring forth any thing against you, as they did in their Declaration upon their Votes to make no more addresses to you: They were manifestly weak and mistaken; and not being [Page 11]to prove any thing, they were forced presently to re­tract what they had done; and shew they produced nothing but their own shame.

You stand therefore before the Throne of God, and are found guilty of transgressing against that foundamental Law from which thou holdest thy Crown, The majestie of God the Father, and hast broke Covenant first, with God, secondly with thy People.

First, Thou haft slain and killed thy Father, The Lord of glory; this is thy Parricide; That the great King lies to this day buried in thee, as in his Sepulcher. That in all thy Reigne, thou hast not suffered the Majesty of God to break forth; but hast smothered and denied his light to shine through thee a­mongst men. Thou hast owned the title and name of the Lords Anointed, CHARLES by the Grace of God, but hast not owned the substance of that Anointing and that Grace.

Hadst thou known and owned that fountain of Divine light and wisdome which lives in thy sacred Head and Breast, Thou wouldest have understood the meaning of that Prin­ciple, The King cannot Erre; and so would'st alwayes walke by a certain and never-failing rule: But thou (forsaking, yea, professing against that Spirit) hast followed the false and crooked rule of thy owne carnall reason, and customes and examples of other Princes, and the dark counsell of poor petty Politicians.

Hadst thou known that Immortal fountain of Majesty, that is in thee, thou wouldest have known the meaning of that position, The King cannot dye; and would never through fear and jealousy fled from thy People and Parliament be­cause of Tumults: Was not that a turning away that Royall face of God that is able to have allayed and still'd the raging of those waves? Had you known that Divine power that is [Page 12]in you, you would have met such tumults, as Christ met those that came to apprehend him; and said as he did, I am he, whom seeke yee? And then you had had the same effect, They would have fallen before you. Or if you had suffered, you had layd down your Crown in dishonour, it would have been raised in honour as his.

But to fly to a place of strength, Digbies counsell, who taught Majesty to Digge, to earth it selfe into by and indi­rect paths of darknesse. Ther's no place of strength equall to your owne Royall heart: It was to teach the Sun to hide it selfe in the earth for fear of clouds, or to depart from his sphere to avoyd mists. Or hadst thou lived in the Anointing that is in thee, thou hadst not needed to have feared, or de­nied the high demands of thy subjects seeking thy prero­gatives from thee, or the diminishing thy greatnes by it; but mightest have freely powred forth to much honour as would have burst them if they had been corrupt and wick­ed in their designe; or it would have assured thee that there is such a Sun of Majesty in thee, as could not be lesse by shin­ing upon them; and that Majesty is not in titles, names, customes, the power of a Militia; but naturally inhe­rent in thee, fixt and sure as God, and so inseperable from thee.

It was meanesse and poornesse of spirit that did not give more fully then they could ask, and so have over-come them; or if thou hadst made them Kings, thou hadst been, as truely thy coppy is, KING of KINGS; so that in­deed thy Error hath been, Thou hast not been Ma­jesticall enough: or lived in the height and absolutnesse of God.

Secondly, When thou hadest broken the bond of u­nion twixt the Eternall and thy Kingdome, by which [Page 13]thy Kingdome was become a Kingdome of darknesse, a Worldly one; and so ruled by the god of this World, the Devill.

Thou hast in opposition to the judge of all men con­tended to the uttermost to uphold and maintain that vaine Idoll, and false power, when the holy one hath sent out Watchers to destroy it, and hast Pertenaciously refused to give it up to bee slain by Gods justice: The more God shewed himselfe against it to breake it, the more didst thou persist in striving for it: And not committing it to him whose it first was, and from whom thou didst receive it, hast gon into base, carnall and filthy waies to preserve it: This is the reason that a long time thou hast run a course of weak, dark and black waies, being lead about by Satan at his pleasure.

It was this that sent thee in secret waies to beg aide and assistance of Forraign Princes, and not of Princes only, but by thy agents hast unworthily sought to private persons for reilefe, the almes houses, called religious houses.

Thou hast been dealing in a close and under-ground way with the Bloudy Irish and that party; Hast wander­ed from thy steadinesse, to all interests and parties in Scotland and England, and so been forced to most un­stable and unequall shifts, denying thy actions, false saying and swaring, to various formes and shapes, to save thy Worldly Greatnesse from Divine ju­stice.

Thou in pursuance of it hast pawned thy word, engaged thy estate, thy Crown, jewells, undone thy friends; and al these things eaten up with contending against a curse doomd by God; not knowing yet, that he that saveth [Page 14]his Crown, shall lose it, and hee that loseth it now shall save it.

As thou hast sinned against the holy God, so against thy People, and hast fail'd in thy Government towards them; not answering your heavenly pattern and founda­mentall Law.

First, Thou hast not lived with thy wife, thy body, the People in the love of a Head: Thou shouldst have loved her as Christ loved his Church, and gave himselfe for it, to sanctify it &c. Tis true thy spouse was unclean, proud, high in demands, striving with thee; the true way to have washt her was to have given thy self freely for her. Thy Majestie envied while detain'd from her; If it had been shed-abroad amonst them would have heald their distempers, and pierced and overcome their hearts.

Thou hast slighted and neglected thy body, not honoured her; and hast with-held thy selfe and thy favour from thy People in Generall, and hast narrowed thy selfe into a few friends, and hast heaped all thy favours upon them. Thou hast broken the Marriage knot, and hast accepted others into thy wives bed to be sharers in thy Government. Thou hast refused thy Parliament, and hast admitted into thy bosome and heart of Government, thy Wife, a Woman a Stranger; thy minions, favourites and friends, Thats thy owne and her Adultery: Heerin thou hast prostituted thy Royalty to every flatterer, and given the swaying of the great affaires of your Kingdome, to private and inferiour persons, who have brought forth, instead of Noble and Righteous Lawes, a brood of low jugling tricks, a rabble of Monopolies, Pattents and such brats. True, thou hast exactly served thy personal relations, a loving Husband, a tender Father, a constant Friend; but hast been short in thy Office as a Prince; the [Page 15] greatnesse of a KINGS heart hath been shrunke up and wi­thered into the nature of a private man: And thy private and Domesticall state hath drowned thy Publike and Royall.

As thou hast been defective in love and faithfullnesse, so in sufficiency and ability of a Head: Thou hast not dwelt with her as a man of knoweldge. There hath been in the Nati­on many high and strong workings of spirit towards a grea­ter perfection in Religion and Justice, which (though ming­led with many unholsome vaporus, and clog'd with great weaknesse) might by an able head have been digested (the evill being purged out) into good spirits, advantagious for the further grouth and increase of the body; These are spilt, and for want of wisdome to manage them, the Kingdome spilt with them.

This Nation was of a fruitfull and teeming constituti­on, apt to bring forth gallant and noble increase of light, knowledge, government; great improvement in vertue: which you in weaknesse of fear and jealousy laboured to stifle, and in a superstitious opinion of former times, confine this age to their example: And being shy, and not under­standing the waies of God, have left the body to her self, or to other persons; whence ariseth this hideous and misshapen birth, in Church and Common wealth. This universall dis­order and confusion, which the wisdome only of the Head, and Father of the family can, or could, prevent.

Ile but adde this one, When thou hadst provoaked thy Parliament into a distemper by thy mis-government, and e­strangeing thy self from her; then un-naturally, un-Kingly, irrationally, un-christianly, to forsake her, & betake your selfe to force; an act so full of folly, revenge, so unbelieving, so unlike God as along time durst not look up, would not bee [Page 16]confest: This cropt the sweet flower of Englands peace, broke that great vein from whence such streames of bloud have flowed.

In sum, The majesty, justice, mercy and goodnes of the great God hath not been held forth in thy Government: but hid and buried in thee: their appearing visibly in thee nothing but the weaknes, inconstancy, injustice, and op­pression of vile man.

Your evils have been great, and so are your Judgements: you are fallen into a deep pit of misery: the chief offender, and the chief sufferer: great now in nothing but in losse and affliction.

You have slain the Kingly glory, or the true glory of a King; and therefore your Authority and dominion must needs die: you have laboured to save an earthly greatnesse against Heavens displeasure; the onely way to have it ruin'd: to expose it to a multitude of stroakes of warth.

You have divided your self from your People, your Par­liament, and so they become of a help, a plague to you, and are by others rent and detained from you. You Idolized your Wife and friends, and are therefore seperated from them. Blasted and accursed in all your attempts. Your King­dome is full of miseries, and you the Center of them all, and must bear in all and for all: Become the shame of the World, by horrid confusion and distraction. Deprived of all power of dominion. Thy Revenue and dignity shared by others. The majesty of thy Government like a Potters vessell dasht in peeces into Committees; &c. Thy Mame wounded, yea, bu­ried under foul and black oblique: become the scorne of Pampletters: Thy Prerogatives and the highest priviledges of the Crown, banded and tossed about the King­dome [Page 17]in the mouthes and hands of common men.

When thou hadst left the Lord thy stabillity, see what a race of misery thou hast run: When thou didst leave the Parliament, and wentest into the North; Thy Sun set, and a­nother rose in England: From that time its a dark night with majesty; & Kinglinesse is laid upon a sick bed, and those No­bles & gentlemen like blazing torches attending upon you: All your waies then were weak, faint, sick-snatches at a Crown, unnaturall and violent, striving after a fading glory, while your Kingdome lay wallowing in its own bloud: At last the Lamp wants Oyle, and Majesty dies and gives up the Ghost; when you left your Regalia, your Seal▪ Crown, Councel &c. at Oxford; now you indeed put of the state of a King, and in the condition of a private person, wander as a spirit in the Ayre, till at last found in the North Apud inferos: thrown amongst those leane hungry hagges the Scots, who greedily devour this sweet morsel, a King: and in their ambitious and covetous lusts prey upon him. Forced amongst those that he had little before proclaimed traytors and enemies to his Crown and dignity, and were devils in his thoughts to him. heer he is for a while tormented; mockt with the title of a King, but indeed a Captive; nipt, scurged and lasht with their rebukes; tempted to blaspheme God in his own Royaltlty: and at last valued at lesse then his quoin; sold for mony into another hell.

He is resigned up into other hands, Commissioners of the Parliament, where he is again to be squeesd and wrackt by Propositions to give up the heart of Regall power: ground tween the Milsiones of both Nations: not admitted to come to his Parliament; but Holdenby; thrust into a corner while others frolick in his Dominion.

Now hurried into another hell; snatched out of this as [Page 18]too honorable, and taken away by agitators and common souldiers: They must have their turn to vex this peece of mi­sery; They that had often chased him, pursued him with death, he must be their prey, and be carried about as Army baggage: They now will have the moulding of him, and will cut out a new garnent of Royalty to cover his nakedness, But tis shrunk in the making, and they have disposed of the cloth to their own turnes.

Poor wretch, frighted from hence by a new and strange fiend to Regallity, Levellers: and after another Pilgrimage, he arrives at the Isle of Wight; where he is again Imprisoned. Labouring to please his masters, studying how to content all parties, and seeking favour and relief of all, not forbearing (being in great torment) to ask the Levellers, a drop of water to coole his tongue.

At last the pit shuts her mouth upon him in the Par­liaments Votes to make no more addresses to him; which is confirmed by the power of the Army; and so for­ever rejected as an abominable thing, never to be medled with.

WHen the King had involved himselfe in difficulties and weary of toyling, to extaicate himselfe, hee seeks at length to lay down his head in the lap of the Parliament, and [Page 19]to seek help of his owne Spouse to compose the disorders of his Family.

And the Parliament appeares at first, assisted by a love­ly and sweet Angell, as the tender Mother of all our liberties, as the womb in whom our Civil rights lay; as Jerusalem that is from above, the Mother of us all: having the face of Jesus, a sa­viour from all our troubles; speaking nothing but a generall and universall love, and a care of all; as a rich treasury full of all blessings that might make us happy: But that Angell leaving her, she quickly discovers her weaknesse and inabi­lity, and sinks into confusion under her sins, and Divine displeasure.

Your evils are against Christ, against the King, and against the People.

Chiefly against your Fundamentall Law, Christ the Sonne of God, who is in you, and with you, and you know him not; yea, deny him, and in expresse words, scorne his Spirit. You some times profess for the King­dome of Christ, but do indeed put him to open shame; burying the Wisdome, Beauty, Righteousnesse of Christ; and hold­ing forth visibly nothing but an abominable heap of folly, disorder and unrighteousnesse: you are indeed the seat of all the fullnesse of Christ, the house of God where God would dwell; and so a body of Heavenly wisdome, religion, justice, goodnesse, and everything that is Excellent: But you have departed from this principle, yea, wholly kild it; and walk after the imaginations of your owne hearts, af­ter the customes of men; yea worse, after the will and minde of others; not following the stable rule, The Lord; you are become subject to People, City, Scots, Army, any.

And having lost the true life and spirit of a Parliament, [Page 20]the presence and Majesty of God; you are become a dead Idol, standing in the power of darknesse, in direct oppositi­on to God: This poor empty name, this vanity do you with all your might maintain, zealous for your Priviledges, as if all happinesse lay in them; and while you labour to uphold them, you doe most destroy them; selling your selves for relief in any danger to any that can but seeme to help you; making your selves cheap and common, mercenary; and so the great betrayers of your own rights.

In your rebellions against the holy God you have trod­den in the steps of your Father the King, and in his may see your own iniquities.

But particularly, You are guilty of hipocrisy and deceit in that great pretence of Reformation, seeing such a spirit acting in the People, to keep them sure to you; and by that to gaine advantage against your adversaries: you assume this title, The Cause of God, and Reformation; without either love to it, or judgement to know how to go about it.

Tis known you are men your selves unreformed, men of corupt and loose lives; and that whereupon yon in­sist most, you are most guilty of, Arbitrary power; every one being in dispose of his estate a Tirant, and wrack­ing Tennants according to his own will; which is the ge­nerall sin of the Nation, every one labouring to oppresse o­thers to advance himselfe: And since you came together walking in a continuall course of illegall and arbitrary po­wer. You are grosly ignorant of the Heavenly King­dome, The true Patterne out of which the Kingdome was taken and form'd, and into which it must bee Re­formd.

As you want judgement, so want you power, ha­ving trampled under your feet the power and Spirit of Christ, your Ordinances are all spiritlesse, weake and despi­cable.

But having layd this Egge of Reformation, you make this use of it, When you want an Army to help you, you carry it to Scotland to bee hatched there; and thence it brings forth an imperfect, earthy, crawling Cockatrice, Presbytery, which never yet did any good, but vex the Na­tion and help your friends to get into fat livings: And be­cause you want the help of active men heer of different judgements, they sit upon the Egge, and bring forth liber­ty of conscience, and with it, a monstrous heap of mis­shapen errors and opinions; which you cannot suppresse by conviction, nor dare restrain by power.

The Church, tis true, was extreamly corrupted, full of tyranny, darknesse, worldly pride, and great disorder; But you have brought nothing to it but utter ruine and defacement: Not having that Spirit of judgement and burning, to seperate twixt the precious and the vile in E­piscopacy &c. you have in a blinde conformity with Scotland, and to supply your own needs of their lands, untter­ly demolisht all.

Your errors against the King are, not following your foundamentall constitution; He a Husband, you his body; he a Father, you a Son.

Hee being plunged in his government, and in necessity, [Page 22]he cals you together and seeks your help; which was a fair opportunity for you by fair carriage and dutifulnesse to regain his restranged heart: but you grow upon his necessi­ties, and in stead of insinuating into him by love, you at first rigidly and harshly capitulate for priority and privi­ledge; and fell into a violent and illegall forcing, the sword, the Militia, out of his hands; a strange and un-naturall con­test (having no other bottom but jealousy and feare of suf­fering) for the Wife or Sonne to disarme the Husband or Fa­ther. You have unkindly, unjustly requited his error: who would have Reigned without you, made you ciphers, and kept the substance of Government from you. You deal so with him, would take all power from him, and leave him to be a state ceremony, a great nothing; a gaudy thing set out with Titles, for pomp and fashion sake to be looked upon; a servant having power to doe neither good nor hurt. And that which every man as a man contends for, to be Arbitrary, or to have the exercise of his will, without which we are the greatest slaves in the World; that is wholly denied him in Govern­ment. Your endeavours is to imprison the Throne; to infeeble your Lord, and disable him from doing the Kingdome any good: such an empty weak thing, would be a heavy curse to the Nation; a dishonour and shame to you, and that which you would quickly be weary of.

Tis most true you have Royalty in you in the second place, being bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh; the expresse image of his person: but to set up this above the head, or by this to thrust out the other, is falshood, and disloyalty to your head: That any thing in you should live in distinction from, or opposition to your head and Father; tis to commit Adultry with your selves, or shadow of your Lord: to fashion up a notionall King amongst your selves.

When he was departed from you, you should even to death have followed him: and not rejoyced in his absence, and shut the door upon him: all jollity, mirth and confidence in his going was un-naturall: Then your civill life and glory went; and it had been your way to have lost your selves with him; or to have sat as widow till you had recovered him.

When there was in him a minde of returning, as at Not­ingham, you should then have opened your hosomes to him: but having possession of all in your hands, you were high, peremptory, churlish and froward towards him, and so refu­sed him,

He hath done you wrong, and since offered you satisfacti­on, which you have not accepted: but require unjust and unreasonable tearmes: he offended in personall acts; but you insist upon hereditary satisfaction from him and his Chil­dren: He hath offended himselfe, and suffers for it: but you would have restitution from the Office, which is Gods, and that never offended. You have quite lost that reverence and honour that is due to him, and look not upon him as he is in the Book of God: you Lord and Head, and his Anointed: ne­ver minding God in him (though buried under a heap of drosse) and so never durst put any confidence in him or in the Divine Ordinance: but looking upon him through the Glasse of your own weak jealousies and feares, in which he is still presented to you, as a black▪ f [...]ul mischievous person: you count it the greatest safety to keepe at distance from him.

To satisfy the People and your owne consciences, you promised to make him the greatest Prince in the World; and alwaies swore and Covenanted to defend his Person, honour, &c. and since you have conquered his Ar­mies, [Page 24]and gotten all into your possession there appears no­thing but high neglect or him: instead of putting any ho­nour on him; because he doth not tamely sit down under your weak and absurd frame of government, of Church and common wealth; you imprison his person and honour.

You have greatly transgressed against the People who have intrusted you.

You have by your folly and weaknesse, and unworthy managing that trust committed to you; betrayed the ho­nour and greatnesse of Parliaments into scorne and con­tempt, and for ever (except the hand of God wonderfully appear) ruind and destroyed, the Kingdomes great interest and the Peoples right, a Parliament.

You have grosly disowned the People of England, and have been led after others to save your selves; becoming not ours, but now the Armies; then the Cities; then the Scots Parliament.

You are cut off and dis-joynted from us; making use of us for no other purpose, but to bear your intolerable bur­dens of Excise, Taxes &c. by which yon have almost wast­ed us; and minde onely your selves: we receive not acts of favour, justice, Peace or honour from you: you doing no­thing effectually but reward your own Members: suck and draw into your selves, the honour, wealth and places of the Kingdome: the whole Kingdome languishing in misery; you onely and some few of your creatures getting wealth: Not a Parliament; but a trade now, a great Menopoly of honour, wealth, Law, dignity, and every thing that's good in the Nation.

You never would or durst suffer any thing for us; if you would (as by right you should) have suffered for the People, we might have been saved from ruine; but you constantly a­void [Page 25]it in your selves and expose us to it: so cowardly that you dare not stand by your own Ʋotes, Ordinances, Princi­ples; but upon all occasions for fear disert them, justice and us.

Wee charge you with weaknesse and inability to manage the affaires in your hands; for want of judgement and sore-sight, you have brought your selves into a maze of confusion, and know not which way to go either backwards or forwards, and so will lose your selves and us at last in a wildernesse of woe and perplexity.

As you waste our estates, so are you prodigal of our bloods; you never were tender enough of peace; but too forward in war. As the King was guilty of beginning; so you of uphold­ing the plague of war: as not in seeking peace, so not in ac­cepting of it when it was offered: especially in continuing of an Army in the Kingdom when there was no enemy to hurt; wherein you shewed your distrust of Gods protection; & the Peoples affection: your feeling the guilt of your unreasonable and unjust Government; which made you keep up force to de­fend your Turkish Tyranny. This being certain, publicke ju­stice & righteousnes requires no protection but it self in a King­dom Had you universally distributed right to all, and establish­ed peace and righteousnes you needed no force. So that as the King begun the former, you are the beginners of the se­cond war in England, and so guilty of the blood that is shed.

Your grosse and constant breach of faith and Covenant with all; whereby the Faith of the Kingdome is become a scorne and reproach; and our expectations of good from you are continually frustrated: and for all our losses of estate and blood we are repayd with nothing hut shamefull con­fusion in Church and common wealth.

NO Error can be small in a Parliament; yours have been exceeding great: and great evils must bring great Plagues: and your evils hold propor­tion with your sins and standing; the greatest e­vils that can befall such a body as you are.

Along while you have laboured under the disease and distempers of blindnesses, malice, frightings, faction, &c. wasting by them into faintnesse and feeblenesse; and carri­ed into many indirect and false waies: but at last comes your dissolution, when you were rent and torne a peeces by women and boyes, Apprentices: forced by them to their plea­sure, and so broken into two peeces, one part flying, and a­nother part staying, and both in armes one against another; shewing by open war your former inward contests: so bro­ken as none could tell which was the Parliament: neither part (being in deed but parts) able to challenge the being of the whole Parliament: the standing peece pretends most right; but the other the best sword: this breach not heald, but smothered up: as they were broken, so composed by force: and so to this day they stand not a naturall, free; but a violent forced Parliament: not bottomb'd upon Christ, or standing up­on the Pillars of the Kings writ, the Peoples free choyce, and their own joynt consent; but as an accursed broken Idoll; up­held by necessity and Armies force, and in professe enmity [Page 27]one against another: A body of death in the Kingdom of darknesse, subsisting and acting in Satan; standing not to save the Nation; but to be a parpetuall plague to themselves and o­thers. They have the nature of hell, a civill hell, full of grosse darknesse; in chaines of darknesse; in such a thick mist they cannot tell how to take one right step, but tis into misery; void of true wisdome; all their actions poor petty shifts, weak devices, improper, independent, irrational things. Alrea­dy miserable, undone, labouring under their own & the Na­tions ruin: but so incompassed with misery, that attempting to get out, they meet with greater. The destroyer hath the upper hand of them and is their master; they are in a pit of destruction, and so shut up that that which should save them is destruction to them. If they look to the King; their evill consciences (the great difference tween him and them) as­sures them if he come to have power will be revenged of them.

If they look to the People, they are fild with indignation against them. If to the Army, thats misery enough to have the sword to be their Lord; they know they then must be their slaves; twere well they could not be; but thats dread­full too; and therefore they must continue, in the great wrath of an angry God, who hath left them, & given them up to this wretched state; blasted & accursed in every thing they take in hand: setting a stamp and marke of dispeasure upon all their undertakings; every thing that come forth from them, sign'd with vengeance, that we may reade vanity and death upon all that passes from them; and so cold and ineffectuall that its buried in neglect, as soon as tis brought forth. In great shame and confusion, fallen from great honour and Majesty, to be the scorne and contempt of the meanest People; utter­ly spoyld of all renown, and laid open to the revilings of the [Page 28]basest. And in hideous confusion, not knowing where they are; how they come in, or which way to get out; not know­ing the state of the Kingdome, or their own affairs; fallen in­to a vast wildernesse of numberlesse evils, not knowing how to settle King, People, Army or any on peece in his right place.

In perpetuall distraction and division, continually gri­ped and paind with the rending of their own bowels being tormentors to themselves, they need not others to mischiefe them; if they were alone they would continually mischiefe themselves: they are in perfect hatred, and deadly feare one of another: and broke and shattered into such variety of factions that they can't handsomly side; but every side hath his subdivisions; and so his owne side (when he hath joyned to ruin others) will ruin him.

There is this of hel too, They are restlesse; perpetually agitated and tossed about from side to side, from party to party; from one thing to another: full of contradiction to themselves; drunke with the wine of the wrath of God, they reele and stag­ger to and fro from one thing to another: condemn a thing for Treason one while justify it another: a King and no King; Vote and un-vote; and that not in triviall, but in the weightiest things of the Kingdome, childishly and miserably uncertain.

Thus are you, of a remedy, become a wofull disease; of Saviours, destroyers of Church and Common-wealth. Our great fence against tyranny and oppression, become the strength of tyranny and opression. Mighty and strong in nothing but to keep misery and destruction together that it leave us not. Evil imbodied; ruine form'd into a state; wick­ednesse in a Law; all folly and confusion inthroning it selfe; securing it felse; and sitting in the great Councell of Parlia­ment to contrive for the People new vexations.

This is your doom, For leaving the light and wisdome of the Lord Jesus, and for exalting your selves above him, left in wrath, cast off, and become the Kings, your own, and the peoples hell.

HAving seen the sin & judgement of these two great earth­ly powers, let us descend lower and view the People of Eng­land as they are divided by these two heads King and Parlia­ment, into two streames, Round-heads and Cavailiers.

You are both deeply guilty of the evil of both your heads, and therefore justly fall into the same condemnation: look up­on your King, and in him see your transgressions, and propor­tionably your sufferings from a righteous God. Look you upon your Parliament, and in them behold your wickednesse, and your just afflictions: you have joynd your selves to them, or leand upon them, and are fallen with them; or you upheld them and sup­ported them in their wicked waies, and they are fallen with al the burthen of Gods wrath upon you, and so breake you to peeces.

But particularly, and besides theirs, you are guilty,

First of the same things in a lesser way: You are tyrants and oppressors in your estates, in your families; as husband & wife, father and children; and do all live, not in the light of God and Christ, but in the darknes of Satan and this world: & if you had not a generall, you would be devoured with private vexati­ons; the same evils being broken forth upon the world in fami­lies, trades, bargains; deceits, cosonage, suites, strife, warrs, jarres, differences; & if the light of God appear not for your deliverance [Page 30]you will bee utterly ruined, and the joy and comfort of these things utterly wasted; for the whole frame of things is out of course, and there is secret curses stolne into all rela­tions and things; which much shakes and distracts, though not quite over-throwes their peace.

There is in your taking of parts, blinde zeale, igno­rance of God and of the Kingdomes constitution, and grosse Idolizing man. Every one hurrying on in his way without judgement or consideration; forgetting God and making flesh your arme; mad of your particular Idols, KING and Parlia­ment, which now you see are empty, vaine and helplesse things.

In taking sides, you are carried much by sinister and by respects, each seeking to make himselfe something by the warre, and to advance themselves whil'st they seeke to ad­vance their party; all aiming at a worldly and carnall ease, prosperity, and preferment; and while you strived to ex­alt your selves, you have lost the ground and foundation of all your hopes; and every one seeking to make himselfe some­thing, hath made the whole nothing; in seeking to adde to what you had, you have lost the whole.

There was also much revenge, bloudy malice against your neighbours, and malignancy against each other; thirsty after the ruine of each other, and glad of oppertunities of doing mischief one against another.

And for these wicked things are become partners in the misery of the King and Parliament; as you have their and your owne sinnes, so you suffer their and your owne plagues: Their destruction is yours, you can't but be miserable in their misery; in their divisions your very hearts are divided; The very foundations are out of course; and you are left in a state of calamity without meanes or hopes of re­covery.

Besides, The wrath of God is daily wasting of you, and you are wasting one another; the Nation becoming such a hel of confusion, that men are Divels one to another; maligning and hating each other to death: These waies would utterly waste you if you had ten thousand times more then you have. The fruit of all your long labours sweept away from you in a moment by mischievous villains; to have your bread taken from you, and your selves, and wives and children ti­rannized over by free quarterers.

Honest industry quite discouraged, being almost use-less: most men that have estates betrayed by one side or other, plundered, sequestered. Trading (the life and subsistance of thousands) decaying, eaten up with taxes: your poor rea­dy to famish, or to rise to pull reliefe from the rich mens hands by violence: the heavens and earth jarring in unsea­sonable weather; and summer and winter fighting together, and invading each others quarters; which threatens famine upon you. Squeesd by taxes, wrack'd with war, the anvill indeed of misery, upon which all the stroakes of vengeance fall. A wofull Nation! once the freest people in the world, now the veriest slaves: slaves not to one, but to many Ma­sters; and those many, of various and different tempers: by whom you are forced to be sometimes one way, sometimes another. And the Church, which is the joy of Saints, strange­ly confounded; that none almost knows his owne, or his Neighbours Religion; in such a mist of darknesse are you.

THe Clergy (so called) have a great hand in the evills of these times, and require an especiall discovery; But I purpose more fully herafter to open the state of the Church, and to shew the particular evils and good of every sect, with their defects, the reason of their difference: and so re­duce them all to their proper place and order; which is the true vniformity; And therefore, shall only at this time take notice of them briefly, and as respecting these evill distractions.

The Clergy are deeply concernd, and especially eyed by Divine justice: a corrupt generation, and horribly de­parted from their Lord and Rule, Christ.

The Son of God, the Prophet, the Prest, the Bishop, is the life, original and true patterne of al Ministry: And there is no true office that Christ doth not constitute by his owne presence, nor no right dispensation of that office, if Christ himselfe do not administer, and be the thing administred; and therefore all others are Antichristian and Babylonian, In whom the Spirit and power of the Holy Anointing lives not.

Its true that the Clergy of England, all sorts of them that have appeared upon this preset stage; Episcopacy, Presbytery [Page 33]and Independency have their particular excellencies from particular Angels assisting them. The Bishops grave, Ma­gisteriall Authoratative Honourable; and having im­printed upon them a dark and earthly form of Christ, The great Bishop; and of him in his Lordly, or Royall priest-hood as he is exalted.

The Presbyters being laborious, painfull, zealous, ear­nest, affectionate; carrying an image of the Elders and A­postles of the Church.

The Independent delighting in a more particular and intire union with his people, of greater strictnesse and exact­nesse; and personal care of his flock; is more truely in the Pastors or Teachers place: But they are all earthly and car­nall, darkning the true light of Christ in their ministry; and holding forth the name of Christ, but not the power; but their owne parts, opinions, readings, humane and weak affections: yea have wickedly departed from their Master, and do not worship in the Temple, in Heaven, in the new Je­rusalem; but in Aegypt and Babylon of this world, where the Lord is crucified: and stand at a distance from, and enmity to the Spirit of Christ. They professe Christ in their way; that is in enmity to him, they professe they are not with him nor he with them; glory in their shame, which is a Worldly, and a Devillish life. They are ignorant of heaven; came not from heaven; are not in heaven; neither returne they to hea­ven: they judge not things in the light of heaven, nor know things as they are in the booke of life, the Scriptures of truth; as they are in the Spirit of God; but as they are written, and spoken of in the world: and so are blinde guides, and have led the blinde people of this Nation into a ditch of de­struction on all sides.

Their great unlikenes to Christ appeares in these things,

First, Christ is Anointed with the Spirit of God: he is sent of God; he comes from the Father: Hath all power given him in Heaven and Earth: But these men all of them, derive not their ministry but from men: at best according to the out­ward fashion of the letter of the Word, and so from Paul &c. and that they follow most lamely, and so far only as serves their turne; taking indeed their ministry themselves from their earthly Fathers, according to the customes and traditi­ons of men: & therefore have no power at all but the power of their own reason, which being weaknes it self, they present­ly run to the power of the Magistrate, and strengthen them­selves with that, whithout which they are most con­temptible and despisable things. The Bishops, take away the King and what becomes of them? The Presbyters if the Par­liament fail, they fall into the ditch.

Secondly, Christ emptied himself and became of no repu­tation; took upon him the form of a servant: but these men are one all sides stickling for worldly greatnesse; contending by all waies of cunning and policy to raise themselves to the highest point of preferment, in their severall spheres, plead­ing for their honour from the People, urging and forcing from the People respect to the Ministers: each party in their seasons labouring might and main, with blood, to uphold that inte­rest in the Nation, that they have gotten; and pressing upon mens consciences to fight for Religion, which is, their means, places, honours and safeguards.

Thirdly, Christ fore-told and desired his sufferings: The Baptisme that he was to be baptized with. But these men never knew their own or the Kingdomes sufferings, to give or take warning: but fild with the visions of their own hearts, prophe­sie pleasing things in their seasons: The glory of the Church; blessed times; great and wonderfull things. And if their suffe­rings [Page 35]hath been declared to them by God, they would not hear it; but as Peter, in his satanicall pride: Master be it far from thee: and when they had gotten into the mount of Court and Parliament favour, then they cry, Its good to be heer; ab­horring the thoughts of suffering: And would be reigning upon the Throne, before they touch upon the Crosse. These carnall Gospellers are in all their thoughts enemies to the Crosse of Christ.

4. Christs Ministry was glory to God on high: on Earth Peace, &c. But these mens is glory to themselves, and to their King and their Parliament, and for want of this a sword, fighting; like Satans Priests, Preaching and speaking the fire of their rage; Pulpit incendiaries; pronouncing curses and judgements upon their brethren, and so giving them up to the sword of one another. Priests indeed; not to offer up their honours, places, preferments and lives to purchase peace a Christ did: and they should. But have offered up the Kingdome a Sacri­fice to their own blinde zeale and carnall lusts together. In stead of standing in the gap, have made a gap; and increa­sed the divisions of the times; casting not water to quench; but Oyle to inflame the differences of the Nation: not lay­ing down their lives, but seeking the lives of others to serve their ends.

Fifthly, Your bitter and violent persecuting each other when you have gotten power into your hands. You have been in your severall seasons the ruine of each other; deny­ing each other subsistance, or the exercise of each others gifts: Far from the love of Christ or his People. Paul in case of greater difference then these outward formes of Govern­ment, wish'd himself accursed for his brethren: but you in the spirit of Satan, blaspheme and curse one another: Both upon false and alike hipocriticall grounds. The Bishops pre­tending [Page 36]tending the peace of the Church, conformity, Oath, subscrepti­on, obedience to the Kings Lawes. And the Presbyters, Refor­mation, Covenant, uniformity, and obedience to the Parliaments Ordinances: but mainly tis your intolerable pride, that can­not bear any to dissent from you: a conscience guilty of your own weak foundation; that makes you fear that every one will supplant you: and earnest contending for self-honour, self-security; and wicked malice against your Bre­thren.

They are but fellow servants, not judgess as they pre­sume though they beat their fellows. Both servants, living at a distance from God; in the World; not upon the Throne in Heaven: and but fellowes; set each to do their severall works in their severall waies, and that much upon equall tearmes: though they admire themselves, and think highly of them­selves, and despise others as of no use.

But of the two, its most strange to see the Presbyterian, who the other day was opprest by the Bishop for his consci­ence in point of Sabbath, &c. who could not long since live without the favour of the Bishop; should now thrust out those (under whom he lived) for not taking the Covenant; which is contrary to their conscience; and shew lesse favour to them then he received from them; and doe that which he condemned in others; and this upon weak and fleshly grounds; admiring his own way, which is to pray and preach longer and more then another: to be strict in repetitions on Sab­bath daies, and some such poor, formall things: To set up this as the power of godlinesse and reformation, to the ruine of another who it may be is a man of more justice, ability, and wisdome; more sobriety; more stability; more patience, and constancy in suffering. The persecution of the Bishop was wicked and abominable: but this being now acting [Page 37](and the other part and almost blotted out and forgotten by their sufferings) is especially to be noted.

Did these men live in the largnesse of heavenly love that comprehends all these parties; and in the light and wisdom of God, who brings forth all these out of himself, and for his own holy purpose manages all in order. The Bishops and the Presbyters might agree, as well as Christ and the Apostles: and be so far from destroying, as they would support each other; did they know that heavenly order, that is in divine things, they might live in as sweet a fellowship, as the one throne of Christ and twenty four Thrones of the Elders or Pres­byters, Rev. 4. All three might live in one Family, as elder and yonger brethren; as Fathers, children and grand-children; who while they live in Satan the accuser, and in the dark­nesse of the World, they oppose and destroy each other.

You are worldly; live in the World, and suffer the calami­ties of the World: and are partners, great sharers in the mi­sery of the Nation: being publick persons are of publick concernment; these evils doe lie in a large and more generall way upon you: in these desolations, the Prophet that teaches lies he is the tayle: The lower and baser kinde of judgements fall upon you; the deep scorne of the People: you are cast out by God from your honour and glory as an abominable branch, as salt wanting savour, to the Dunghill.

Whats become of the Episcopall glorious Church, his lordly Palaces, stately worship, adorn'd Temples, great Revenues? Made desolate torne in peecs, left to the Satire, Schrich-owle, to Zim & Gim; under what a hideous curse do they lie? What's become of the great Reformation of the other party that pro­mised such glorious daies: pure Ordinances; power of godli­nes? become a breach in a wall; a rotten and putrifid sore; abotch; a filthy issue: nothing appears in it but wretched disorder: [Page 38]their eyes sinke in their heads while they look for salvation: they inwardly cut themselves as Baals Priests, crying to God to deliver them, and finde no reliefe but scorne; tormented with feares to be torne in peeces by the people.

Palenesse and blacknesse fills your faces, and horrour and confusion you spirits on both sides; To see your world­ly glory burning in the fire of Divine jelousy; your Idols broken to pouder & cast into a Sea of confusion, your flesh­ly beauty eaten up with worms of rottennesse and putrefacti­on: To see your confidences in your Idols rejected; your pro­phesying lyes of a glorious time, by Gods hand confuted; your fastings and multitude af solemne prayers cast as dung in your faces, not regarded: your zealous covenants wher­by you thought to save your selves, broken in peeces and trampled under foot; your much admired worships of Directory and Service-booke, Creeds, Confessions, Articles, of no profit; use-lesse and helplesse things, laid by the wals, scornd and despised: your Churches and People taken from you, scattered severall waies: your gifts dying in you, or dy­ing in their use, and ineffectuall.

The Church which is heaven, shining in the light and presence of God, in unity peace and order, in holinesse ma­jesty and righteousnesse; through your dark and wicked government, through your weaknes, worldlines, and want of Divine power and wisdome, become a cursed field o­ver-run with thistles, briers and thornes; a wildernes full of wild beasts; a hel full of blasphemies, malice, revilings, scornings, derision, railing, errors, mistakes, herisies of all sorts: the greatest pillars of truth, Trinity, Father Son and Spirit, Christ his death, &c. defaced with foule er­rors; so many, so various, so abundant, as it is a confused heape of folly and madnes; and coming in upon you in [Page 39]such a torrent that they drown you; and are so high and prevalent that not a man of you dares, or can appeare in a­ny power or strength against them; but are forced to lye-down and expose the truth, your crown, if ever you had any, to be stamped in the dirt by them.

THE Army, though but a branch of the King­dome, and a particular part, yet in these civill warres the power of the sword hath been great, and got the upper hand of the Civill. The Army descended from the Parliament as its Childe, but the Parliament growing old and weake, and leand so long upon the tressels of the Army that its power at last, sunk into the Army: (manifest in the Members flying to the Army in its approach to London.) The power or the King, the head, fell into the breast and shoulders, the Parliament; and thence descended into the legs, the Army; but there they make a swelling disease quickly, and shew themselves to be in an un-naturall course.

The Army a company of honest and active men, fitted excellently by a strong Angell▪ for the work they were cal­led to: under whose conduct they dispatcsht their businesse speedily, and honourably; walking in waies of justice, cou­rage, industry, love, mercy, they were favoured with ad­mirable [Page 40]mirable successe; relieving the Kingdome from war. And while they were contented with their state, the condition of servants to the Parliament, they shined in honour and repu­tation (though malignd and envied) while their masters daily impaired: I hey shine in the eyes of the Nation, and were the peoples hopes; yea an Idol, upon whom many had placed their confidence of a worldly deliverance.

When the Parliament, or a party of them, in ingrati­tude and malice against the favours God bestowed on them, would have them disbanded, as standing in the way of some malicious designe; They united, imboldned, and strength­ened by their just and honest intentions, refuse; and so grew to be a body of their owne, independant; and to stand upon their owne bottom.

For a while they appeare in this forme very faire and cleare, Proposing honest and generall good, fixing upon just and good things; and obtaine (by the assistance of their good Angell) successe against their adversaries: But alas, How short lived is thy goodnesse? A very morning dew that presently passes. Thou hast only the power to propose and offer good, but none to performe; or a scourge to others, a sickle to cut down the withered King & Parliament but no power to build up: when thou didst begin a new frame, thy folly, self-love, in-justice worldlines quickly appeares; and thou art left and forsaken in the same pit of darknes with others.

Thy Iniquities and Judgements are,

First, Thou wast ignorant of the presence of the Lord of Hosts with thee, and of that extraordinary power that guided thee: thou didst talk of it, but falsly; and didst not simply and absolutly follow the LORD, and walk in his power; but didst mingled God and Baall, do things haltingly and imperfectly; in base fear, respect and stooping to men: [Page 41]and declining the noble, high actings of the Spirit of God, didst consult with flesh and bloud, with sense and reason, worldly customes and wayes; which disabled thee to bring forth any excellent or honourable thing: Thou durst not trust in GOD alone, but deceitfully turnd away from him to thy own sense and reason.

Thou weart weak and unable to manage the affaires of state in this storme in which it is; but being called to it, hast in thy insufficiency brought it to another, and worse wrack.

Thou undertookest a work beyond thy power, and losest thy self and the Kingdome by it: When the Nation lay at thy door begging for reliefe, and thou hadst an oppor­tunity to restore it, a prize in thy hand and knewest it not: But didest stifle, and by unbeliefe and carnall policie smo­ther the wisdome and power of the Lord in thee, and not suffer him to come forth for the Nations salvation; but bring forth thy own foolish waies to the Nations farther ruine.

When thou begun thy work through fear of the Kings party (whom thou hadst conquered and brought to thy feet) thou didst weakly and without judgement, take up the King in his filthy curse, and as a peece of a ruind wall, to strengthen your selves: and when you had fouly promis­ed, you as fouly brake with him; and so become guilty of all his iniquity in taking him un-washt; and of his unjust suffer­ings in leaving of him.

When you had broken the Parliament, trampled up­on it, defiled its authority, besmeared it with your disobe­dience, dishonoured it, inslaved it by force; you then in hope to secure your selves by it, in confidence in it, set up this broken Idol againe in all its masse of folly and weak­nesse [Page 42]injustice and oppression; without giving any satis­faction to God or man.

You in opposition to the Spirit of the Lord, that is pul­ling down worldly power, set them up, patch and bodge them together in a confused and broken way; and set your selves to heal the breaches that God makes; and so stand in the way of Divine displeasure to be consumed by it. And now imploy your Ar­my, which God set to pull down unjust and corrupt powers (in which you did prevaile) to uphold and maintaine those po­wers no whit better (in which you cannot prevaile) your Ar­my is now the girdle of strength that holds together the un­godly, and oppressing power of Parliament: or the fence, and wall to keep out the vengeance of God from coming farther in upon men; and it is so far from keeping it out, that it keeps vengeance in, or upholds them in a state of wrath.

You, when you were lifted up, begun to please your selves, to admire and blesse the Army; to magnify your selves as the Kingdomes Lords and conqerors; to make your Army intyre; to conceive a necessity of continuing an Army, to get preferments in it; to bethinke your selves of living richly in it; of recover­ing your Pay and arreares: And upon these grounds to conti­nue the Army upon the Kingdome, with taxes and free-quarter; the greatest oppression that England, or any other Nation ever bore: so that now you are the last, and heaviest of the Nations burthens; that promised to save and deliver, and turne the greatest Tyrants; lose all the good you have done; set up a forcible Government; turne warre into a trade, Eng­land into a Campe; perpetuate desteruction, and provoak new commotions.

You have at last, deceived all parties; promised much, but done nothing; broken your word; frustrated all expecta­tions of good from you: become a broken reed, which while [Page 43]men leand upon, runne into their hands; and so become of a remedy a great disease.

You judgement is the same with your Mother, the Par­liament; and with all Power upholding it selfe, and main­taining it selfe in enmity to God; Accursed of God: your standing is in the darknesse of Satan and the World. The King in the pit; the Parliament the pit it self of confusion; and you shut the mouth of it; the Porters of this Nationall hell; to keep them in torment that are there; to conjure downe those keep them in torment that are there; to conjure downe those spirits that would come forth by these risings; and to set bounds to this Sea of confusion that it do not over-flow: The rock against which these proud waves dash themselves in pee­ces; the walls to contain, and instruments to inflict evill on the People; against which they continually fome and fret: or the fetters and shakels of the Nation in prison under you: the chaine in which the mad Kingdome is bound and tied: for their folly and rage you are to inflict more evill on them; and because they will not bear what is laid on them patiently, you are to lay on more; and as you lay plagues on them; so you receive some blowes from them.

And so are sunke from that great favour to be the King­domes hope, a saviour, to be a jaylor; vexing and being vexed: able to keepe men in misery, but in no way at all to deliver them.

And to this are you tied and bound. A way of peace and quietnesse hath been set before you▪ & that way of peace you have not known; but being insnared and caught in this net of trouble, you are ingaged by honour, self-preservation &c. to go on in this hellish trade.

You are in darknesse and know not which way to goe; having got a course of fighting, you go on to fight, for you know not who, nor what: Not for the Parliament; you [Page 44]know if ever they have opportunity, they will remember your war against them, and make it Treason: and if you had the same opportunity you would doe as much for them a­gain as you have done; master them. So your cause is lost: and you only fight because you are an Army; because fight­ing is your businesse.

All that you did in your greatest undertaking against the Parliament and City is blasted and undone: Members resto­red to the House; the Tower in the same hands it was; which writes vanity upon your proceedings: and shewes what foo­lish builders you were, that when you had power in your hand instead of doing good too and for all, you minded nothing but your own, and your friends advancement; having indeed not the generall nature of the whole, but the affection of a party and faction. Your waies are not now paved with love and sweet­nesse, as heer to fore: but full of briers and thornes: your work hard and knotty, meeting with a fierce, bloody, inraged Enemy, sharpned and provoaked against you, by a sense of their own and the Kingdomes ruine: harsh and angry weather.

True, you have subsistance still: but not in honour, peace, greatnesse; but in war, in vexation: and that increasing so fast upon you, as threatens your overthrow, or at least shew you so much worke to doe, that you must go on butchering men as long as you live: for as fast as one party is crusht another rises: that tels you the spirit of the Nation is against you and that op­pressing power upheld by you: so that you must fall under their fury, or the Nation be consumed by you: either you must give way to their rage, which you can't; or continue to be the scourge of the Kingdome still; a wretched life: This Woolfe you have by the ears in this dark and black path you walk in.

If you think you are well because you live, because you are not come to nothing; you know, not to be an Army, or to [Page 45]be in the cnodition of private persons would be your mercy; but you are ingaged to bee in dishonour, in warre, shame, tormentors and being tormented.

THe Levellers are men that are justly sensible of the misca­riage of all that are gon before them, see &c their corrup­tion, how they have swarved and declined, &c thats not heard; but in applying a remedy, they are as much mistaken as any. His excellencies is not great; assisted he is by a discerning An­gell, that discovers the falshood, injustice and wicked waies of others; and opens this truth more then any, how all po­wer and authority ascends out of the People; or descends from the People; making in a kinde them the chiefe: But alas, this Angell is low and weak that speakes and writes in a corner; but come forth into action he cannot; but sinkes un­der the fall of the Kingdome, and his own mistake.

Thy errors are these,

Thou canst not bear the Kingdomes suffering under the hand of God, nor thy owne; but in a carnall love of this world­ly state, seekest to uphold it against the justice of God; and so fallest into the same evil of thy Fathers, self-love and pre­servation, in enmity to the LORD. To save thy self, that the over-flowing scourge may not come nigh thee; thou makest a Covenant with hell, and an Agreement with death: [Page 46]the Agreement of the People, who are turned by the Divine justice into a hel and death.

Thou art ignorant of that wisdome of God, that only can save the Nation; and having gathered some scraps of earthly knowledge from others, thy proud heart is lifted up, and thou conceivest highly of thy self, as if thou art able to save the Kingdome; and so presumest upon that which thou art not called unto.

Tis true, The King is by the People; and the People are the originall of power: but this is an imperfect peece; and take it alone it is very destructive. The King is of the People; so is Man by the Woman; yet the Woman must not shake off her yoke of subjection; For as the Man is by the Woman, so the Woman is of the Man, and for the Man: so the People are taken out of the King, and are for the King; as well as the KING by the People.

KING and Parliament are, in relation to the people, as Christ to David; He is the root and of-spring of David. Da­vids Son, yet Davids Root; and David in spirit calls him Lord. So is power in King or Parliament; the root and of­spring of the People. The King is Son to the People, and Fa­ther too; and so in spirit is called Lord.

While you take one part in darknesse and leave the o­ther, you confound and disorder the whole.

In your actings (to set up a worldly power now) you are of the earth earthly: The Nation ground to powder, or dust: dust thou art, and to dust &c. the Serpents meat. You confess no Father, acknowledge none above you; and therefore art, Terroe-filius; or filius populi; Son of the Earth; or Son of the People. The base Son of the Parliament; begotten in her A­dultery; growing out of her principles: The people must not be left without a remedy to save themselves &c. Self-saviours; [Page 47]your cry is the People; all power is disolved, and the people must judge. Tis according to your wish: the people in divers parts do take the power; and above all, would mine you; their greatest indignation is against you: so you runne from God to hell for help.

Tis your portion to suffer in the common calamity, and to be as mad men, striving with your fetters as a Bull in a net, toyling your selves: or agitators not resting quietly in the grave of publicke misery, waiting for a resurrection: but disturbed, agitated dust in a whirlewinde of divine wrath.

LONDON the chief and Mother City of this Na­tion; hath been the place of residence of the great glory of England; the house that gives entertain­ment to the head the King, and body the Parlia­ment; and these florishing together in peace and righteousnesse: The Heaven wherein these dwell, and chiefly shine forth themselves: The habitation of these Majesties, in which they are comprehended: That is inriched by them with honour, state, greatnesse; and doth again supply and in­rich them with plenty of cloaths, food, &c. And thou hast held up thy head high in these times, and been mightily preserved by a great Angell in thy many dangers.

Thy evils of sinne and punishment are; besides the com­mon [Page 48]guilt and plagues of the Nation.

Thou art wholly ignorant of thy heavenly originall; thy true foundation upon which thou standest: The new Jerusa­lem that is from above. Neither hast thou shined with that blessednesse and holinesse; but upheld a worldly and dive­lish darknesse, and so art become a filthy Sodome; a vile and poluted thing; living not as the Lambs wife; but in filthiness of adultery, with the pomp and greatnesse of the World: glo­rying in thy own Riches, Power, Multitude, and not in the Lord.

Thou hast been proud and lifted up, and every way hast vaunted and boasted of thy government, Militia, wisdome &c. and hast boldly pressed into the Throne of the Government of the Kingdome; and at pleasure hast interposed authorita­tively beyond thy place: Common Citizens in great confi­dence of their ability to rule the state, busily intermedling in things much above their understandings, and quite out of the sphere of their callings.

You have often given check both to King and Parlia­ment; and lifted up your head above the power of the King­dome, and that rashly, effeminately, and without judgement; in rude, bold, violent and tumltuous waies.

You have not in a Mother wisdome and moderation en­deavoured the composing these differences, it was thy place to spread thy Armes of love to imbrace both King and Par­liament, to have inclosed and begirt them both in unity: But thou hast headily, passionately, according to thysex engaged with the Parliament, and wert far too eagar and in­considerate in promoting war; and partiall in thy affection and laying out thy strength.

Tis thy property to be rich: and wanting it in a naturall and just way of trade; you are many of you turned Officers, [Page 49]publicans, Excise men, others buying Bishops and Irish Lands: an unnaturall way of Merchant adventurers; to strive to catch the ruines of the Kingdome as they fall; or to grow rich up­on publick miseries; this is un-blest wealth: there is a curse followes it.

Thou sufferest deeply in the common calamity: and the spoyling and plundering in the Nation, must be put upon thy accompt; thou art pillaged in most parts of the Nation.

The great and intolerable losse of King & Court to shine in thee in peace & righteousnes; proena damni: the pesence of the King in thee, living in agreement with his People is thy true life and glory, and makes thee a heaven; and the want of it is to thee intolerable and makes thee a Hell. After the recovery of this happinesse doest thou insatiably thirst, and canst not live without re-enjoyment of it.

Thy glory and reward hath been stained; thy greatnesse brought down by the Army.

Thy trade is lost and broken; thy wealth wasting and con­suming: there is stretched out upon thee, The line of confusi­on, and the stones of emptinesse.

Thou art continually shaken with fears and indignati­ons, tossed about as a Ball, unstable and uncertain.

Fires of divisions kindled and burning fiercely in thee, in all thy meetings common Councel, common Hall, Nothing but fire and brimstone; bitter and sharp contests, horrible rage one against another, spitting fire in the face of each other; pre­paring for the destruction of one another.

The wants of the poor threatning to tear out thy bowels; a heap of disorder and confusion, acting in all things in darknesse and wrath, and so art of the nature of the Kingdome in the destroyer: and a particular hell of thy self and to thy self: mighty in malice; rich in madnesse; tis thy trade and busines [Page 50]having little else to doe, but to design mischiefe to torment thy self.

ENgland thou art lost, for ever lost: Thou hast de­parted from God who is thy life; and now thou art dead: Rejected into destruction. The Peace, Wisdome, Justice, and Goodnesse of God hath left thee; and the madnesse, wrath, injustice, and malice of Satan fils thee: Thou art broken like a Potters vessell into shivers, into many peeces: Thou art nothing but division: head from body, limb from limb: and each party hath a peece of thee; thou art by divine justice distributed and given forth into severall interests: The King hath his part. The Parliament their part. The Army another, &c. and each an essentiall or integrall part, without which the whole cannot subsist.

These severall principles, or spirits of the Nation; are by the breath of God blown into the severall parts of the earth; scattered into the four winds; as much divided as East and West, North and South.

And all parts have distinct natures given to them, seve­rall principles of self-subsistence, which sets them a contend­ing for their own being: yea, such beings as can never be [Page 51]nulled, standing upon the unmovable pillars of the decree of God, and of the constitution of the Kingdome: especially in the great division of King and Parliament: both must sub­sist. Tis as impossible to destroy Kinglinesse wholly, or to settle England without a King; as tis to overthrow the first person God the Father: if Heaven would dispence, yet the earth would not; King being as naturall unto us, as a head to the body. King is engraven in the spirit of the Nation. If it were consumed to ten men they would have a King: if the Nation were shrunk into one Family, they would he go­verned by a King.

Upon the same ground stands the Parliament; you may pull Christ out of Heaven, as well as overthrow the interest of Parliament: it may be suspended a while, but quite sup­pressed it cannot; Christ will eternally uphold it; so the Na­tion will perpetually and restlesly require it; it being the heart and life of the Nation.

The distinct natures or principles are strongly confirmed by Covenant, Oath, conscience, honour, on all parts, whereby the Persons in whose hands these interests are▪ are engaged to maintain and uphold their particulars to death.

And so bound to maintain their own (both at a distance from God, and from each other) as while they save it they lose it: being in the dark seperated from God, to continue it, is its certain death: so that it must be and they will have it; and in the way it is, it cannot but be miserable.

But these parties are not only thus divided one from ano­ther; but inplacably set to destroy one another, in deadly op­position one to another; and so instead of being each others life (as they should) they are each others death, standing directly in the way to each others happines; each perswad­ed that they might be well if their adversaries were gon; [Page 52]There is a good and an evill in both; the good of each is hid from the other, and turned away the bright side, the face; and the back-parts, the weaknesse, the foule part in view and sight of each other. The Kings party say, if it were not for this Parliament and Army, the Kingdome would be happy: the Parliament and Army say, if it were not for King, and Cava­liers the Kingdome would be happy.

Being desperatly with mortall hatred enraged one against another, they heartily seeke the destruction of each other; and in destroying each other, they do destroy them selves; for indeed, they are the mutuall health and welfare of each o­ther.

The KING it he could ruine the Parliament, should but destroy his own body; himself in another; his own flesh: and the Parliament in destroying the KING, destroy them­selves in their head. The Parliament have conquered the King; but have gotten onely this by it, to be a confused head-lesse heap; and put off their naturall head, to put on another; to be headed by an Army, a faction: and if the King should doe as much, and conquer the Parliament, he would be unhappy in it; and he would be the head, not of a body, but a confused rab­ble; not a King indeed, but a friend: his party would Levell with him, and expect to be Kings with him: he would be in as great a confusion without a Parliament, as the Parliament without the King.

As they are broken, divided, set in enmity, and malig­nancy one against another; so are the parts disordered. The head, the King laid in the bottom; the Parliament upon him; the Army hath been, and when occasion serves, can be up­permost.

The Kingdome stands upon his head; The Parliament came forth of the King; and Army forth of Parliament: [Page 53]now the King can't come forth but it must bee from the Par­liament, as the Parliament comes forth of the Army.

Divided and subdivided; broken into King and Par­liament; Parliament and Army; Army and City; City and Parliament; England and Scotland. Scotland their divisions; Ireland divided from both, and subdivided amongst them­selves. But the destroyer hath most shewed his cunning in our divisions; so perfectly and artificially are we intangled, and perplext in distractions, as there is no escaping.

The KINGS party divided, and some fallen in with the Scotch and Presbyterian, which they perfectly hate and yet are joyned to them. Others rather chuse to sit stil; or have better love to the Independent interest: & ther's another con­junction in dislike & dis-junction. The Parliament is divided some look back to the KING; others had rather stand against him; both jealous of him, yet forced to looke towards him: The Presbyterian joyning part to the Cavaliers, and part to the Independent; and both hating those they joyne too: The City falling to peeces too. Thus doth God shake the Nations; jumbles their principles together; scatters them as dried bones that none knows whether to go to joyne.

The King is shut up in his pit, in his prison, under the Army and Parliament; he must make his way through their blood to come to the Crown: and when he hath done that, he must again ruine those by whom he riseth, the Scots; and when he hath done that he is yet but miserable; and is worse then where he is.

The Parliament must goe through the Kings party to their end by the Army; and when they have done that, they must ruine the Army and Independent, intolerable to them; and then they arrive but at confusion.

The Army must destroy the Kings party first, and then the Parliament; and at last it gains nothing but to be a wretch­ed nothing.

The City must ruine the Kings party; or else wo be to them, and the Independent too, or else they can have no settle­ment; and then the Parliament and they may have leasure to fight alone.

Hambletons Scots have the English Nation wholly to de­stroy before they can come to his end; both Army, Parliament and KING; and their own Nation at home. And what then? Then there will be roome to fight with the Irish: so that wee are involved in destruction, shut up under severall locks and bolts: and to get out of one, is but to be out of a lesse into a greater or larger hell.

Therefore its impossible to recover your selves by force; you may wrastle and tug with your fates, and weary your selves with toyling, but by all you will but sink your selves deeper; and by your false hipocritical and unnaturall con­junctions of heterogeneous bodies make new matter of differ­ence, and increase your own misery.

Neither can a Treaty compose you in the condition in which you are; you are in death, and under the curse, and all your actions are, and shall be accursed.

The Nation is not only broken, but as dried bones, have lost their marrow of Ʋnion, their spirit of Love; it hath nei­ther flesh of softnesse and gentlenesse, nor sinews of agreement. Neither doth there appeare that wisdome and skill to binde up these breaches. King lost, disabled; Nobles scattered, weake inconsiderable things; Commons distracted, hurried after their vaine imaginations. Of all the sonnes that the kingdome hath brought forth, there is none to guide her, to take her by the hand to lead her out of this pit.

The end of Treating at best, is but to settle the King­dome in its former worldly estate: Tis looking back to Aegypt: we are in the wildernesse, and must on to Canaan. It were woe­full if wee should lose the fruit of all our blood and misery that we have suffered; and only be where we were, which will quickly fall back into the condition we are now in: No, the Divine purpose is of some higher favour to us; and short of it we must not sit down.

Besides, This Treaty is not voluntary but forced: not o­pen and plaine, but false; each seeking to catch advantages, and in darknesse and jealousie, fearfull and unblieving, which will blast them: sin and iniquity unpardoned, the wrath of God still flaming against the Nation, unquenchable by all the art of man; that will render all humane attempts vaine and fruitlesse.

Heer lies England as Sodom, burning in the displeasure of God; in Civil bloody warres, in madnesse and folly: The Majesty and honour of the Mation confounded and lost in the KING; the liberty and justice of it in the Parliament; the power and might of it in the Armies; the religion and truth of it in the Church; the wealth and trade in the City; the fruits of the earth by warre and unseasonable weather: and ALL in the losse of Gods favour.

Heer is the Kings curses of his people, and imprecations of judgements upon themselves and families brought forth to the life. That mad party that cry Dam me and Ram me; that drink healths to the confusion of the Parliament; tis done, you live to see it.

The other side that have Covenanted the exterpation of Episcopacy root and branch; tis finished fully: The Parlia­ment and the KING their root; or the Laws of the Land out of which they grew: the Nation her self, the Church, all [Page 56]rooted out: And all sects and schismes (Presbytery it self for one) pul'd up by the rootes. Your fears have brought forth, the thing you feard is upon you; The removing of the Candlestick; the losse of the Gospell: The whole Kingdome is left in Hideous darknesse; And the glory of it is gon from you.

That persecution feared by Independents is come; Satan, the destroyer is upon you, wasting, killing, imprisoning all true glory, light, righteousnesse, peace; And the answer of your many prayers for destruction upon the enemies of Christ; your selves and the whole Nation, in all parts of it, are found fighters against Christ; and for it are destroyed: You have all been bigge with this misery; it hath been within you, de­clared it self in your several formes of cursings; and because you lov'd it, its come upon you; as a girdle about your loynes: it cleaves fast to you.

Thy Sores are opened from head to foot, and lanc'd to let out the filth & corruption; and if you suffer it to come forth, you will immediately finde ease: He that confesseth his sinnes and forsaketh, findeth mercy: If you would you cannot hide them: all your reasons pleading your good intentions; the clearnes of your consciences can't justify you; Heres one grea­ter then your consciences; a sentence so Authoratative as will not be resisted.

Neither can you by cunning or force escape out of this prison; not the stoutest of you: not your friends, Armies, multitudes; none can help you.

Kings are bound in chaines of Iron, and Nobles in fetters: Such honour have all the Saints.

TIS written in your hearts, and spoken in your mouths, That none can save us but God. Tis the happinesse of the extremity of our misery, that wee are past the wisdome and strength of man; and so fall onely and immediatly upon the mercy and goodnesse of God. Cease from man: Behold your LORD: The LORD is our Judge; The LORD is our Law giver; The LORD is our KING; Hee will save us. He that hath opened hell and death to let you in, can and will open it to let you out. He hath the Keyes, and opens, and none shuts, and shuts, and none opens. All this sin and wrath was in us in our best estate though it appeared not; tis good tis broken forth; tis in order to perfect health: our recovery was designed in it; and the foundation of a mighty salvation is laid in these deep miseries.

The method of our cure must be this,

First, to take away sin and curse; so long as they lye at the doore, there is no passage for mercy to come in, or man to go out: Now the only way to do this is, to lay them upon one that can beare them; The LORD Himself: they have lain upon the Na­tion and sunk it, utterly destroyed it: But now wee see there is one will beare Englands sinnes, and the sin and curse of the whole world; and there we must charge them: yea, [Page 58] The LORD charges himself, and saies, Is there any evill in the City that I have not done? Why hast thou caused us to Erre from thy waies? Thou hast blinded us that we might not see; and har­dened our hearts that we might not understand. Tis thou that hast mingled a perverse spirit amongst our Princes; that hast given the Nation the wine of astonishment to drinke; The cup of thy wrath, that they may Erre in judgement; that they may stagger and reel, vomit up their own filth; and fall, and not rise againe: And in all this thou hast been just.

There hath been two great evils amongst us, our be­ing divided from God, and amongst our selves; and this the LORD hath done; especially in the great divisions of King and Parliament.

The day dawning after this dark night of sorrow, we can say of England, GOD is in thee and none else: In these clouds is the Lord and nothing but the Lord; Here is God in the low­er parts of the earth; and the earth shall disclose her blood, and no longer cover her slain. Verily, God is in this place, and we knew it not.

Thou hast alwaies dwelt in the Majesty and greatnesse of the King: It is thou that hast Reigned in him; But verily thou art a God that hidest thy self, under vanity and a lye; un­der a poore, sinfull, unstable, weake creature; in a crawling worme: thou art there covered with corruption, falshood, wilfulnesse; made sin; cloathed with filthy garments: so vailed under a thick covering, that he himself knew thee not: had he known thee, he would not have denied thee, and crucified the Lord of glory: he did it ignorantly; thou didst not come forth, nor act out thy selfe in thy own brightnesse and power; but didst retyre, withdraw thy self; and lye down in weak­nesse: and so liv'd in sinfull flesh.

Thou wert in him, dwelling in such thick darknesse; in [Page 59]such stormes and tempests of wrath; in such a thick mist & fog of wicked men; lying down there in such a hel of a Dam me crue, that his own body did not know thee there. His People Rebelled against him and thee, when dressed in this defor­med shape.

Thou wert in him, raysing up his heart into an absolute­nesse and greatnesse: Tis thou that say dest in him, I am alone, and there is none besides me: Ile doe what I will, and none shall resist it. Thou wert there most Righteously, and accoding to thy nature, gathering up all thy glory into thy self, keeping thy self incommunicable; minding only thy selfe and thy owne Majesty, and rejecting all things else; refusing to stoop to a­ny thing that is mean, or below thy selfe; disdaining that any should excell but thy self: magnifying thy selfe; and being confident of thy own sufficiency. This now we see darkly sha­dowing out it self in the Kings Prerogatives.

Now we see it is Thee, The LORD, that in his leaving his Parliament, leavest thy own Son; thy own spouse; because she is unclean; because she was filthy and poluted: This is righteous in God to leave a diseased body, labouring under the guilt of the Nations sin; to give her up to be tormented, to be left desolate for her iniquities.

In the Kings flying from his Councell, to strength; Wee now see Divine jealousy, that is impatient of having his Ma­jesty sullied and stained by common hands. The indignati­on of the Lord of hosts hurried the King away in violence: and taught him to begirt himselfe with power to uphold Royalty: yea, rather to bury it in the earth then that ano­ther should wear the Crown. It is the Lord that stiffens and hardens the spirit of the King against all Propositions that may lessen his Greatnesse; here God saies, My glory will I not give unto another. To retain golden Royalty in the flames; [Page 60]to be a King still while hated, opposed, denied, Is the Divine Spirit: When it is most opposed to contend for it: This the Lord doth.

In the Kings dark and unknown waies, in his secret practises, We now see Our LORDS obscuring himselfe: when fleshly man would finde him out to prey upon him; when wicked and rebellious man would rob him of his glo­ry; he mists himself in the privacy of darknesse; hee hath a long while concealed himself in the midst of us, and so kept himself from the world (who have alwaies been in pursuite of him) because he sees they are not fit to injoy him: This is the Lords doing in the darknesse of man; the Highest Majesty of God under the shamfull vilenesses of man.

In the Parliament Now, is manifest the Son of GOD made flesh, and dwelling amongst us: Thou art here our Lord incompassed about with infirmities; in abundance of weak­nesse, in temptations, feares, distresses, in so poor a body as thou art not known to them; they deny thee, kill thee, and know not what they do: In this forme, Thou comest to thy own, and thy own receive the not.

Thou art in them, speaking in such dark parables, in such confused and un-understood wayes, with such a rabble of oppressing Publicans, Harlots and sinners about thee, that thou art judged a Devil; and to mention thee here is blasphemy to all men: Tis the cry of King and People, Away with him, away with him; he is not worthy to live: thou art here loaded with iniquity; made sin indeed.

In the Parliaments assuming the power of the King, his Prerogative, his revenue, we hear the Lord say, All that the Fa­ther hath, hath he given unto me; All power in Heaven and in Earth. The King is with us; we have his power &c. Christ saies in this dark poor forme, The Father and I am one; the Fa­ther is me; the words that I speak are his; and the works [Page 61]that I do, He gives me to do them. I come from the Father; Thus the Son goes forth; for a while appeares amongst men, and the Father conceals himselfe, and is not seen but in the Son; and the Son challenging the honour, name and power of the Father.

In the Parliaments undertaking the work of reforma­tion and failing in it, We now see the Lord in flesh; coming amongst us, and entering into The Temple, and over turning the mony changers; turning out those buiers and sellers; those worldly Episcopall party, that turn'd religion into a trade, and worship into meer gaine and preferment; prophesying anew forme, a Kingdome; but at last, lost in it; saying, I have laboured in vaine, I have spent my strength for nought; and suffering under this accusation, that he would destroy the Tem­plets &c. yea, the Kingdome too; And so the Romans come in and take away both our Place and Nation. That he was a rebel to Caesar, so crucified in shame; betrayed; sold; and his Dis­ciples leaving of him, doubting his word, saying, We thought he would at this time have Redeemed Israel. Our Lord is here in weaknesse, failing in his attempts; marred in his vizage more then any man; so that all turne away their faces from him.

In the oppressing and confused Government of the Par­liament, We now see our LORD come not to send peace, but a sword; to set Father against Son, and Son against Father, &c. Setting two against three, and three against two; requiring us to leave Father and Mother, Houses and Lands for his Name: threatning to undoe us, and to strip us of all; bringing of us to nothing; wasting and spoiling the riches of the Nation: so disolving of us, that we must be borne again, new-moulded in a baptisme of bloud.

In the Parliaments endeavour to preserve the Kingdome, to [Page 62]uphold and maintain the freedome of it: wee see the love of Christ to the World and his desire of saving it; we hear him say, Oh England, England, how often would I have gathered thee &c.

In the zeal and rage of both parties against each other, we see darkly, come forth the wrath of God against his enemies: God fighting with those that fight against him: the fiercenesse of the vengeance of Heaven against his adversaries: cursing them raining snares, and fire and brimstone upon them.

Thus doth the holy God dwell with and under the roofe of sinfull man. Thou that knowest no sin, art made sin: Thou li­vest in those fleshly formes: Thou sendest forth spirit and they are created, And then doth blow upon them and they dye and wither, lose their goodnesse and beauty, and are tossed about as vanity, as chaffe in the wind. That thou mightest destroy them, thou commest into the likenesse of sinfull flesh, that thou migtest consume sin in the flesh; appearest in flesh, and so a­gainst it and under it, that thou mayest at last save it: And un­foldest the brightness of thy face and glory, to be in perfect and undefiled purity, in and under the vilenesse and base­nesse of the creatures.

AS God bears our sinnes, so he suffers under them, and we suffer in and with him, and thereby is iniquity taken away: Tis by blood that we have remission of sinne.

God dwelt in the Kingdom: The power of the King it was Gods; God was in that majesty and dominion; [Page 63]God was in the right and freedome of the Parliament: in the peace and happinesse of the Nation: in the wealth and honour of the City: in the power and strength of the Army: in the glo­ry and order of the Church: And God suffers in the death of all these: he suffers with us: loses in our losses; not our blood alone but his is shed: not our goods onely wasted, but the Lords: his they are and were, and God is in union with them, and suffers in them: The Lord is made a curse for us; our sin hath brought this curse upon God: This is a sacrifice well pleasing unto God: sufficient for ever to take away iniquity, and to appease divine justice: Though destruction should for ever wast England, it would never be satisfyed; but feeding upon the glory of God, eating so deep into Englands sides as to reach the heart of God; tis time for it to say, I have enough: let anger cease, it doth feed upon God himself.

Cease to trample upon the head of King Charles, God is there; thou tramples upon God in him.

Cease to confound our Parliament; Christ is there.

Cease to destroy the Nation; tis a holy and heavenly Na­tion.

Now we are reconciled to God: we were divided by death; now one in death; or God so loves us and is so neer to us, as to suffer with us and for us: our friend indeed that hath layd down his life for us: The glorious love of our God is triumphing with us in and over death: God is in our misery insulting over it, O death Ile be thy plague, &c. and so makes death sweet to us; thou art now a lovely bed wherein our Lord and we, being uncloathed of life, lie down together; death rends the vail and takes us into a na­ked enjoyment of GOD: because wee could not live together, our earthly in Gods heavenly Kingdome; therefore must we die together; we die because we have left God, and [Page 64]he comes and dyes with us; will not live without us; but comes into the grave to us, so that he might deliver us thence: Thou destroying Angell proceed no farther: The blood of God cries peace, and you English (mad to destroy) cease crucifying the Lord of glory; every wound you make Pierces the heart of God; every sad and grieved spirit afflicts God; every stone of scorne or contempt cast upon KING or Parliament, upon one side or other, is flung at Christ: and he that opprosseth poor England in her miseries, or addes one dram of sorrowes more, reproacheth his maker. Yea, If thou doest mock poor King Charles, poor Parliament, poor Cavaliers, or poor Round-heads; thou reproachest God in all these: if thou doest goe one foot farther, It is to make long fur­rows upon the back of Christ. If men or devils should bee ob­durate, our God is now tender, will not still go on to smite his own flesh and blood.

As God died, so are we dead with him; England is dead; and all her glory, greatnesse and justice is slain. We depart­ing from God, who is our life, cannot live; and 'tis well wee can't live in Gods absence: If we could have saved this life, we had lost it; and losing it we save it: For if we had kept it, we had kept it against God; and now it's dead, it dyes in­to God; It returnes to him from whence it came; dying with Christ; being offered up by this Priest-hood; it goes with Christ; dead with him: and he saies, I go to my Father: so that we are fallen indeed into God; and there is nothing now but God.

This is our peace; by this the wall of partition 'twixt God and us is broken down, and of twain made one new man: destroy­ing the enmity, that honour, power, dominion, that stood at enmity against God, is abolisht, slaine in the slaying the earthly creature. That which could not endure GOD, [Page 65]is brought downe; and wee are hereby brought into God.

By death, is destroyed him that had the power of death, the Devill; his power and interest in the Nation is utterly de­stroyed; his kingdome of darknesse and wrath is broken downe: he is cast out, and shall no longer destroy the Earth, nor deceive the Nation into these mad fightings one against another; it is now taken from him that ruled with cruelty, envy, wrath, folly, and given to Christ, who will Reign in Peace and Righteousnesse, in Mercy and Goodnesse.

And as there is a Union wrought by this death betwixt God and the Kingdome, so betwixt KING and Parliament; betwen all parties: and of two, or many, we by death are made one man; as truly united as head and body, as a man to him­self: And all Ordinances, Covenants, &c. are abolisht: Prerogative, Kinglinesse is slain, lyes in the dust: no KING; a Prisoner, a Captive: no Parliament; a Rout, a Scuffle, a con­fused heap. What can you demand of the King? He hath nothing to give: you mock your selves and him. Why are you jealous of him? He can't do good or hurt. Why do you labour to save your selves from his power, or revenge; fear a dead power? Do you think he shal returne from the grave to vex you? Alas, it is not he, but Devils that trouble you: you need not fortify your Parliament with a Militia, with Acts against a dead power: Or, Why should the King con­tend for a dead Crowne? or the People raise Authority from the dust? How foolish and vaine are the attempts of his par­ty? Being dead on both sides in the grave; Heer the wicked cease from troubling; The weary Be at rest: The prisoners rest together; they hear not the voyce of the oppressor: The small and great are heer; the servant is free from his Master. How is it, that you vex one another? It's a hel sure; and you are Devils one [Page 66]to another: Is not the grave enough to swallow up enmity? Why should the Parliament insist upon Covenants, Promi­ses, Ingagements? Or the King upon his Honour, Preroga­tive Friends? The Law hath power over a man so long as he li­ved; no longer: There is no bands now upon you; neither party can require any thing of you: You have stood it out for your principles, for your parties; Cavaliers for KING; Rounds-heads for Parliament; till you and they are all lost to­gether.

All your engagements for and against each other, are taken away; Law is slain; right, property, righteousnesse and truth hath forsaken the Earth; it is in neither side: you may lye stil and be at peace; for all is dead for which you con­tend: There doth nothing live but shame, sorrow, folly and madnesse; and that is dead too, in your death.

The King is dead, his Majesty is slain, crucified; and lies in the bowels of the earth; that is, in his Parliament and Peo­ple: he is descended into us, dyed into the Kingdome: And hence it is that Parliament men, Committee men, Army, Ci­ty, and Citizens are all become petty Kings: Kinglinesse be­ing sow'd in the earth: And so though we have lost our King yet we have him in us.

The King is dead, and our life of Majesty, our King­dome died with him; we cease to be a Kingdome, when our head ceased to rule; and are become a herd of wilde Beasts. He took us all into himself, and so made a rich Sacrifice of al the glory of the Kingdome in one.

He dyes for us, they are our iniquities that denies us the blessing of government; we have the benefit of his suffering; it is for us: By this he comes down into the meanest subject, into the worst condition of a subject; bonds: hee empties [Page 67]himself into us, and fills us with Royalty; and gives the lowest to have fellowship with the highest: by his descend­ing from the Throne into the Prison, and his ascending from the Prison to the Throne; there is an open way and passage from misery to greatnesse : by this the poorest creature in England shal have accesse to the Throne for mer­cy and justice: And the KING shal acknowledge, this is my fellow subject, my fellow prisoner. I am, and was as low, as meane as he: This shall fill punishments with grace, and make paines and judgements acceptable from a Prince that is a Brother, a fellow-sufferer: This is that which onely can fit a KING for Reigning, to goe by the Crosse, to suffer first; by which trialls and temptati­ons he is for ever able to pitty such as are tempted and doe suffer.

The Parliament is dead also; cannot, will not, out­live the KING; puts off her glory with the Kings; and sits downe in the dust: dyes into the King, as the King into the Parliament; goes down into his grave, follows him; and there lyes wrapt up in him the life, union and Majesty of the Par­liament: and as the King arises out of the Parliament, so the Parliament out of, and with the King.

The Parliament dyes for the People; so constantly ad­heres to the Peoples rights, that She perisheth in the obtaining of them; and because She cannot by life, She doth and wil by death free us. The Cause that She undertook though sen­sibly be lost yet by her shamfull suffering is confirmed▪ and a Testimony of blood given to a work of Reformation, which is more effectual then twenty Bills: And so our Parliament doth us most right, not being able to help us, to lye downe and bear our curse her self.

She dyes into the Army, gives up her Ghost into the Ar­mies [Page 68]bosome; and leaves the Army Executor of her wil: dies into the People, and al dying together and tumbled into one grave of confusion.

By this death there is a perfect Remission of sinne; here is a true Act of oblivion on all sides; a blotting out of transgressions: Hath the King transgrest, hee lyes in the dust for it; he is in your own bowels, devoured by you: if you accuse him, you accuse your selves: look upon him now as pierced by you, and you can't think of his sins, but of your own shame with self-piercing, self-wounding hearts. Neither can the King remember the Parliaments injuries, but he must in those thoughts be oppressed; they are in him, and if he should think of revenge, he must be revenged upon himself; death whol­ly overcomes and spoiles revenge; and leaves it nothing at all to feed upon: Or if any party do look back, they see all these mutuall violences in the Divine wisdome and goodnesse, the sting of them being taken away, with pleasure and content; and glory in these marks, not of hatred, but love; glory in the Crosse, and rejoyce in your mutuall sufferings together, and one for another; all bitterness and envy being slain thereby: E­very one (as now in the accuser) you see your own good, and your adversaries weaknesse and sin, so shall you by this change of death, see all the evill as your own, and be able to beare it; every one accusing himself, and acquitting others: so that the greatest enmity will be against your selves, or any thing that makes a division; and nothing remaining to be hated but enmity or hatred it selfe. There cannot a thought of strife or enmity arise now, but it must appear in blood; in the blood of Kings, Queenes, Princes, Parliaments: enmity being slaine, at first look you do see death in it, and so abhorre to change a word with it; look upon it as a murtherer, and immediatly fly from it into each others bosomes.

Here is away too to pay all debts, to cancell all obliga­tions on both sides; in this pit of death must all be swallow­ed up. Debts are forgiven a dead man: Here is a death of the Old man, The old Quarel, the old termes of enmity; the old man and his lusts: The lustings of the KINGS party after ho­nour, greatnesse, preferment: the Parliament after places, Bishops Lands, &c. the Armies lustings after arreares: the lusts of envy, malice, tyranny, oppression, coveteousnes, desiring each others goods (the fuell of this flame in all) is buried.

Thus, as before our remedies were our diseases, so now our diseases, our miseries become our remedy: in saving we lost, now in losing we save: Our gain was losse, and our losse is become gain through the riches of the wisdome and mercy of the Lord our GOD: Now we must say, we had perisht, if we had not perisht.

NOw, through the tender mercy of our God, doth the day sparing from on high, visit us; To give light to them that sit in dark­nes, & in the shadow of death; to guid our feet in the way of peace: The bright day of Englands Redemption is come; the sweet morning of our Resurrection. A rise, let us go from this pit of misery: Let us wrap up all our grave cloaths of shame, sin and sorrow; and leave them with their Father, the destroyer, in this dark night of hell and death.

The Lord saith it, and in the power of the Lord, we doe break open Iron gates of death, and let goe these poor prisoners of hope: and before we goe we will spoile the spoyler, trample Satan under foot: laugh and mock at thy power: ruine thy Kingdom of darknes; take away from thee thy power to vex, wholly destroy thy destruction; Oh thou enemy, destructi­on is come to a perpetuall end: We smite thee upon the cheek­bone, thou canst bite no more: Now we lead captivity captive; we were under thee; now thou thy selfe art a prisoner and a servant: thou hast not hurt us, but done us good in destroy­ing us; thy curses are turned to blessings; to our infinite ad­vantage: Thou thy self shall be under the burden of divine wrath; We are escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler: your snare is broken, and we are delivered: and thou fallest in­to the pit thou diggest for others: by thy wounding us wee are healed: thou hast bruised our heel; but we have broak thy head: thy whole design of Englands ruine; and thy plots are disco­vered, and turned against thy selfe: upon thee and thy wrath as a foot-stoole doe we ascend into the blessed throne of God. We lock thee up in chaines of darknesse, and throw thee under the earth: get thee hence and all thy darknesse with thee, that keeps Englishmen from seeing God in one a­nother: take with thee all thy bitternesse, rage, madnesse, op­pression, tyranny, all thy lies and falshood, thy false Oaths, and breach of Covenant; all thy disorder and confusion; thy mis­chievous plots, and all thy scorne and reproach; and all thy false accusing Father to Son, and Son to Father, &c. Thy rayling and revilings, blasphemies, with every thing that is cursed; and goe headlong into the deep Sea of thy perdition: we wil live in heavenly peace, love and righteousnesse, in the light and glory of our own God. Shake thy self from thy dust cap­tive daughter, this cloud of dust that darkens thee, from divi­sions, [Page 71]emptinesse, barrennesse, vanity, instability, and ascend into the light, majesty, union and strength of God.

England is become the Kingdome of the Lord and of his Christ; God reigns in her; she is become a holy Nation, a hea­venly Kingdome: God is in her and none else: The tabernacle of God is with men: he now takes his great reign upon earth: he is come, he is come to judge the People righteously, and to govern the Nation upon Earth.

The majesty of the Trinity dwelling before in weaknes, that is sowed, dyed, its raised in power; before in flesh, now in Spirit; before covered and vailed, hiding himselfe, now in open and naked face: We are now a new creature, a new Kingdome of righteousnesse; living in the immediate brightnesse of the face of God.

God is with us, with all his host of power and goodnesse, mercy and wisdome, to establish us in peace and justice: there is nothing amongst us but God, who is exalted alone: and saith, I am and there is none besides me; and hath taken the Kingdome into himself; and every thing is what it is in the glory of God: now indeed the soyl is the Lambs, he is Eng­lish Earth: The people, the Lords, and shall be filled with the excellency of God in himself.

The Lord is King; God himself reigns: God is upon his throne, and saith openly to the whole Kingdome, I am your King; you are my People; Ile rule you with a pure golden Scepter of righteousnesse and peace: you shall submit to me, and receive law, honour, justice and protection from my selfe; you shall now see the beauty, sweetnesse and goodness of my government, Ile be a King to and in every one of you.

And Ile reign over you in and by King Charles; I will take him out of the prison of Satans darknesse out of the pit of [Page 72]the world; from all his vilenesse of lusts, of oppression, cove­teousnesse, folly, fiercnesse, wrath; and from all his shame and dishonour: from his evill counsellers, wicked spirits that have seduced him to evil; into my bosome: and turne his heart as a river of water: It shal no longer be mudded with evill counsellers; nor with pride, coveteousnesse, cruelty; but run in a pure stream of Divine justice and goodnesse; and so largely and plentifully, that it shall flow forth freely upon you: Righteousnesse shall run down your streets. A fountain of honour as wel as justice, that shal give reall, true (not titular) honour to his People; that shal stream forth Majesty and greatnesse as freely into the whole Nation, as the Sun doth beames: he shall freely communicate Royalty that it shal be every ones; and every one shal live in the view and enjoyment of it, and fully satisfied with it; it being truly his own: A King enlarged with the largenesse of God that comprehends all his People as the sands on the Sea shore; and is an Ocean of goodnesse and righte­ousnesse to cover those sands: whose Armes of love can at Once imbrace the whole Kingdome; every party and person: that carries every English man in his bosome: That impartially wil communicate favour to every one according to his true worth and ability to receive it: of large wisdome, fil'd with the wisdome of God: of quick and piercing understanding, to execute judgement in all causes: one living in the light of GOD; shin'd upon with the Majesty of God, that he shal not be deceiv'd by flatterers; but shal scatter all such mists from before the Throne; that of all places, wicked men, and wicked things shal fly from the Court and presence of the King: Of such tendernes, that he shall really bear the burthens of all his subjects; and every mans trouble shal make him restlesse, that cannot be fully content til he hath fully satisfied all the wants of his People: That is all mildnesse and gentlenesse to [Page 73]his own People as a Father; and terrible only to your adver­saries: whose indignation is bent continually against the e­nemies of his People and his childrens peace: a Lion to them, but a Lambe, a Shepherd to you: A Prince Mighty with the Mightinesse of God, able to do you good; mighty in word and deed; able to save you, and to destroy them that hate you: A King that hath no joy or delight but the good and prosperity of his People: Tis your happynesse only that is his Crowne: that knows no glory but a loyall and loving People; that is King only to make you happy; and your happinesse is his Kingdome: or, health and prosperity in the People, grows up into a lively flower of glory; a King; or breaths out it selfe in his Majesty: So the KING is the breath of our nostrils.

That is indeed a King Anointed by God; by and in the grace of God; that is covered over with Divine grace; that is nothing but what God is; and hath all the Kinglines of God shining in him: With whom, and in whom you shal naked­ly see the face of Divine justice; and in whom the glory of God doth take pleasure to shew it self; and not as another from him, but in perfect Ʋnion; in truth and righteousnesse: where there is nothing to seperate nor part the earthly, from the heavenly King; but the earthly is in agreement, in covenant with the heavenly; living together in the same Spirit: The heavenly God being intire himself, and the King intire him­self, yet both but one in true marriage and conjunction for ever; a bond and covenant that never shall be broken: the King in God, God in the King: The King is what God is; and God is what the King is; neither alone: God all in him, he all in God. He that opposeth one, opposth both; hee that loveth one, loveth both; exclude one, you exclude both; de­ny one, you deny both; disobey one, you disobey both: This [Page 74]is heaven and earth married together in harmony and agree­ment; and the King that once appeared an Image of God, a shadow in which he was weak, and which he hath dyed to▪ and the evill and corrupt part left in the grave; hee is raised up in the very substance; in Ʋnion, in Spirit, in Truth; in E­ternall fellowship with GOD.

ALL things are made new; a new King, and a new Parliament; a new Head, and a new Body: a Heavenly body; a Host of Divine excellencies; in which all the perfections of the Son of GOD shines. An assembly, or body of Christ; The fullnes of him who fills all in all: not only a company of weak men, But this is thy new name, The LORD is there; GOD is with us: Christ in glory, in Majesty; Highly exalted. Thou in whom are hid The treasures of wisdome; thou sittest in Coun­cell to draw forth excellent Laws for us, and to rule in the midst of us; One chosen out of the People, in which meet in one, the life, spirit, and wisdome of heaven. The LORD is here, challenging the Kingdome to be his; here is gathered the heads of the Tribes; a congregation of the first borne; the chief and choisest Saints and Angels collected and imbodied into one Son of God.

The LORDS Christ, he saith, I am here, your flesh and [Page 75]blood; one of you: I'le provide and constitute wholsome Laws for you in this Parliament.

And this Parliament taken out of all its filth and guilt; out of all its madnesse and disfraction, folly and confusion; out of the hands of the envious man that divides & destroies; from under cursed darknesse, violence and oppression; from the Peoples woe and curse. I'le wash it, and cleanse it, and fill it with Majesty and goodnesse; make it a mountain of holinesse, a City of Righteousnesse. Arise shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Thou shalt no longer sit in darknesse: Thy Sun shall go down no more: thou shalt not stumble nor fall for want of light; thou shalt not dash thy foot against a stone: The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. The Sun of righteousnesse is Risen in thee, with healing under his wings.

Thou now art Divine justice; A habitation of justice: where justice it selfe shal delight to dwell. No unclean thing shall be found in thee: living alwaies in the righteousnesse of Christ, thou shalt be seperated from sinners; blamelesse: live in a hight of righteousnesse above accusation: The Lord Our Righteousnesse.

The Saviour of the People; thy walls shall be called salva­tion, and thy gates praise; sending forth saving health to the whole Nation, into every part that is pained or diseased: a universal remedy for all malladies; a skilfull Physition, rich­ly furnisht with the fullnesse of the Spirit of Christ to apply a plaster to every sore.

Thou now art all bowels, a heap of compassions rowl­ling together; of most exquisit sense of any burthen that lies upon us: The Mother of England, as the KING is the Fa­ther, in whose womb our freedomes, rights, peace lyes: from whose brests we shal suck milke of comfort, riches, ease, quiet­nesse, [Page 76]justice happynesse; as tender of every one of your chil­dren as of your selves. Thou art beautified with garments of salvation, honourable, glorious: the joy of the whole earth: Adorned now with such excellency, that thou art a Queene indeed; a compleat Second for such a First.

This thou art, in perfect conjunction with the Divine nature, in one Spirit with the LORD; taken into the Nature and Being of the eternal Law-giver; being one with the great Court or Councell of heaven: Really, truly, being in the LORD; and the LORD really, and truly in you; not in sha­dow, that is destroyed, but in substance: not a naturall, but a spirituall body; not a earthly, but a heavenly, The Lord from heaven: Now a holy and incorruptible body, that cannot faile. Christ is compleatly himself in you; you are compleat­ly in him; and compleatly one Lord, one man, one body; one Assembly or Congregation: having the same Nature and Person.

THESE Two, KING and Parliament, by flesh and Satan were divided from God, made un-like God; set at distance from, and enmity to GOD, and at enmity one from another: So now, that flesh and Devill being destroyed, the Spirit unites them truly to God, in truth and substance; [Page 77]and as to God so one to another: This law oft he Spirit knits them and marries them both waies.

In this raised estate King and Parliament are in most excellent union, joyned together in nearest bonds of felow­ship as Husband and Wife, as Father and Son; God and Christ: In the greatest distance of these unnaturall breaches, there hath been still a secret tendency towards each other; your union was never so much slaine but it acted out towards an agreement: And now there is a thirst in both after your selves in each other, and a restlesnes of spirit attends you till you meet; in that dark way in which you are, in hel, you are groping one after another; in a feeble way of Treating; and framing a net of spiders web to catch one another in; in seve­rall formes: These are too weak to hold or binde you toge­ther; you are both pittied, that long for each other, and can't enjoy each other; especially the poor Parliament whose de­sires are after her Husband, lusting for him, and knows not which way to compasse him through fear and igno­rance.

I shall but draw a vail, a curtaine aside, and shew you both imbracing each other.

The Ʋnion betwixt King and Parliament, and by the mediation of Parliament with the People, whom they Repre­sent, is strong and Inviolable; It is admirable and delightfull: They are one in Nature and Being; and can never be divid­ed: As Christ saies of the Father, so the Parliament may say; The Father in me, and in the Father. Where ever the King is, the Parliament is; and the King can't bee without his parliament and People; and where ever the Parliament is, or People are, the King is: They are one, and together, in the greatest distance: the Ʋnion is such, that distance is swal­lowed up by it, and comprehended in it. The Son comes [Page 78]forth of Heaven, and is in Heaven; is in Heaven while out of Heaven; and when alone, yet not alone; The Father is with me: So the King and Parliament are asunder, yet together; and by their parting their union is enlarged, not broken: Their fleshly outward union broken, but by that the inward and true union appeares and is brought forth. In truth, the Par­liament is in the King; and acts not, moves not, but in the King; hath, not, cannot doe: and the King is in the Parla­ment, and naturally doth what the Parliament doth. The King retires and carries the life and spirit, of the Parlia­ment with him; and it is in perfection in him: the Parlia­ment withdraws and keeps close the King with her: The King takes the spirit of the Parliament; the Parliament keeps the body of the King; and to narrow, poor sense they are di­vided: but such is the largenesse of the Spirit, that delights to extend union into distinction; and there they are, and alwaies were, more one in truth then they have yet appear­ed to be.

The former union was too weak and strait, and there­fore its snapt asunder; and the LORD now shews such a uni­on as disjunction doth confirme and multiply; while they are parted they are doubly one; each upholding union in their being distinct; and so manifests, that they are so one, as they are two likwise; and in being two, they are twice one; each carrying the other along with him. The King carries with him the power and spirit of the Parliament, it being his; and the Parliament the matter and body of kinglynesse, that be­ing hers: the King hath the Parliament in night and emi­nency of forme; the Parliament hath the King in lownesse and grosnesse of matter: yea the Parliament hath the KING in his hight and spirit; but covered over, and hid under unity and lownesse of the matter: so the King hath the mat­ter [Page 79]in the excellency and unity of the forme.

And they so are in one another as manifests their union; both languishing in desire after each other, in such an absolute necessity of being together, that the King can't act the busi­nes of a King, will not assume the work of a King, but with his Parliament; and the Parliament can't act in the power of a Parliament til they have the King: Which shews that the u­nion is still good; so strong that they cannot bee but together in affection, though parted in place; and will not bee happy til they are fully together: Their love lives at distance, and di­stance is slain by unions being in distance; their distance open­ing the foundation of their union, and awakning the strength of love to shew it selfe in re-union; so by a temporary division comes an eternall and inseperable conjunction: as that parting of Christ from his Disciples, It is expedient that I goe from you, that the Comforter may come, and he shall abide with you for ever. Thus doth the Sea of the spirits love drown al your divisions; and it abundantly triumphs over your breaches; flowing in upon, and in your breaches, to the utter destruction of that plague of enmity.

You are one in originall; in one Cause: yea, you are the cause of each other: you are descended and derived from the same Father, from the same Heaven, and are again taken into the same Heaven; joynt heires of the same glory; fil'd both with the same life; begotten by the same Spirit: The same Spirit that gives majesty and power to one, gives the same to the other; one fountain fils both your Cisternes; two streames coming from the same head; two twins lying in the same wombe of the Spirit: and it is the same Spirit that lives in you both: There can be no difference betwen you, you have indeed but one minde, but one heart: Englands peace, honour, justice and greatnesse, is the substance of both your lives: you haue but one [Page 80] subsistence; but one happinesse; but one breath and ayre, Eng­lands joy, Englands good: you are not one now by outward Oaths and Covenants, but by inward Oaths and Covenants; by an everlasting Covenant that cannot bee broken. The same God and Spirit speaking both, or swearing both by himselfe; bringing forth both perpetually in the same Oath, by him­self: While he swears to save and deliver his People in England, he sweares a good KING and Parliament: bring­ing forth himself, he brings forth you; or brings forth him­selfe KING and Parliament. Being brought forth by Gods Spirit, there will not come from such a fountain, bitter and sweet waters, no dissenting affections: and bringing forth in both nothing but himselfe; but one and the same justice, one and the same goodnesse, wisdome, love, to the People; ther's no feare of disagreeing: and bringing this forth, not in a dark and misty world, where you have been subject to mistakes; but in the cleare light of the Spirit; in the calmnes, quietnes, opennes, freenes of the Spirit; there can be no­thing but pleasure and mutuall delight in all.

As you are brought forth by one, and in one Spirit, so by one another, as Man and Woman; The same Spirit producing the KING out of the Parliament, and so out of the People; and the Parliament and People out of the KING; As Man is by Woman, and Woman of Man.

The Parliament and People is of the King, taken out of his side, and from thence formd and built: The King is Father, and we his children; he is the first man in the Kingdome, is before all: Adam, in whose loynes we all were, and from him, and of him we are: our true Civill Father; from whom we all receive our Civill beings; in whom liberty, property, peace, order, honour, authority is first originally, and chief­ly; [Page 81]and so from him derived to us: Especially, the Parlia­ment is taken out of him by his Writ, from his heart; is the Pro­duct of the deep thoughts of his minde; which being gathered together are a Parliament.

As he is ours, so we his originall: Man is by the Woman: The Parliament and People in their fullnesse of time, when grown up into maturity, bring forth a Government, a KING; The first-borne; their vigor and strength: and so property, li­berty, order, &c. are first in us; and then they arise out of us into him: And by this continuall motion of the blood, life, and spirits of the body, in a circular course, the whole shall be preserved in a lively and lovely state. All the strength and power of the Nation continually ascending and descending; passing from us upward to the King, and thence removes down again to us; and so takes the nature of all: perfectly re­freshes the lowest, and taking his meannesse and carries it to the highest, to the head: being there in-nobled and raised, car­ries its Majesty down into inferiour parts againe: and is the same River called by severall names, in severall places: as the Sea is one, only distinct by the shore it washes upon.

This union, by the wisdome and fulness of the spirit, is brought forth, not in a rude heap, but in judgement and pro­portion; in a sweet variety; and in such harmony as they are the joy and delight of each other: as Husband and Wife; one flesh, yet two persons; so ordered and composed with a plea­sant variety, that the same (which were it only the same, and not another, would be dull and fruitlesse) being thus varied, gives delightfull fellowship and profit. Such is the fullnesse of this heavenly glory, that it is One, and not lesse but more, in making another: The King hath all power and authority, and the Parliament hath the same without robbing the King: the Parliament having in another way: (viz) a second, shall [Page 82]never clash against the first: but being one, the King hath it in the Parliament in another way then he hath it in himselfe: and so his power is enriched and strengthened by it. and tis no losse to the Parliament to give it to the KING, her Husband: whilst she gives it him, he being hers, shee hath it in him, in a more excellent way then she can have it in her self. And for either of these to have it alone, would be unpleasant, solitary, and burthensome: Its delightfull to see it and enjoy it in ano­ther; we not so perfectly beholding our selves, or loving our selves, in our selves, as in another; sight, love, and enjoyment requiring another.

It is the content of greatnes, not to be, but to propagate greatnes; For the King to rule alone can't be so acceptable to him as to conferre Dignity upon his own body, his Seed. It would bee irksome to have his greatnesse included in him­self; & this is the most proper way of his propagating himself, his Parliament; and so a Parliament is his own choise; his meet help, by which he is free, and without which he were bound to himself, and in himselfe: and so to be a King, were but to be a pack-horse: and for the Woman, the Parliament to rule by assistance (being called) in the bosome and heart of her head, pleases her: should shee be alwaies in it, and necessitated to it, it would be her bondage; she would desire to resigne it up to her Lord, and her selfe choose an easie and pleasant sub­jection. Thus divided it is encreased, and nothing lessened but the burthen; which while thus equally ballanced, is no bur­then, but the safety of the whole: For the King to be the root out of which the body of the tree grows, the Parliament; and out of her the People, the branches; and to send forth sap free­ly whereby the dody is supplied, and so every arme, branch and twigge, that it brings forth good fruit, wealth, peace, content, honour, power, al kindes of prosperity for the King; [Page 83]& then the people to be the root, the Parliament, the body: the King the head or top; and the people to send up by the body riches, honour, greatnesse, as sap into the head, whereby he may bring forth fruits of Majesty, Justice, Greatnesse unto them: and so the burthen and the fruit is divided; and both be the pleasure and profit ef each other: And so, is England a Treee of life, under which we shall sit and eat the fruit of it in peace; and out of which we shall all grow, and bring forth fruit of righteousnesse &c.

The order and manner of this distribution is excellent; into a superiour and inferiour; a first and second: two without this subordination, would not be so safe, so profitable, nor so delightfull: But being two, subordinate one to another, without offending each other, yea, to the advantage of each other is exceeding delightfull: the King, the Father, hath all re­tained; People, the Son, al dispenced: in the first, its abso­lute and intire; in the second, its propagated, enlarged, spread-forth: The Husband gives, the Wife receives; hee hath all, and bestowes it; she hath all, and receives it. The King saies, ask what you will and it shall be given unto you; (so GOD saies to Christ) chuse what Laws and Priviledges you will, Ile grant it; That's my word and Oath: I have no nega­tive voice; I can't deny you. But this is no wrong to the King; for the Parliament being one spirit with him, can ask no­thing but what he is minded to give: as prayers in the Church; though GOD bee bound to give yet its no losse to him, because his own Spirit asks, for we know not what to ask: So the KING is the originall of asking, and gives the desire of the thing: that which moves the inferiour to de­sire is most excellent in the superiour; and in this is the ful­nesse of the King, hee shall still call, ask of ME; and shall still out-goe the desires of the Petitioners, and give more [Page 84]then they can ask; his heart being more large towards his Spouse or Childe, then his Spouse or Childe can bee to it selfe; and that minde that is in the Spouse or Childe, of good to it selfe, is in the Father before it was in the Son, and more excellently: Neither can the Sonne ask any thing in this spirit, that can derogate from the Father; for thereby he should prejudice himself; and weaken, or lessen that power that conveighs good to him, and so wrong himself most, to wrong his head or fountaine from whence he is supplyed: Neither is it any wrong to the Son to have it this way, but tis the most perfect way of having it by asking it of another; for thus, there is a stock and treasure in which is store layd up that is the Sonnes riches; the surest and sweetest way of having, is by the easy way of asking: Tis the excellency of it, that it's a gift, and that tis free; or that it hath the Roy­all stamp of love and Authority upon it; by which it is not a stolne and forced, but lawfull and pleasant favour: Tis a free and ingenious subordination; where the inferiour hath power to chuse what it will; and chuses to have it in that way, and not in another; and hath that freedome in asking that is powerfull; The woman hath power over the head, to command by love; and to say as Christ, I will have it so: and then tis most acceptable to the Father, when it is most boldly and freely ask'd: it being the great joy of the head to have the wife confident in his love: And in this way there is, and shal be a river of pleasure running betwen King and peo­ple; or from King, and Parliament, and People; wherein they shal do nothing but please one another: The fulnes of the one, compleatly answering the largenesse of the other.

And the KING having to give what ever the Par­liament or People can desire; and desiring them to receive as much, as they desire him to give; and taking more [Page 85]pleasure in creating greatnesse and freedome in them, then in possessing of it himself; it being his nature and place to give forth, and without their receiving honour from him he were not a King: and it being as pleasant to the People to receive it from a King: it would not content them to have it in them­selves; but their Kings gift sets the price upon all favours they doe enjoy; its therefore sweet because their Lord be­stowes it upon them.

This is the florishing estate of King and Parliament in their restored life; living now in the glory of the Spirit and in uni­on: As God and Christ are of themselves; are in each o­ther, and neither without each other; but the Kingdome of both is compleated, in their dwelling together in the third the Spirit: where they doe continually delight in each other, in bestowing themselves upon each other, and are most hap­py in fellowship: so 'tis a heavenly blessednesse for Head and Body to be thus united, and to give and take largely and open­ly, to communicate themselves to each other.

The King in prosperity, in health, strength and pleasure, is in breaking forth his Majesty upon his Nobles, that have affi­nity to his greatnesse: thence to derive it to the People; this is a full King in hight & bredth: and a People ascending through the Lords into the bosome of the King; is a People in hight and depth: the body in prosperity and pleasure: three states in one, and one in three; in perfect agreement, and in com­pleat unity: all make up but one fulnesse, one Kingdome. Thus each is a Heaven to himself, and a Heaven to the other: and this conjunction by this righteous law of Spirit; the high­est Heavens, being all in the light and face of the eternall majestty: This is the great and main pillar of Englands happi­nesse; the foundation of our comfort: which as its most ex­cellent in its self, so it will effectually change the whole [Page 87]Kingdome into its forme: all parts must follow the conditi­on of King and Parliament; yea, all are included in it; in this our whole happinesse lies: The body being thus in health it cannot but send forth nourishment into every part: not a man in England but shall presently finde a reviving upon this agreement; a new spirit of love, joy, comfort, trade, and prosperity is immediatly dispersed into the whole Nation: e­very one leaping for joy in the goodnesse of God, and the hap­pinesse of the Nation.

THE God of the whole Earth delights to doe great things, and to fill the whole earth with his glory: The great favour of divine presence, of love and peace, is not re­served for Princes alone; but to be communicated generally to all People, That all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God.

You the People of England have sinned, Wee have all like sheep gon astray; but God laies on him the iniquities of us all: Wee see the zeale of Christ under your blinde rage one a­gainst another: Christ in you in weaknesse and infirmity: The Lord saith of you, You are my People, all my children: your fa­milies, relations, comforts, and persons are the Lords: not one English man or woman, but carries the Lord with him and [Page 86]in him. The Land-Lord is the Lord of the Earth; the Ten­nant is the Son holding of the Father all he hath. The buyer, the seller; the rich the poor; Master and Servant; Father and Son; Husband and Wife, are all but various breakings forth of God and Christ, and the severall enjoyments they have of each ether; and passing from one to the other by and in the Spirit. Ministers and People, Townes, Corporations, Manufactures, Markets, Grasing, Feeding, all but the abun­dant flowings forth of the fulnesse of Christ; pleased to ex­presse it self in such formes.

You are all one Common-wealth of God and Christ; and in you all doth Christ suffer; in that deadnes, disorder, spoil, confusion that is amongst you, doth the body of Christ suf­fer. Tis the blood of Christ that gives life to all these things; and in the spilling of them his blood is spilt: With him you suffer, as he with you: The glory, riches, peace and comfort of England is become a troubled Sea, yea, mare mortuum, a dead Sea. There is no life in any thing you doe: no joy in your labours; no comfort in your lives; no hope of enjoying what you have: a Chaos, a great grave is England become, wherein is cast all her riches.

But by this death, is Satan the Prince of death overcome; the author of your miseries; the destroyer of the earth; that fils you with wanes, suits quarrels; that sowed the tears of strife amongst Gods husbandry: that hot fiery Serpent that provoaked thirst to drunkennesse; that empty, hungry fiend that led you to gluttony; that filthy one that wrought brea­ches in your families; discontents in your relations; wasting in your estates; that cursed all your blessings; denies you joy, mirth, sports, recreations: Thou enemy of man art slain; and with thee darknesse, blindnesse, mistakes, accusations, treacheries, lies, falshoods, that vexed English men: These [Page 88]hatefull quarrels between Round-head and Cavalier, are dead and buried; with all your transgressions one against another; and all will and power to mischief one another: That parti­tion wall is broken down that kept you at distance from God, and from each other; that made you dark, ignorant and sin­full in your way: And you are now raisd in a new life; The old heaven and earth is fled away, because it was corrupt; and we have a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwels righteous­nesse: In all your waies, businesse, trade, sports, neighbour­hood, dwels the God of righteousnesse: they are all in God, and God in them; the goodnesse of God flows forth in them; and all of them shall bee filled with the peace, joy, and life of God: Truth stall spring out of the earth, and Righteousnesse look downe from heaven: The Lord shall give that which is good, and our Land shall yeild her increase. You are sow'd in sin, in darknes; and shall rise now light and holynesse: and with you truth it self: The true and living God shall spring up in every thing: The truth of God filling all your fields with corne; pastures, with grasse; that which is good, God Himselfe: your corne shall be better then Manna, Angels food; you shall feed con­tinually upon the bread of life: you shall lye down quietly in the armes of God, and none shall make you afraid: God Reigns, let the earth rejoyce; let all that is in it be glad: you shall have mirth, plenty, wealth, food, rayment, and GOD all in all: You shall be Govern'd by God in peace and righteousnesse; the wicked one shall be destroyed for ever.

Our Sonnes shall be as plants grown up in their youth; our Daughters as corner stones, pollished after the manner of a Palace; our Garners full of all manner of store; our Sheep shal bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets; our Oxen strong to labour: there shal be no breaking in of trouble; nor going out of comfort: no complaining in our streets: Happy [Page 89]are the People that is in such a case; yea happy is the People whose God is the Lord. This is the Great happinesse, God is our God, and we his People.

Now ye may sit under your own Ʋine, and under your own Figge-tree; which is, the love of God shadowing you, and feeding of you: Let the earth be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the Sea: there shall be none bar­ren of the grace of God amongst you; not a dark corner of the Earth for cruelty to dwell in; but all shall bee enlightened with the joy and peace of God: such a power of light and heat shal shine from the Sun of righteousnesse, as shall melt the churles heart into liberality; the Land-lord shall not rack you; nor the Ʋsurer grinde you; Taxes and Excise shal not op­presse you: The rich shall not be a prisoner to his wealth, nor the poor for want; he that hoorded corne shall bring it forth; the buried mony shal rise; trade shall revive; the hun­gry shall be fed; the naked cloathed: all happy, but he that refuses and resists this grace, the Devill. You shall all praise the Lord, from the rising of the Sun to the going down of it: re­joyce in the King, in the Parliament; all their honour, great­nesse, and dominion is yours; you shall have the comfort and benifit of it; and from them shall you receive flouds and streames of righteousnesse that none shall want: the rich shall be freed from the curse in his wealth; and desire no more: the poor shall be satisfied and have enough: every one, and every thing shall be filled▪ And your railings shall be turned into songs; your fightings into daunces; your feares into rejoyce­ings: live in love, in the face of God, as brethren; as owe family; lying in the wombe of one happy Mother, England; a Para­dice; the Land of Emanuel; rejoycing in the prosperity of each other: and the heavens shall blesse you; the God of heaven shal shine on you: Christ, The true Heaven is open to you: Prin­ces, [Page 90]Magistrats look gently upon you in love, smile on you: and these lowring, frowning clouds that have vexed you with excesse of raine, shall be scattered; and these heavens shall favour you with seasonable weather; you shall have all blessings of heaven and earth.

Thus, the People are recovered from slavery under Satan, and wicked men; into a freedome to live in the face of God: into freedome with, and union to their King, their Parliament; and amongst themselves; and so are free-borne; a Nation borne in one day; a Royall and Princly race; a blessed and happy generation; Borne of GOD, and of their KING.

THE Ministry hath been deeply defiled, and wofully accursed; they lye under great sinnes, and heavy judgements: But here is balme for them, a Physitian will cure them; a fire will pu­rify the Sonnes of Levi: you are the LORDS portion; GOD who said you were not my People, will say, you are the People of the living God: Idol Shepherds are you; but the GREAT Shepherd is seeking after you; and will re­store you.

The Lord is under your sinnes; bears your iniquities un­der the Luciferian pride of Episcopacy seeking to advance themselves into worldly greatnes; into Princes favour; into Lordlinesse: it being broken in peeces, we see under it, the Kingly and Priestly Office of Christ in union: the Son exalt­ing himself from a poor minister a Carpenters Son, to sit upon a Throne, far above all principalities and powers: In their pomp and state of living and worshipping God in an easy, rich, and brave way, is darkly represented the glory of the Church, Zion sucking the milk of the Gentiles: having Kings and Queens nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers: and bowing to the soles of her feet: Christ in glory, under this abominable filth.

In the Presbyterian rigid and harsh yoak of Government forcing the mindes of men into a observance of their Refor­mation: We now see the severity of Christ and his strength and power; his heat and zeal; not contented with a cold for­mality; but requiring every Sacrifice to be salted with fire: a smoaky and dark shadow of the baptisme of the holy Ghost and fire: Christ in power, under miserable weaknes.

In the Independents uniting their Churches close into one intire body, and keeping of them under their own imme­diate care; and not suffering them to acknowledge any o­ther power: we see there lyes in it the pastorall care of Christ carrying his Lambs his bosome: heavenly union: Christ keep­ing his Spouse chast to himself; his personall and immediate governing of them, and his absolutenes and Lordlinesse over them: Christ absolute, and his people independent, living only in and with himself.

In their sharp opposing one another, being intolerable one to another; is the zeal of the Lord of host seen; his jea­lousy that is impatient, of having his Spouse taken from him: their persecuting one another; a shadow of those stormes and [Page 92]tempests wherewith he persecutes them that take his Spouse his People from him.

In all these there are some particular excellencies of Christ scattered; they have gotten each a peece of the seamles coat of Christ: or else they could not be a rent or schisme, but in all his visage is so marred, his form so uncomly, that he is there unknown to any, even to themselves.

Christ bears their shame upon his own body on the tree: in their shame and repoach he is reproached: suffers deeply for be­ing in such a filthy shape, both from themselves and others: all the honour, beauty, order, uniformity of the Church is the Lord, his face vaild and covered: and now tis a ruinous heape, he lies buried in it, under divisions, factions, heresies, reproach: by all this his true body is broken, pierced, slain: This is your sacrifice, O yee Priests, this blood must wash you, and make an atonement; and it is sufficient to take away your sinnes though as red as scarlet; and put you again into white garments; this will satisfy Gods wrath, and then the rage of the Nation a­gainst you, and the wrath one against another will dye; Christs body is dead; and you are dead; you are spirit-lesse, life-lesse, a meer carcasse, rotten sepulchers; That which you fear is up­on you; the Witnesses are slain by the Beast coming out of the bot­tomlesse Pit: The carcases lies in the streets of the great City, scor­ned, trampled upon: your shame un-buried; where our Lord was crucified. Dissolved and broken amongst your selves, from the People, and most from the Lord: your live in a mise­rable world, and not in Heaven, which only is true life: and with you dies the false Prophet, the deceiver; the Father of lies and all the delusions of the devil, and all insulting pride, co­veteousnesse, worldlinesse, malice, persecution, and vaine glory: and by this fire of God upon you shall you be purifi­ed and cleansed: By death the partition wall is broken down, [Page 93]betwixt God and you, betwixt your selves, and betwixt you and your People. Of two, God and man, heavenly and earthly priesthood, made one Priesthood, one new man: The vail is rent, and you are now admitted into the holiest; and of many kindes of Priests, you are one Priesthood, one tribe, one body in many members; one Christ: and you and People are one Clergy, one lot and inheritance; the people Priests with you, and you people with them; all the Lords People holy: their jealousy and enmity, your pride and loftinesse being ta­ken away.

God will not suffer his holy one to see corruption: But will raise you up together with Christ: Levi shall never want a man to minister before him: If you can break the covenant of the day and of the night, that there should be no more day nor night in their season, then may also my Covenant bee broken with Da­vid my servant, &c. and with the Levits the Priests my mini­sters: The night of their calamity shall be followed with a day of rejoycing: And though the Sun have set upon the Pro­phets, yet it stall rise again; David and Levi shall have heires: Christ shall have Kings and Ministers; Kings propheticall or priestly, anointed with fulnes of spirit for both; and Priests Regall, or royall, to govern the house of the Lord.

Now Joshua thou great high priest, and thy fellowes men won­dred at: Ile take away thy filthy garments from thee, and will cloath thee with change of rayment; Ile remove thy iniquity off that land in one day; and bring forth the branch. The Lord and all his twigs growing out of him: full of the Spirit of God; in the compleatnesse and fulnes of the spirit; seven eyes upon one stone; much light and understanding: The Lord himself shall be the Temple, ministers, people, gifts, & all, & we shall all wor­ship in the house of God for ever: now are you Divines indeed; holy men, men of God, one with the holy divinity, shining [Page 94]in the brightnes and majesty, in the wisdome and judgement of God; Anointed with holy Oyle; cloathed with beautiful gar­ments of righteousnesse, truth and peace.

Now raisd out of the dust as the stones of Zion; as dried bones restored to life by the Spirit of the LORD: God sends a plentifull rain, showers of righteousnesse, whereby thou wilt confirme Levi, thine inheritance when it was weary: The Lord gives the word, Arise, and great is the company of them that published it. Though ye have lain among the pots; Kit­chin Priests, that have served for the belly; Now, as the wings of a dove, covered with silver, and her set hers with yellow gold: Winged now with the Dove, the Spirits strength, in the pu­rity and excellency of silver and gold; by heavenly and holy gifts, we shall fly aloft; and live alwaies in the clearnes and light of God; not in the basenesse and foulnesse of the world. Christ ascended on high, and will give liberal gifts, all kinds; Bishops, Presbyters, Independents, Apostles, Evangelists, Pastors, &c. yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God may dwell amongst them: God streaming himself forth in all varie­ties of Offices and Officers, none in vaine; all filld with grace and power.

Now in this restored condition all one with God, indeed spirituall and heavenly, of pure gold: And one with, and a­mongst themselves, as Stars of severall magnitude, moving in there distinct Orbs: all glorious lights, yet differing in an ex­cellent variety one from another in glory; and all pleasant and usefull one to another: And in union with the State, or Kingdome: You were divided, you kept them from medling with Spirituall things; and they in requitall and revenge, excluded you from Civill things; you both in your dark and worldly state, made lawes against each other: The heavenly, or spirituall men, must not medle with earthly affaires; they [Page 95]defile them; nor earthly men act in heavenly or spirituall. Thus were you cruell, and unkinde to your selves and to each other; one setting up an Heaven without an earth, the o­ther an earth without a heaven. These in the Lord are marri­ed together in perfect union; the same Lord being by the same spirit King and Priest, and administring his Church and King­dome together: they are joynd in the King, and must run down in fellowship together into the lower parts: Now truth springs out of the earth: You shall have God and Christ in the truth of the Spirit, springing up in all your civill affaires; in all your Lawes, Statutes, customes, nothing else but heavenly truth: and all your businesse, civill and naturall shall be ho­ly to the Lord; blessed Ordinances of Heaven: you shall be in all of them in the light of God, and minister in Gods presence: Ʋpon the horse bridles, upon the pots, upon all things written holinesse to the Lord: And righteousnesse shall look down from Heaven: Heaven shall shine forth to you righteous lawes: You shall see the same things done in Hea­ven, that are done in the earth: looking in each others face and answering one another: heer in THIS world earth will be no burden to Heaven, being new; and Heaven no trouble to earth, no stranger, when shee shewes her face and looks out she is the same thing: and both joyning together, salvation springs forth of them: the Earth by her fellowship with Heaven brings forth good fruit: peace, righteousnesse and justice for the Land: and the Earth without Heaven, brings forth no­thing, but cold, dead Lawes: and Heaven without Earth but airy phansies: both in conjunction make a compleat happi­nesse.

Now shall we meet together all Sorts in a generall assem­bly, in the light of Heaven, as golden candlesticks; The holy one walkes in the midest of us, emptying the golden Oyle, by golden [Page 96]pipes from his golden self, into his golden vessels, his ministers: And in this holy assembly, sitting in the light of God, all things shall be manifest to us; wee shall see the whole forme of the house of God; all the doors, windows and pillars of it; nothing of its statutes and ordinances shall be hid from us: no error shal go undiscovered, unrefuted; all that have gon astray shall be brought back; the ignorant shall be instructed; the opposing and dissenting convinced; and the obstinate rejected, and cast out: such a harmony and con­sent of hearts and mindes in this love and light, must needs bring forth blessed fruit: What ever is true in any religion, we shall owne; what is false, we shall judge: The darkness of Popery shall fall before our light; we shall undermine the Kingdome of darknesse, and set up truth in that beauty and majesty as shall gain all hearts; upon such firme pillars as none can move her.

Wee feare not Papists, nor all their strength; we shall need no Lawes against them, but The Law of the Spirit of life; which wee know will over-come them: The Gates of our Heavenly Jerusalem shall be open night and day; let who will come in or go out: No Ʋncleane thing shall enter into us; But all the KINGS of the Earth; all the wisdome, state, pompe and glory of Rome; and all the World, must bring their glory to this City, this New Jerusalem: And all the Nations upon Earth that shall be saved, shall walke in the light of it.

THE Army is but a particular part, and that temporary, and occasionall; and is by this bright shining of the Sun of Righteousnes, melt­ted into a generall peace and unity, but lying under a particular condemnation, it shall re­ceive a particular discharge. And we know thy imployment is so irksome and unpleasant to thee, To be the kingdomes Gaoler, to keep war in, and peace out; or to stand in the way to the Tree of life, with a flaming sword; to keep men from the injoyment of their liberty, KING, peace; though thou art commanded to it by God (these things being yet forbid­den the people) yet thou wilt be glad to be released from it; that thou and all other may come into the Paradise of God, and feed together upon the fruit of Divine peace and love.

There is, under thy assuming power over the Kingdome, King, and Parliament, and all; and in thy maintaining thy Military power above, and against the Civill; in thy seeking thy owne subsisting, and attempting to bee the Kingdomes Lord and restorer: The Lord cloathing himself with zeal, as with a garment, incompassing himself about with flames of fire: A Man of War, a Lord of Hosts▪ Casting away his Fatherly Government, because of the Nations rebellion in all parts against himselfe, and ruling us with a Rod of Iron. God marching before us, out of Egypts slavery, into [Page 98]a Wildernesse; turning us from a Civil Government into a Wildernesse; and incamping in the midest of us; and ad­ministering Laws to us; as at sinai: in thundering and lightning, clouds and darknensse; so terrible, that makes all tremble: A yoke that neither we, nor our Fathers are a­ble to beare: And so we see Gods severity, under mans ini­quities: And because it is the Lords Rod, we kisse the Rod, and love you for it.

Death is proper for this administration: The Lord, our Husband, the Law dies; wee were bound to honour you so long as you lived in the power and goodnes of God; The whole Kingdome bowed before you; while you led us safely through the Wildernes: But Moses cannot bring us into Ca­naan; but must only have a view of it, and dye at mount Nebo: This power is weak through the flesh, and cannot do it; if you contend now to effect any thing, it is but the Devil stri­ving for the body of Moses; you are labouring to set up an honourable carcasse; or to call back life into a dead body: Christ did come into it, and hath offered it up in his owne body, and naild this power fast to the Tree; you are dead, fixt to the tree of shame, by the curse with your Lord; and by death you shall over come more then ever you overcame by life; submitting to death, your wils, reasons, lusts; your seeking a worldly Kingdome; your desire of lording it over others by force of armes, with all your projects, are slaine; and all enmity in you against others, and others against you.

Death hath disbanded you; easd you of your hellish and wrathfull imployment: Reconciled you to all, and all to you; brought you from being Turkish Janisaries, to bee English men: You are disolved into a body of love; into GOD: you lye downe in the Eternall.

By this your arreares are paid; you are nothing, you are dead, and you can require nothing; you, and your demands are fallen to the ground; your service is dead, and nothing is due to it, but to be buried, and all your miscar­riages, in forgetfulnesse. Who do you require arreares of? The Kingdome is dead; the sword reignes, and therefore the Kingdome is free: if you will be paid, take blood, want, spoile, confusion, ruin; that's all that is left of the Kingdome; pay your selves of that. Do you expect it of the Parliament? That is dead too. Poor Parliament, you have eat it up your selves in greedines of pay, you tore her bowels out; and you can have no more.

But all anger is past, there remaines nothing but love: you are dead, and live with Christ: come forth of your graves; stand up in the resurrection of Christ, in union and fellow­ship with Christ. The Lords host; now the Lord is in you; and you pitch your tents about the Lord; and are the arme of God, stretched out for his owne defence, and for the pun­ishing of transgressors; living in the strength and Spirit of the Lord: and now, mighty and powerfull to execute Di­vine pleasure: Now you are under the Captain of our salva­tion; and at once interested in the salvation of the Nation; and of Christ, our Saviour.

Now we can pay you arreares: you never stuck upon ar­reares till you sunk into the earth, into poor earthly mindes; rise you again into spirit, you will count it your honour to help England freely: Mony and a Saviour, cannot subsist to­gether. That Spirit of Christ that once acted in you to let goe the prisoners, Englands freedome and justice, with­out price or reward; that spirit shall revive in you: and then you will scorne to be mercenary.

I know you disdaine to keep Englands woundes open [Page 100]to suck her blood: you have hazarded your lives for justice and freedome, and can't now insist upon pay: you are wor­thy your selves, and have the worth of all with you: if you desire pay enter with us into Cānaan and you shall have Vinyards that you planted not; wels that you diged not: A land flowing with milk and hony; such mercies and blessings as you could not expect: The Lord is Judge, he will audite your accompts, and pay all that he owes you: Religion flourish­ing in the purity of it; peace and righteousnesse as Rivers and Seas; the sweet, holy unmolested enjoyment, of your own families and estates, in the presence & under the govern­ment of the most high: You shall now subsist in our bowels, be disolved into the Church and Kingdome, which is the be­loved of Christ; Terrible as an Army with banners: terrible to the world and the God of the world; to the prince of dark­nesse: and so wee shall disband you into spirit and power; the whole Nation shall be Souldiers able to draw the sword of the Spirit against all forrain power; amongst our selves wars shall cease from the earth: you must beat your swords into plowshares, and spiers into pruming hooks: to your honest trades again; there will need no Iron or steely wrath, but to plow up your own hearts, and to cut down enemies within your own brests. all our Townes and Cities are garisoned with a heavenly host, and we have salvation for our wals and bulwarks; we shall lye down in peace and none make in afraid: while we need force we shall use you, but not in civil wars; you must be remo­ved, and only imployed in service against strangers: if you delight to sit down by the still streames of Englands peace, and feed in our green pastures of eternall love, you shall: if your valour makes you desirous of military actions, we shall finde enemies abroad to imploy your swords against: and [Page 101]when you under take such expeditions the Lord shall goe with you: you shall have Angels spirits that shall make you invincible where ever you goe.

The Levellers grew out of the Army, and are again shrunk into the Army, and therefore we will now joyne you to the Army, being mingled together. In your endeavour to im­pose your Democracy, your popular Government upon the Kingdome; over-throwing and overturning all powers in­to the People: we hear the voice of one crying in the Wildernes ( England is become a Wildernesse) all flesh grasse (all pow­er is corrupt) the Spirit of the Lord hath blowne upon it and its withered: This is John Baptist that exalts the valies and brings down the hils: he brings all into the waters the People; God is in these Levellers casting the Mountains into the depths of the Seas, plunging all into a confused People; not suffering one stone to lye upon another.

Thy place is to be in the Wildernesse, and not to come into the City: to expire and dye speedily, to decrease, that he that comes after may increase: Thou art beheaded, thy devices are fallen to the ground: a mushrome, thou wert little, and art nothing. What went you out to see? A reed shaken with the wined: growing out of the mire of the Nation: or a man clo­thed with soft rayment? People got into Kings houses. In this state thou art vanisht, lost, and raised in the Spirit of Christ, the divine and eternall love of God: and in this Kingdome there is a perfect Levell: The People the originall of the Parliament and King, by a free giving up themselves and and their estates to the Parliament and King, are in the King and Parliament, and fully pertake of the royalty and power of both, and are leveld with it: The People give ho­nour and glory to the King, and so higher then hee, or he their Subject: He that gives is greater then he that receives: [Page 102]heer all the people are one with that spirit that is kingly that Anointing that makes Christ King: and so called mine Anoin­ted living all in the liberty of that spirit that makes Kings: and are most perfectly content in the Kings greatnesse, being that which themselves constitute: making it themselves, they live in it and enjoy it: And the King is levelled to the people by his sufferings or humiliations, and by his love taking in every Subject to himself: humbling of himself, to be but the Kingdoms Servant, and wearing his Crown only for the happinesse and good of the people, living together, and brought into one body, head, and member. The eter­nall love is the Leveller, Divine Charity that lifts not up it selfe, but is lifted up; and being lifted up, drawes all after it.

I rejoyce in the healing thy breaches, oh London, thou ho­nourable City: Thy iniquities have been great, there is a righteous one under them that will carry them without the City as a scape Goat into the wildernesse: we see the Lord in thee in thy greatest filth; in thy violent enforcing powers above thee to thy own minde, in constraining the Parlia­ment to thy will, by bold petitions urged with tumults: we see darkened and shadowed the intercession of the Son of God, who with violence wrests from his Father favour for himself and his people: he comes with boldnesse to take what he asks, and saies, I will; and the power that Saints have in Christ to command God in prayer. In thy siding with the Parliament against the King, and thy free powring forth thy self for her: We see the excessive love of Christ to his Church, who is ravisht with love, and for her forgets all things else: In thy ingrossing the riches of the Kingdome into thee; thou art a shadow of Christ, who treasures up wealth and riches of glory in the City of God for us.

But thy glory is gon, thy true life; the beautifull presence of God hath left thee; and thou art burning in flames of wrath, jealousies, envies, divisions: thou art wasted into a sceleton; thy trade obstructed by Sea and Land; thy People filled with rage; thy bowels pained with fierce contests of parties, pulling various waies; quite restlesse; an unquiet Sea, in continuall agitation. The Lord dyes in thee; the LORDS delight; thou wert his Spouse: thy glory and greatnesse, it was the LORDS; he suffers in thy suffering, and is covered in thy ashes; lyes under the burthen of all thy wants; is pier­ced with the necessities of the poor: And thou art in the dust of confusion; a ruinous heap; the seat and place of vexation; lying in a thick cloud of darknesse. But his fire purifies thee; in these flames thou losest thy filthy pride, coveteousnesse, malice, revenge, &c.

Thou shalt not perish utterly; The voice of God is heard in thee to revive thee: thou shalt be built again: Thy foundati­ons shall be all of precious stones &c. The glory of God shall shine in thee: thou art now the City of God; a Righteous Ci­ty: this is thy name, The Lord is there: The Lord displaies his glory in the midest of thee: The new Jerusalem indeed, in truth, in Spirit, in perfect union with GOD; a heaven, and so in union amongst your selves; Peace within thy wals, and plentiousnes in thy palaces: a City at unity in it self; there shall not be the least found of discord in thee: Thy nature is love, light and holines; The City of the great King: made happy by the presence of the King, and all the state and honour of the Kingdome: Now open thy armes of Divine love, and take in­to thy imbraces the glory of England: Kings, Princes, Nobility, Gentry, Ministry, Judges, Lawyers, with all the wisdom, ju­stice, power and excellency of heaven and earth; let all flock [Page 108]together; in one God, one Christ, one Spirit; one City, and thousands of thousands of Saints and Angels dwelling in thee. Nothing shal be heard in thee but mirth and joy in the Lord our God; praises of the Great King: Open thy gates, thy everlasting doors, that the King of glory, the Lord of Hosts, with all his host of Princly powers, may enter in: And all the riches of the World shal flow into thee in thy trade, natur­ally, and abundantly: the wealth of both Indies, and all parts, shal seek unto thee, and offer up it selfe to satisfy thee: thou shalt be crownd with blessings; all contents and pleasures shal continually run dawn thy streets; and all in the sight and face of the holy God; in the pure River of life.

ALL the works of God are perfect, found out of all them that take pleasure therein: The greatest and highest, are reserved for us, in this later, and great day of God; wherein it pleaseth the LORD to appear in his fullest, and most excellent glory: this of Englands salvation is a sweet bud of it; a little taste of that infinite Majesty that is now breaking forth, in the glo­rious appearing of God. In this businesse, the Lord satisfieth his own Interest, who is Alpha, and Omega; the first, and the [Page 109]last: and this is the rock of our pleasure that thou art pleased, and satisfied.

Thou reignest, thou art King: this is thy due, all power and dominion is thine; tis thy right to have all, all are thine, for thee they were created and made, King, Parliament, Lords, Commons, Ministers, People, all sorts, all sides, all parties are the Lords, and thou wilt reign over and in all: from Sea to Sea, from one end of the Earth to the other, as lightening shining from East to West: so is thy Kingdom; and thy glory is now due to thee, that thou shouldest appear not in weaknesse to serve men, but in thy great Majesty, in thy highest honour thou must now shew forth plainly thy self in thy utmost & most enlarged goodnesse, power & wisdom: No­thing now will serve thee but to be ALL IN ALL: To be All thou art in Heaven, in all the Earth, to bring forth all thy riches to fill every creature, all glory in all things: Thou art all in Earth as well as all in Heaven, all in King, in Parlia­ment, in People, there is nothing but thy self in these; thou art Bishops, Presbyters, Independents, all these, and all in these; all Majesty, power, glory, justice, in the King; and all the same in the Parliament, and all that too in the People: thou art all the labour, strength▪ riches, freedome in the People, all this in the Parliament, all the same in the King, all night and all lownesse: Thou art all wisdom, Authority, Government in Bishops; all care, zeal, labour in Presbyters; all love, union, absolutenesse in Independents: and all these in every one; thou art the same in all, ALL IN ALL: All in darknesse all in light, all in weaknesse, all in strength: all that every part is, all the wholl is, all the wholl in every part: and all Heaven, all Glory, all peace▪ all quietnesse, all love, all goodnesse in all these parts and wholl: Lesse then this ge­nerall and near union and mariage will not satisfie thee; [Page 110] being thy self satisfied, thou doest satisfy all; and being plea­sed, thou pleasest all: thy content, contents every one, because thou art all: art content it self in all.

Thou hast shaken all Nations, and the desire of all Nations is come: We have been shaken into peeces, and every peece shaken out of all order and peace. Thou art good that thou doest but shake only; rends, that thou mayest make way for thy selfe to enter, and for all to enter with thee into every part. What we desire we have: we can desire nothing but the Lord: nothing is desirable but the Lord; the Lord we have, and in the Lord wee meet with every desirable thing: the desire satisfied, which if a tree of life. God was our desire, which is now interpreted; being brought forth into performance and enjoyment: God the bottom, and top; the desire, and desi­red, meeting in one Spirit and Kingdome: GOD the root in our desires grown up into the fruit, attainment.

The interest of this whole Kingdome, in this restoration, is satisfied; and that consists in; First, PEACE; a sure Peace; a well grounded Peace: here you have the richest jewell of peace that heaven hath; the Peace of God: The union and a­greement of Father, Son and Spirit in one; this is our peace, and a well grounded peace, settled and sure; that is lasting and durable; a threefold cord that cannot be broken.

We are one with God, reconcil'd to God; we dwell toge­ther in the same house; he hath married us: one in God; one as God; one amongst our selves, as he is one: All in the Fa­ther, the Head, the KING; all in the Son, the Body, the Parliament: All in Spirit in combination; acting and living together in their just and lafull rights; and in perfect fruit of righteousnes, love and peace.

Secondly, The Nation desires SETTLEMENT, after her shakings, heres everlasting Settlement, upon sure [Page 111]foundations; The sure mercies of David; upon the rock of a­ges: he who was, is, and ever will be: those pillars upon which England stood, made cleare, and bright; and the Kingdome settled upon them: Now the world is establisht in eternity, so that it cannot be moved.

Thirdly, The HONOƲR OF THE NATION: ho­noured indeed; For glory doth dwell in our Land: our Nation now is the very throne and seat of Divine glory; a Royall Nation; filled with Princely spirits: the Kingdome it self raisd from the grave of lusts, luxury, coveteousnesse, oppression, base­nesse and beastlinesse, into the noblenesse and wisdome of the Spirit of God: England first brought forth into that excellent and perfect righteousnesse, liberty and justice that shall bee a copy to other Nations; a Mother, that shall bring forth salva­tion to all the earth.

Fourthly, The SETLING OF RELIGION; of the true Orthodox, ancient Protestant Religion; and the rooting out sects, herisies, popery: This doth it compleatly and fully. We now shall have sound doctrin, measured by the scriptures of truth; the golden line of truth it self: truth derived from the bowels of eternity: and constantly preserved and kept in the worst ages, free from defilement; giving testimony of it self successively, in the darkest times; and now breaking forth in undeniable, and indisputable authority and evi­dence: Not peeces, but a whole body of Divinity; divinity it selfe; not in shadow, but the body of it; not maim'd, but intire and whole, from the highest head and glory of God, to the lowest part of hell: and all the variety of estates, in Christ, in Angels, in men; with their fallings and risings, des­cendings and ascendings, fully and plainly brought forth. The Sun shall shine so clearly, as shall discipate these mists of error that are amongst us; with such power as shall com­pose [Page 112]the madnesse and disorder of peoples judgements, into a beautifull Uniformity; by power of the Spirit of God, and in satisfaction to every minde.

Fiftly, Another Publick interest is, LIBERTY from all oppressing powers: this we have here restored; a glorious li­berty; in which all English men shall live under Authority as children, not servants nor slaves; some shall rule as Fathers, others shall obey as Sons: Nothing but love, goodnesse, and gentlenesse in both; both to command and obey, shall be sweet and delightfull: no Laws but the perfect Law of liberty, which the subject shal choose and desire. A KING free and enlarged into the hearts and estates of his people; living in all they are and have, & they pleased to have it all the Kings; every one hating that which will not be the KINGS, and Common wealths; count­ing that base and unworthy, that is not every ones as well as his own; and that only to be rich, which is free for all: and so men free to part with, as well as to injoy; estates free as well as persons; and men not slaves to men, nor to their wealth: no, not to propriety; which is the greatest bondage to serve them selves and their own wealth: That's true wealth, Common wealth.

And the People free, living in the bosome of the KING; in his authority and greatnesse: they have a true right to it, as they have anything; Tbe Court is their Fathers house; the Throne their own home; where every subject dwels, and lives in the Kings honour and presence.

Sixtly, In this we have A RIGHT ƲNDERSTANDING be­tween King and Parliament: The wisdome of God to shew us a way of peace; the true light shining from heaven upon us: the night of our mistakes is past; The prince of darknesse is thrown down; & we are translated out of a kingdome of dark­nesse, into the Kingdome of God; in which we shal alwaies have the true wisdome to guide us.

Seventhly, Here likewise have we AN ACT OF OB­LIVION; whereby all transgressions are blotted out; all carried in to the depth of the Sea: where sin, if it be sought for, it shall not be found: such a fullnesse of pleasure and sa­tisfaction as will not admits a thought of revenge; if we shall remember past things, it will bee with joy and thanks to each other; for in [...]rting, we have saved one another: wherein we have done evill to any, it is turned to their good; The KING will thank the Parliament for rising against him; and the Parliament thank the KING for lea­ving of them: There is GOD, and perfect good in all that every party hath suffered.

HAPPINES it selfe; England now hath a con­fluence of the riches of Heaven and Earth in one bles­sednesse: England; a glorious Land; the Land of God; a­bounding in store, trade, justice, peace, amity. We are fallen, but (as hath been expected) We RISE AS ONE MAN: England acted by one head, one spirit, is become one man: every one loving another as himself; & rising against the COMMON ENEMY, the Devil, the destroyer; who is, and hath been our only enemy; wee hate none but him: and by this RISING, wee free our selves from him.

As this satisfies the publick, so every particular interest, or all interests are here satisfied, and brought into one interest, which is the true nature of an interest; to be in others a joynt, or common subsistence: every part made cleane and right, and so inter-weaved into one intire garment; which is the excellency of Divine works, they are large & save all; thats a humane and devilish designe, that saves one by the ruin of another; but that is Gods way to save all so, as the salvation of one is the salvati­on of another: Now here you see all contented.

The KING (as all have sworne and prayed) advanced into honour and greatnesse; freed from prison from chains of darknesse wherein he hath been held; brought out of a low dungeon of wrath and heavy affliction, to the highest Throne of Majesty: Person, and Office restored from blacknesse and foulnesse, to splendor and brightnesse, into the Majesty of God: and that performed which the Parliament often promised, A GLORIOUS KING; a KING in the glory of God; or the glorious God; the Immortall KING Reigning in man, and over men: Sir, this is your true interest; tis your life and soul; I know tis your heart, though yet lying hid: Tis the Key will unlock your spirit, and bring it out into the light and liberty of God; unlock your understanding, after seven times have passed over you, you shal returne to your Throne, and true Majesty shall be given to you; and your Nobles and Kingdomes shall honour you; all shall freely bow to you; and you shall command and Reign againe, to the terrour of your adversaries, and joy of your friends: now the prison doors stand open to you, and you shall returne to your Royall Parliament and City after seaven yeares banishment.

We have now a King in whom we can confide▪ as in God; now the LORD lives in him tis impiety and wickednesse to have a thought of distrust concerning him; the sure justice and righteousnesse of God inhabits in the Throne, as its proper place.

We have a King according to our own hearts; hee lives in our hearts; arises out of our hearts; and our hearts give him his dominion: hee hath all we have, and hath not too much, because he hath us too; and nothing but what we free­ly give: one higher by the head then all the People: ha­ving the wisdome of the whole in him; of the largest under­standing, and therefore King because he doth in true worth [Page 115]excell any in the Nation, and is of all men fittest to reign: fitted by his great suffering, and Gods fulnesse dwelling in him.

This is the QƲEENS interest she may return to the King, there is no fear now, she cannot hurt either Parlia­ment or Religion both being in such a condition as cannot be hurt: besides living in this light, of all she shall most love the Parliament; it being the same with her self the Kings Consort, and she being the same with it, concurring together in severall wayes to help, and honour the King: if she should attempt any thing against it, it would be against the King and her self.

The Parliament administring about the affairs of the kingdom, that the King may enjoy his Queen and Family with greatest plenty, honour, ease and pleasure: and the Queen administring in the domesticall affairs of the King about his Person, that the king may enjoy his Parliament and people in greatest content and freedom: The Parliament in businesse of State, a Queen lying in the bosome of the king; and the Queen in private and personall affairs a Parliament: and so Parlia­ment and Queen interested, joynd in one interest; And for her religion we are now so far from being afraid of it, that we rejoyce in it, and in her great interest in the Papacie: For as the Papists had by her designs upon us: so now (the streame being turned) we shall by her design upon them, and over-runne the whole Papacie with light and truth, she shall be the doore by which we shall enter into all the riches and honours of the Papacie, and without injury to them, we shal spoyle them of all their glory, or rather bring a glorious fire a­mongst them, that shall out-shine theirs; and burn up theirs into it self.

The PRINCE his Interest is here satisfied, he is indeed [Page 116]one with the Parliament; they & he are brethren descended both from the loyns of the king, and are one in various forms: each being the glory of the king, & the staffe of his age, Christened at the same Font the Spirit of Christ: both the hope and joy of England, both being the glory of the King, propagated unto eternity, a never failing off-spring, and flourishing in the vigour and youthfulnesse of the Son of God: both in­terested into Christ, or the interest of Christ, and so of each other. The LORDS who have lost their Nobility, sunck in disgrace, scattered, and almost buried in dishonour: by this shall be restored, not to airy empty Titles, but to true Nobility: The Lord doth appear Lord of Lords: your Lord, owning Lordlinesse and filling of it with himself, as well as king of kings, and as he sets a Crown of pure gold upon the head of the King: so Coronets of pure Gold upon yours, you shall shine as stars in this Firmament, in wisdome, holinesse, justice and goodnesse, and be in affi­nity to the King; that head ennobled with heavenly Majesty, fit to be about the Throne, and advanced to be the shoulders and brest of the Nation, next the head.

The Kings party are here fully satisfied: to see their King restored to the honour and greatnesse of his Ancestors, his Progenitors: which is into the glory of God the great king, the Kings true Father: They that contend for KNOWNE LAWES, by this the Laws are known by God, brought out of the dust of the earth in which they were trampled upon and restored into the brightnesse and life of God: And now we shall see the whole body of the English Lawes interpre­ted and opened to us by the wisdome of God, and all drawn forth into life and power by the Spirit of God, as we see the fundament all Law of King and Parliament written in the face of God and Christ by the Spirit.

You shall have Religion in the OLD WAY; in the good old way: DIVINE SERVICE; wherein every part of it shall be irradiated with the Beams of Divinity, and in every thing you shall see the Face of God, and have fellow­ship with the Divine Nature: Religion shall be adorned with Solemnity, State, Pomp, Glory, Ease, Musick, all Heaven­ly and Earthly together, such as may allure and please the mindes of men, and there shall be nothing harsh or rude in it: yea, rudenesse it self shal have its comlinesse. You shall have your sports, pleasures, we will sing together in the hight of Zion: young men & maids daunce together without offence or iniquity, all in the innocency, holinesse and joy of God: your whole life a course of pleasure; all things▪ yea labour and pains shall be recreations: God recreating all things, or making all things new, they shall be sweet and delightfull: you shall have your Holy-dayes: yea, your whole life shall be spent in holy-daies, a continuall rest, the great Jubile.

You the more civil and solid of that party, that sincke into a retired condition in these tempestuous times, that lie quietly and patiently in your graves of your owne and the Kindomes sufferings; your resurrection is come, and you shall revive, and in a new spirit act for, and in the prosperity of the Nation.

And you mad Lads shall SWEARE: Now the Lord lives in truth, righteousnesse, and judgement, and know him present with you; sweare by the eternall God, the Spirit filling every oath with truth: you shall curse your enemy the De­vil with all plagues to the pit of hell, and so dam him and ram him in, that he shal no more come forth to trouble you: you shall eate and drink freely, and forget your selves and your sorrow, and in it be filled with the Spirit of the Lord: be raisd into high mirth and jollity, drink so freely of this [Page 118] new wine of the kingdome, till you are drunk out of your own wits into the Princely Spirit of God, and then ever speak and act things of love, worth, bravery and excellency: This is the KINGS HEALTH his saving health, his union with God, God with him, drink of this health freely: and the whole Kingdome shall PLEDGE; be bound to fill it a­gain, and drink down this heavenly liquor of the Majesty of God in the King into them: and the whole people shall say, and see it performed, GOD SAVE THE KING: The King is saved in God: and God the salvation of the king.

This restoration fully satisfies the Parliaments Interest, gives her high PRIVILEDGES: She is called to an honourable state to live in the Lord Christ, to sit with Christ in heavenly places, to be one with the Son, the body of God: to be Jerusalem above the mother of us all; and therefore FREE, free with God, and in God with the King: free­dome to enter into his heart and bosome, to lye there conti­nually: The king shall greatly desire thy beauty: Thou now hast POWER as well as liberty, to make Righteous Lawes in perfect Righteousnesse that shall stand for ever: such a King and such a Parliament as we have long beg'd, to agree together in just things: and in both we shall reap the fruit of our prayers; which though they were sowed in weak­nesse, and now seem dead and rotting in the earth, yet shall rise in power.

The great Interest of the Parliament, the COVE­NANT is here fully satisfied: The end that we looked upon, HAVING THE GLORY OF GOD IN OUR EYES: that glory is now manifest: God in glory. All Popery, &c. rooted out and the root of it, Satan; a tho­row and perfect REFORMATION. God once for­med the Kingdome after himself in his owne likenesse, in [Page 119]which it corrupted, he hath taken down the old forme, and sets up a new; reformes us in State and Church: now we shall have doctrin and disciplin, according to the WORD OF GOD; the true and eternall Word; the Word it self brought forth: and according to the example of the BEST RE­FORMED CHURCH, The generall assembly in heaven &c. We have the KING in honour; the KINGDOMES, heavenly and earthly UNITED; and a strong bond that will binde these three, and all the Kingdomes of the earth in one life, law and peace. By this THE POWER OF GODLI­NES is set up; Godlines, likenesse of God; in Spirit, in Power; or God himselfe: all things else being but a forme. We have here PROPRIETY, God, our own God; we restored to him, and hee to us; his own Vineyard: Every one shall en­joy what he hath in peace; and coveteousnesse, the root of oppression destroyed: every one shall have enough; every one shall bee satisfied; have so much as hee hath ability to beare: and others shall freely part with that which hath been burthensome to them selves; none have more then they want, and all that they want; all in such a condition, place, office, as they are fit for, as they are capable of: Eve­ry one having a minde to his condition, and a condition to his minde; every one by Divine wisdome so disposed as he shall rest in it, and not move after others; there being no discontent but in hel, which is in perpetuall motion after e­very thing and attains to nothing.

THE LORD SHALL BE ONE, AND HIS NAME ONE in both Kingdomes: There is now but one LORD; all gathered into Christ; hee is LORD in­deed; and his name written upon every thing in Church and State; nothing but the Lord spoken and done amongst us: in heaven and earth, in England and Scotland: The Spirit of [Page 120]the Lord running through these Kingdomes, and through all persons in it, ruling over all in, and by himself; the whole shall be called by this Name, The Lord; and so not only one man, but one Lord; there being nothing but the glory and righteousnesse of the Lord amongst us.

This is that which we have desired, and attempted, to set up THE KINGDOME OF CHRIST, THE REIGN OE THE SAINTS; The holy God, holy Christ, holy Spirit, with holy men and Angels, Reigning together.

This rich LO RD, filling all Magistracy with justice, all People with love, our Ministry with truth, our hearts with heavenly joy, all our Laws with life and light, our Cities with unity and wealth, our Villages with plenty, our Fami­lies with content, our Persons with happinesse, our King especially with honour, glory, safety, ease of heart, clearness of understanding, a sweet injoyment of his Queen and Children: the Parliament, LORDS and COMMONS, with perfect agreement, majesty, goodnesse, love of the King and peoples prosperity.

This is a true PERSONAL TREATY, wherein King and Parliament and all the people are together one person, one body, living in one Spirit.

Thus the Lord is Englands desire, and Englands joy; him we sought for, him we finde. God gives us all that we desir'd, and more then we could ask or think of, and that too in a more excellent way then we could imagine. Tis the Lords doing, and tis marvellous in our eies: Tis the day of the Lord, we will re­joyce and be glad in it. Tis thy self O God, Englands life and soul; and England is thy delight, thy first-borne of all the Nati­ons of the earth: Tis thy self, out saviour and salvation: Tis thy justice hath took vengeance upon our inventions, and [Page 121]saved in that vengeance: Tis thy power triumphing in our weaknesse; thy mercy rejoyces in our deliverance; thy wis­dome shines forth: that brings light out of darknesse; turnes mourning into rejoycing; makes our Tragedy end in a Come­dy: a seasonable deliverance, now when all miseries and de­structions are met together in our bowels, a cleare Sun to break forth of a suddain, out of such blackensse of darknesse as covered us.

Thou hast carried us through death to life; yea, through thy own death to thy own life: Tis by blood wee are saved, by the blood of Christ. Thou hast done all things well, thy workes are all excellent and perfect.

Let the People praise thee, O God; yea let all the People praise THEE.