THen Saul said unto his Servants that stood about him, Hear, now, ye Benjamites, Will the Son of Jesse give every one of you Fields and Vineyards, and make you all Captains of Thousands and Captains of Hundreds? 1 Sam. 22. 7. From hence may be understood the Rea­son of the Disobedience and Rebellion of the People of England unto those sundry Commandments of the Most High God, which from the Scriptures, I have laid before them: Namely, Because the Son-in-Law of (left blank) doth give them Money, or Lands, or Places of Profit, and to those of the Priesthood, Bishopricks or Preferments, for the Sake and Love of which, they cast the Law of God behind their backs. Neh. 9. 26. and they do not give due heed and obe­dience unto the same. But let them consider fur­ther what the great Oracle of Truth, the Lover and Saviour of our Souls, saith, What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Matth. 8. 36. or as it is in another Evangelist, Lose himself, or be a cast-away? Luke 9. 27. Your Prince indeed (a Raiser of Taxes, and obtained the kingdom [Page 2] by flatteries, and shall prosper until the indignation be ac­complished, Dan. 11. 20, 21. 36.) hath gained one kingdom of the Earth, and ye have gained less Riches; But it will not profit ye, for the gain of them to lose your Souls, your Selves, and be Cast-aways; and ye cannot give them in exchange for your Souls: They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth [...]or ever, Psal. 49. 6, 7, 8. Again it is written, Riches profit not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivereth from death, Prov. 11. 4. And again it is written, Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they shall not satisfie their souls nor fill their bowels, because it is the stumbling block of their iniquity, Ezek. 7. 19. That is like as the goodly Babylonish Garment and two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold, tempted Achan to commit the accursed thing: So the silver and gold was the occasion or temptation of their falling into such an Iniquity; and so it was the stumbling block of their Iniquity. But it is evidently seen, for the like hath been already fulfilled in some of your Brethren and Companions of Iniquity, that in a few days, weeks, months, and years more, An end is come, the end is come, behold it is come; The morning is come upon thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: The time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains: For the Trade of Sinning on still and working Iniquity will not last always: And then it will not profit ye, for all the conveniency, and pleasure, and respect, attending upon your Riches, to have your Souls sent unto Hell, although your Bodies rode enshrined in Coaches [Page 3] whilst here on Earth. Like Sins will have like Ends. Consider the Example of Balaam, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; and of Judas, who Betrayed his Master, and purchased a field with the reward of Iniquity. It would be better for them now, if they had never loved the Wages of Unrighteousness, nor yet took the Reward of Iniquity; even so, some of ye have Betrayed your King and Master, and most of ye do allow the Deeds of them who did so, and ye are Partakers with them in the Ini­quity (which signifies an unequal thing) done to­wards him: Because ye have those Places and Op­portunities of Gain, Profit, and Reward, under this Constitution, which perhaps ye would not have had under the former Rightful Government. For your Gains-sake, ye will not know, but refuse, to do do Right, ye Heads of the House of England, and ye will not Obey the Commandments of the Lord, which enjoyn People to do Right. Every Disobedience and Transgression receiveth a just re­compence of Reward. Ye will find that it was a mistaken Interest to lose your Souls, even the temp­tation and bait of Satan, for him to catch and de­stroy them. Ye have not that faith which overcometh the world in its Terrours, Temptations, and Al­lurements. But they that will be rich fall into temp­tation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition; for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some have coveted after, they have erred from the faith: For the true Christian Faith doth not allow of Rebellion against, and the Deposing and Mur­ther of Kings; and for any to forswear themselves in not keeping unto that Oath of God, Eccles. 8. 2. they had taken to the Governors sens by him. But [Page 4] thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow af­ter righteousness. They afore-spoken off are not come up to that state of Mind as to think so, and make it their choice accordingly. A little that a righteous man hath is better then the riches of many wicked, Psal. 37. 16. Better is a little with righte­ousness, than great revenues without right, Prov. 16. 8. for it will tend more to ones future, which is the only real and enduring Happiness. He that truly fears God, will not transgress the least Precept for the greatest Profit: But the Hypocrite (tho' he seems to be Religious, for he doth retain the outward Worship of God, and perhaps is zealous in some things, and pretends to be Righteous) is for getting and advancing himself in the World, whither the means be Sinful or not is no hin­drance unto him. But what is the hope of the hypo­crite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his Soul? What good will they do him? Or, What stead and avail will they stand him in, when his Soul is taken away utterly from things for the sake of which he transgressed against the Lord? Such is the Case of those People I here write unto.

As a Scribe instructed in the Law of God, I have for these Nine years successively testified unto ye from out of his Law and Commandment, and with the words of thy righteousness, even of thine only, Psal. 71. 16. That ye have committed a Sin in Deposing (left blank) And that therein also, con­trary unto his Commandment, ye have Forsworn your selves, and not performed unto the Lord your Oaths, but ye have despised the Oath in break­ing the Covenant, when lo ye had given your hand, Ezek. 17. 11. When ye did perform Fealty and [Page 5] swear Allegiance and Subjection unto him, as then your Governor sent by God, 1 Pet. 2. 14, which the Divinely Inspired Apostle doth say even of Heathen Rulers, who are worse than Papists. But ye have Rebelled against him, and cast off all manner of Allegiance and Subjection unto him. This is plain and direct Forswearing your selves, and not perform­ing unto the Lord your Oaths, when ye had sworn Allegiance and Subjection to such a King and Ru­ler, afterwards to cast off Allegiance and Subje­ction unto that King and Ruler, as now ye have done. So that ye have committed a Sin, and done wrong, and sworn falsly herein. And I do again hereby testifie unto, and exhort ye, who are thus in the way of transgressing the Word and Com­mandment of God, and in Rebellion against him, That ye come to Repentance in all this. If ye will not, I take Record this day, That as Je­remiah witnessed in his time unto the Inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, From the thirteenth year [...]f Josiah the son of Amos, king of Judah, even unto this day, which is the three and twentieth year, (which was ten years together) the word of the Lord hath came unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, but ye have not hearkened, Jer. 25. 3. So for these nine years last past, I have only from the Law and Commandment of God, and with the Words of his Righteousness, wrote and testified un­to ye, That herein ye have committed a Sin and Transgression, and as yet ye will not not come to Repentance. Ye have done a wrong therein, and to this day ye will not make full Restitution. But ye do still Consent with the Counsel and Deed of them, Who rob Father and Mother, and say it is no Transgression. Which Scripture expression hath [Page 6] been fulfilled in these days; For a certain Wo­man, (who is since dead) together with her Hus­band now living, did violently dispossess and take away (which is Robbery) her own Fathers King­dom and Inheritance, and by putting him in Fear, caused him to seek his Bread in a Foreign Coun­try. And they, together with corrupt Priests, and a mercenary People, say, It is no Transgres­son. But Sin is the Transgression of the Law, and it is a plain and direct Transgression of that Law of God, which saith, Thou shalt not covet thy Neigh­bours House, nor any thing that [...] his. Thou shalt not Steal, which forbids both secretly and also open­ly taking it from him. And so in the instance here mentioned, ye have Forsworn your selves, and not performed unto the Lord your Oaths in despising and falsifying the Oath of the Lord; and as to that also ye will not come to Repentance, so as to return again to your Allegiance and Subje­ction, unto that same Person whom ye had for­merly sworn unto. As the Apostle saith, Nay, I had not known Sin but by the Law; for I had not known Lust except the Law had said, Thou shalt not Covet. So here, That all this is Sin, and Wrong, and Unrighteousness, and Swearing falsly, or For­swearing, it may be known and demonstrated by the Law of God, which saith, Thou shalt not Covet. Thou shalt not forswear thy self, but perform unto the Lord thine Oath, Matt. 5. 33.

Notwithstanding these things are so, as I here write, (not out of mine own head, but from the Statute Book of the Lord God) yet like those who said unto Jeremiah, Chap. 44. 15, 16, 17. As for the word thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee, but we will cer­tainly [Page 7] do whatsoever thing goeth out of our own mouth, to burn Incense unto the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out Drink Offerings unto her, as we have done we and our Fathers, our Kings and our Princes in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we have left off to burn Incense to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out Drink Of­ferings unto her, we have been consumed by the Sword and by the Famine. The Reason is alike of the Rebellion and Disobedience of those I write un­to. For as then they judged by temporal Events, because they thought it went better with them at that present time by their Disobedience and Re­fusal. So the Princes and Priests and People of this Land are ready to say, (it is known to God all one as if they did speak out so plainly, but yet do ye dare or presume to say, We will not obey the Word and Commandment of God. How­ever, they will not do it in this thing) or at least so is the thought and purpose of their Hearts.

As for what things thou hast alledged unto us in the Name of the Lord, from out of his Law and Commandment, concerning the Sin thou sayest we have committed, and the Oath we have vio­lated, we will not hearken unto thee, so as to come to Repentance and to make full Restituti­on, for now we are well and see no evil. Thou hast heretofore several times alledged unto us, that Declaration of God, I will a swift witness [...] ­gainst false swearers, and against them that turn aside the stranger from his right, Mal. 3. 7. And so it may be truly reasoned and applied as to those who turn aside a Papist from his Right. But, [Page 8] How is this fulfilled? For doth it as yet appear, that God is a swift witness against false Swearers and against them that turn aside the Stranger (or Papist) from his Right? For it is evidently seen, that the false Swearers and Oppressors and Spoilers and Robbers of this kind, The tabernacles of robbers prospers, Job 12. 6. For these ten years together, and it may be for thirty or forty years more, are well and see no evil. They are altoge­ther as, yea, more prosperous, in outward Estate, than if they had not been false Swearers at all, or as if they had not turned aside the Stranger (or Papist) from his Right. But beloved, Be not igno­rant of this thing, That one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his Promise, (nor yet is he slack to execute his threatnings) as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. I pray to God, that this his gracious end (for which he waits) may be an­swered in ye. For the Word of the Lord is un­to ye Line upon Line, Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept, Precept upon Precept, here a lit­tle and there a little, to the intent that ye who are in Errour may return into the way of Right­eousness. Be admonished and exhorted so to do. O be not willingly ignorant; as if such a thing was no Sin nor Transgression, or as if God would not be a swift witness against it, because he doth not presently strike the Sinner dead in his Sin: Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the sons of men are ful­ly set in them to do evil. May not any Sinner hence wrongly imagine, that God will not be a swift [Page 9] witness against his Sin, because he doth for some time suffer the Sinner to live and continue therein. God may seem [...]low, but yet he will be sure to fulfill his Word in punishing the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. A thousand years with him are but as one day. Though on this Earth he suffers it during all the course thereof, yet when Time shall be no longer it will be then seen, that God indeed will be a swift witness against all manner of Sin and Transgression.

Ay, But here ye may be apt to imagine, We are not Sinners and Transgressors, for we make Laws to suppress Vice, Immorality and Profane­ness.

Which at first may seem Goodly and Commen­dable to as many as have not known the depths of Sa­tan: But as the wi [...]e Man saith, That which hath been, is now, and there is no new thing under the Sun. So in the very last foregoing Generation, A certain man by name Oliver Cromwell, who like un­to Ahab, did both kill and also take possession, 1 King. 21. 19. And like the Husbandmen, Who did kill the heir that the inheritance might be theirs, Mark 12. 7, 9. Even so he did cause the King to be Mur­thered, and then he took Possession of his House, Estate, and Government. And then, As we have heard with our Ears, and our Fathers have told us, This very same Oliver Cromwell, did set up for Re­formation of Manners; as by punishing Adultery with Death, suppressing Drunkenness, Vain Cur­sing and Swearing, (although themselves had com­mitted advised deliberate Perjuries) strict Obser­vation of the Lord's Day, and such like. The Reasons which put him upon so doing, seem to be either an Act of close and deep Hypocrisie; [Page 10] ( That the Hypocrite reign not least the people be en­snared, Job 34. 30.) Thus to ingratiate himself with Godly and well-meaning People, and thereby to hide and cover before them his other Transgres­sion. ( Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.) Or else, fearing the Wrath and Punishment of God due to himself for the same, he did vainly hope, and wrongly imagine, to make Atonement and Expiation, or Commutation, for his own great Sin, by doing a kind of seeming good this way. O the depths of Satan! O the ex­ceeding subtlety of the Old Serpent, in deceiving Sinners and Transgressours into Perdition and Con­demnation. So it is at this day, Our Princes are Rebellious and Companions of Thieves, every one loveth Gifts and followeth after Rewards, Isaiah 1. 23. In the nature of things it is equally and all one (yea rather worse) Theft and Robbery to take away either by force or fraud, openly or privately, a great sum of Money as a small one: and so it is all one Theft and Robbery to take a great House and Estate, as it is to take a little one; and so it is as to a Kingdom, all one as to a Less Matter. The Gospel Command is, That no man go beyond and de­fraud his brrther in any matter, 1 Thes. 4. 6. God himself reproves and finds fault, When thou sawest a thief then thou consentedst with him; these things hast thou done, and I kept silent, thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self, Psal. 50. 18, 21. As if, because God kept silence at the time, there­fore it was God's doings, and his Cause, and he did approve of and was well pleased therewith; which is the Blasphemy of these days, and of the other late times of Iniquity. Now if in this case, Mur­derers mentioned, Isaiah 1. 21. Rebels, Thieves, and [Page 11] Robbers, should set up for Reformers, all this and the like is not pleasing in the sight of God. Nor yet will thus doing avail the Sinners and Trans­gressours to turn away the Wrath and future Pu­nishment of God from themselves; for the plain and express Declaration of Almighty God touch­ing this matter, is, The soul that sinneth it shall die. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and commiteed iniquity, and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth, shall he live? All his righteousness (which takes in his other Right­eousness and seeming Goodness) shall not be menti­oned in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, (there it is pointed out ex­actly) in them shall he die, Ezek. 18. 20, 24. Nor yet is thus doing pleasing and acceptable unto our Saviour Jesus Christ, for he saith; With what mea­sure you mete it shall be measured to ye again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brothers eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye: Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, and behold a beam is in thine own eye. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to east out the mote out of thy brothers eye, Matth. 7. 2, 3, 4, 5. Ye Hypocrites, first, ye your selves, cease to do evil; Learn to do well, seek judgment: Relieve (in the Margent it is Righten, which signi­fies to set right again) the oppressed, Isaiah 1. 16, 17. Leave off Injustice, Wrong, Robbery, bearing False Witness, Covetousness, and know to do right, saith the Lord, who store up violence and robbery in your palaces, Amos 3. 10. One whereof is consumed by [Page 12] Fire, Job 15. 34. And turn from your sin, and do that which is lawful and right. Let the wicked restore the pledge, and give again that he hath robbed, Ezek. 33. 14, 15. And where ye have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, there restore to him fourfold. That is, Make full Restitution, if ye expect that Salvation should come to your Houses and Souls. After ye have done all this, ye will be more meet to discourage Vice, Immorality and Profaneness: God is alike dishonoured by those breaches of his law, Rom. 2. 23. as by these: And ye would be alike zealous against them as against the others, but that herein ye are the Sinners and Offenders your selves. Be not deceived, God is not mocked: He will not be so trifled withall nor deluded, so as to excuse your Sin and Transgression, (which in an hard impenitent heart ye continue in, and thus treasure up to your selves wrath against the day of wrath.) by your pretend­ing to stop or prevent Sins of another kind in other People. Except ye Repent and turn from your own Iniquities, (and have all Gods judgments before ye, and keep your selves from your iniquities, Psal. 18. 22. 23.) ye will find that ye deceive your selves in­to everlasting Destruction and Condemnation.

Your Prince or Chief one, is for seeking to an Arm of Flesh, and doth not think himself safe without a Standing Army, (for sinners and hypocrites are afraid and fearful, Isaiah 33. 14.) as truly they have reason for it, all their hope being in this Life: But if he had a thousand thousand men for his Guard, they cannot preserve or defend him from that wrath of God which is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men; for all that do unrighteously are an abomination unto the Lord, Deu. 25. 16. and which will be executed upon the guilty, ( He will by no means [Page 13] clear the guilty, Exod. 34. 7.) after that this life shall be ended; no more then they can now preserve his Breath from going forth when the appointed time is come. All his Guards and Soldiers are but dy­ing men themselves, whose Breath is in their No­strils; and of such it is thus written, Which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war; and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their ini­quities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terrour of the mighty in the land of the living, Ezek. 32. 27. He will find more safety then from them, if he will do according to the Command and Coun­sel of God; Let the wicked forsake his way; and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Break off thy Sins by Righteousness, and thine Iniquities, by making full Restitution where thou hast wronged any man, (here think upon thy deceased Wifes Father) by false ac­cusation; if thou wouldst have Salvation (which signifies safety from all the evils of the other world) come to thy House and Soul.

By what is here written of Truth and Meekness and Righteousness, they are tried once more, whe­ther the People who have been hitherto Disobedi­ent and Rebellious, will obey God's Word, and tremble at his Commandment, and do according to his Law, Ezra 10. 3. My daily Prayer to God is, that they may do so; (for my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel, is, that they might be saved;) I do hereby again exhort them unto it; though I fear, least through the subtlety of Satan, (who here makes use of that great and prevailing Temptation of Interest, Profit and Gain, all which will not be a sufficient compensation for the loss of their Souls) and he will hinder, tempt or deceive, that they should not obey unto Salvation; and then this [Page 14] will be the return which I shall make at last as to them; But unto Israel, (who were the outward wor­shippers) he saith, All the day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying Peo­ple.

But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil. If ye will not obey, in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly; and when the days of your Flesh are ended, and the time of your Pro­bation and Trial is over; and that also is expired and gone, when God gave ye a space to repent of your Iniquity, and ye repented not: Then ye will have Indignation and Wrath, Tribulation and Anguish upon your Souls, that ye would not obey those his Laws and Commandments, which from out of the Book of the Lord, I a Scribe instructed therein, and bringing out of that treasury things new and old, have here set before ye.