Good Counsel and Advice REIECTED By Disobedient men And the dayes of OLIVER CROMWELLS Visitation passed over AND ALSO OF RICHARD CROMWEL his Son late Protectors of these Nations And the many precious Warnings neglected by them and set at naught which from time to time the Servants of the Lord gave unto them as declared in these following Letters Whereby all may see the kindness of the Lord towards them by his faithful Invitations to them and their own Apostacy and carelesness who rejected Warning 〈◊〉 the time and day of their visitation is shut up with the vale of darkness and reproach which lies over them and their precious day of love is spent and cannot be re-called 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 view by one that wished well to them in their day and is a Friend unto all that love Righteousness and hates Oppression LONDON Printed for Thomas Simmons at the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate 1659. TO THE READER FRiend out of the same love from whence these were written do I put them to publick view and it was not without much doubtings and questioning in my own spirit but at last having found perfect freedom and strength from the Lord knowing that I am clear and free altogether of other ends saving then for the honour of the truth and that all may see that the downfalls of these men were not before sufficient warnings which makes the Lord free and his servants free from what is come to pass upon them and even their fall lies upon their own heads that despised the Lords warnings and would none of his Counsel but suffered the innocent to be oppressed under their power and relieved not the heritage of the Lord from her cruel enemies though they had power to do it but sought their own glory and how to be established in greatness in the earth till that the Lord hath cast them out and made them as a reproach And these things that have come to pass upon them may be as warnings to all other Rulers that doth succeed them and they may know that the Lord is Iust and his Iudgements Righteous and whosoever shall follow their steps and be Oppressors of the Lords heritage as they were the Lord shall extend his Iudgments unto them also and their destruction shall come even like as upon these before them Therefore let all the earth be warned I am a lover of SION For the hands of the Protector FRIEND MAny warnings hast thou had from the mouth of the Lord his love hath been towards thee and the glorious day of his visitation hath shined over thy head wherein he hath called unto thee to hear and obey his voice and would have instructed thee in the way that thou shouldst walk that thy Soul might live for ever in Peace and Rest when this world is passed away and that in this present world he might have made thee a blessing to thy self and posterity and people and a praise in thy Dominions and unto ages after thee if thou hadst hearkned and obeyed his voice and chosen his way and Counsel and not thine own and then would he have made thine enemies to have bowed under thee and the force of their policy and arm should never have prevailed against thee and thou shalt be delivered from the will of all that hate thee if thou yet will hearken unto him and receive his instruction and set thy heart to seek his honour more then thine own and will let his Counsel be thy guide ruler not vain man which must be brought to naught even now before the day of thy visitation bespent never more to be recalled and the time come when God will cease to strive with thee will not call unto thee but will leave thee to thy own hearts false judgment and the counsels of treacherous men And Friend I as one that hath obtained mercy from the Lord unto whom his Word is committed being moved of him do hereby in his presence yet once more warn thee that thou fear before him and diligently hearken to him and seek him with all thy heart that thou maist know his Will and Counsel concerning thee and may do it and find favour in his sight and live and now is the day that his hand is stretched forth unto thee to make thee a blessing or to leave thee a curse for ever and the dayes of thy visitation is near an end when God will no more call unto thee nor hear thee when in the day of thy trouble thou cals to him neither will answer thee by vision nor dream nor Prophet but will leave thee to the counsels of treacherous men who will seek after thy life and wait for thy overthrow and watch for evil against thee that they may glory in thy desolation and such there is of whom thou hast need to beware and if thou reject the Counsel of the Lord and follow the desires of thine own heart and the wills of men and will not have the light of the world Christ Jesus onely to rule thee and to teach thee which condemns all evil then shall evil surely fall upon thee if thou lovest not the light in thee which condemns it and the Judgments of God nor the day of his last visitation with vengeance thou mayest not escape Therefore consider and mark my words and let this Counsel be acceptable unto thee that thy dayes may be many and blessed upon earth And first consider and let it move upon thee to meekness to humbleness and to fear before the Lord assuredly knowing that it is he that changeth times and things and that bringeth down and setteth up whomsoever he will and how that thou was raised from a low estate and set over all thine enemies and thy horn was exalted above them all and he gave thee the necks of Princes to tread upon and more honourable and their Dominions to inherit and thou was set a Ruler in much Dominion and had favour in his sight and in the sight of many People who wished well unto thee for a blessing many victories honourable and remarkable was given unto thee over them who had exalted themselves against God and ruled in tyranny over his people whom the Lord pittied and thou an instrument in his hand was ordained by him to lead forth a people whom he blessed with thee against a cruel People and generation of oppressors who exercised tyrannie over the Lords heritage till they were taken away and cast out and is a reproach unto the Lord and his People unto this day and even so shall all be that followes their example and are oppressors and tyrants over the seed of God as they were and this thou knowest that not by might nor multitude but by the arm of the Lord were they subdued and made a prey unto thee and their treasures a spoil unto thy hands and so it was that thou mightest have glorified him for ever and exalted him in the great Congregation and gone
and under it how can they stand for thee and thy Government or out of pure love be subject thereunto though be it known to thee that we the People of God doth not envy thy person or Government in the least neither hath purpose of seeking advantage against thee or it to hurt or betray you by secret plotting or turbulent arising as others may yet friend the want of our prayers to God for thee is worse to thee then the secret plotting of all wicked men And how can we mention thee in our prayers to God except it be to be delivered from thee who are dayly cruel and unjust sufferers by thee or because of thee as I have said or how can we be friends to that Government or subject to obey that power under which we dayly suffer such hard and cruel things as the loss of our liberty and estates and danger of life also let that light in thy own conscience Judge though for all these things we do rather pitty thee and desires thy repentance then conspires against thee or wisheth thy destruction yet oughtest thou to consider of these things with a humble heart and what a condition thou art in who is hated of the wicked with deadly hatred and not loved of the Saints because thou lovest not the Lord also it might make thy heart to tremble to consider how that thy Dominions are thus devided and the affections of the people thus dis-united and few of them thy real friends some having real offence given by thee wherefore they are forced to loath that Government which is unjust and others verily supposing of great wrong sustained from thee wherefore they are turned against thee Moreover besides all this greatly it may be suspected that even they in whom thou dost repose confidence who seems to cleave unto thee may not be altogether true unto thee though in appearance subject yet may have secret hypocrisie and hatching of evil in their minds if it were possible to uncover thy nakedness and some others also there may be who may make use of places under thee which may have no more affection to thee nor service for thee then while their own ends of great advantage are served under thee by their subjection to thy Government and now friend these things being justly considered and viewed by thee in righteousness how is thy Dominions as a broken vessel that cannot easily be bound up and as a bruised reed not to be confided in by thee and these several sorts of people being substracted out of the whole how few is it that thou wilt find that are thy real and faithful friends who may stand by thee in a needful time some out of envy cannot be subject to thee and others for the fear of the Lords sake cannot own thee in such a Government whereby the just suffers even all men are ready to stand afar off from thee and because thou hast denyed the people of God therefore cannot he be thy trust and verily thy state and the state of thy Dominions are truly to be lamented thou hast so much sought thy self that thou hast lost almost all people and their affections every one judging themselves to be the greatest sufferers under thee Ah consider for thou art but the head of a disjoynted body which may not easily be bound up to thee and thou art lost for lack of true knowledge for the Lord hath done many things for thee though thou hast not known it altogether and much less then knowest thou of those things which are eternal which belongs to thy peace it shewes thou ownes not the Lord who cannot own his people but rather counts them thy enemies and suffers all evil to be inflicted upon them and this is the greatest of thy misery in that the Lord hath been so good unto thee and thy promises so large towards him for the freedom of his people and yet all forgot and the Lords goodness not answered and his people made as slaves and bondmen under thee suffering the loss of liberty and even their birth-right priviledge in many parts of these Nations wherefore be awakened O man and sleep not totally in carelesness but remember thy self either to perform the good or at least to escape the evil which may suddenly come upon thee And this I have written to thee out of perfect love in the fear of God without the fear of any man or without any secret or open envying of thee couldst thou but own the Lord he would be thy strength to forgive all thy iniquities and blot out thy sin and to defend thee from all thy enemies and above all things love Judgement mercy and truth and fear before the Lord and let not his people be thy bond-slaves who is more dear unto the Lord then all earthly glory is unto thee and if thou couldst own them they would own thee in the face of all thine enemies many times hast thou been warned and that from the Lord and thou shalt confess it when the Lords hand is upon thee and thou delivered into the will of thy enemies remember that I have told thee what the Lord hath shewed me happy art thou if thou canst receive it that peace may be unto thee and not war salvation and not condemnation renown and not dishonour which waits for thee except thou turn to the Lord Edward Burrough The Original of this was delivered to him in the seventh moneth 1657. To the Protector and Counsel A Servant of the Lord and to you a friend wisheth Grace and Wisdom the spirit of sound Judgement and the knowledge of God unto you that in all things true Justice and righteous Judgement may be brought forth and abound unto all people that you may be more honourable and may be made a blessing to your selves and this Nation and to generations after you but alas my friends how long shall Justice and true Judgement be neglected and the innocent deeply groan for want thereof how long shall it be ere the distressed cry of the unjustly afflicted enter into your hearts I say when shall your ear be bowed down to hearken to and consider of the guiltless cause of many of the faithful subjects who lies deeply afflicted through this Nation some under one cruel bond of oppression and some under another being most unjustly and wickedly imposed upon them by cruel men who perverts Justice and turneth true Judgement backwards and neither fears God nor regards men but contrary to Justice and the good Lawes of this Land as men without reason and natural affections to mankind doth act most illegally to the grievous oppression of many approved faithful subjects and the true knowledge and consideration hereof is enough to pierce the hardest heart and to vex the most patient mind and undoubtedly the fierce anger of the Lord is greatly kindled because of these things and even against your forbearance who seems to take little notice of such cruelties and in justice
forth the more is the Government unhappy and accursed and the sooner will the Lord overthrow it and bring it to a desolate end and therefore my Friends let this great enemy to your persons government and whole Nation to wit persecution for conscience sake be speedily removed least the anger of the Lord break forth against you and repentance be too late for this know in all ages the Lord stretched forth his hand and in his time he quickly avenged himself for his peoples sake after their innocent sufferings born by them for a season and he is the same and changeth not and the same will he bring to pass therefore I say again be awakned and let that deadly enemy be removed out of the land as you tender your own safety and honour and the glory of the Name of the Lord and his peoples peace even this very enemy to wit persecution for conscience sake for it doth and will obstruct all your good purposes at home and abroad It eats away the affections of all good people from you and it eats out your strength and valour and it consumes the weakness of all your enemies verily it is an enemy that will work your destruction speedily both in this world and in the world to come that of God in ye all shall witness me in the day of the Lord I am your Friend and these things do I write as a Friend unto you as to warn you of that secret enemy so much reigning and rebelling in this Nation which indeed may work a greater distruction upon you then any forreign invader and this in time you may witness to your grief and sorrow if something by you be not done to suppress it all health and peace I wish unto you in the Lord and thus far am I clear from the blood of you and all men come life or death EDWARD BURROUGH The several Copies of this was delivered to Oliver and his Counsel in the 12th month in the year 1657 Oh! OLIVER HAdst thou been faithful and thundred down the deceipt the Hollander had been thy subject and tributers and Germany had given up to have done thy will and the Spaniard had quivered like a dry leaf wanting the vertue of God the King of France should have bowed under thee his neck the Pope should have withered as in winter the Turk in all his fatness should have smoaked thou shouldst not a stood trifling about small things but minded the work of the Lord as he began with thee at first sober men and true hearts took part with thee Oh! take heed and do not slight such least thou weaken thy self and not disown such as the Lord hath owned thy dread is not yet all gone nor thy amazement arise and come out for hadst thou been faithful thou shouldst have crumbled Nations to dust for that had been thy place now is thy day of trial take heed of joining hands with the wicked against the innocent but hear the voice of God and that will keep thee from hardness of heart and mind the Law of God with which thou maist answer that of God in every one and his fear and his dread to be in thy family and that thou maist come to break the jawes of the wicked that rends the innocent and that thou maist be eyes to the blind and legs to the lame and an help to them that cannot help themselves and take heed that any of thy servants that be under thy dominion of quenching the Spirit or limiting the Holy one but wait for the Wisdom of God that with it thou maist order all to Gods glory and all his creatures by which Wisdom they were created and made and that thou maist find the blessing of the Lord God with thee and take heed of flatterers and take heed of wild light spirits that will speak thee fair but mind sober men for there is mischief in many minds but if thou be kept in the power of God and live in it thou wilt live over all and stop and cross and tread under the intents of wicked men and take heed in any thing they be not thy executioners for now thou hast time prize it A lover of thy Soul and thy Eternal good and for establishing Peace and Righteousness amongst the people G. FOX The Original copy of this was delivered to him the 11th month in the year 1657. Dear Friend BE still and in the Counsel of God stand and that will give thee wisdom that thou maist frustrate mens end and calm mens spirits and crumbel men under and arise and stand up in the power of the Lord God the Lambs authority and fear not the face of man but fear and dread the Lord God then his presence and wisdom and counsel thou shalt have to throw down the rubbish and quell all the bad spirits under thy dominion and fear them about thee live in the Lords power and life then to thee he will give wisdom and the pure feeling thou wilt come into whereby thy Soul will be refreshed and it will be thy delight to do the Will of God and thy meat and drink as thou in the pure Eternal Power Counsel Will and Wisdom of God dwells things all will be made plain before thee and to thee from the Lord God in what thou doest for the Lord God thou shalt have peace and the blessing and in that so doing all the sober true hearted people will be one with thee in travels sorrows and pains and then in that a blessing from the Lord will come upon thee will abound to thee and cover thee as thou lives and art kept in the power and dread of the Lord God of Heaven and earth where Wisdom is not wanting nor peace lacking but peace enjoyed and counsel and instruction from the Lord God given and the helping arm and hand that stretcheth over all the Nations in the world thou wilt feel it and with that thou wilt come to break down all mens ends that they have to themselves and the worships that men invent and images they have set up for the arm of the Lord helps the righteous by his hand he carries the Lambs which arm is turned against the wicked stretched over them and the hand of the Lord is against them that do evil in which hand the Soul is and brings it into peace therefore live in the power of the Lord God and feel his hand that is stretched out over the Nations for a mighty work hath the Lord to do in other Nations and their quakings and shakings is but entering So this is the Word of the Lord God to thee and a charge to thee from the Lord God in the presence of the Lord God live in the power of the Lord God of Heaven and earth that will make all Nations to tremble and quake for those be Gods enemies that be out of his power and counsel and be thou faithful to God singlely without respecting any mans person but
on in faithfulness to the end and in that day when thou was raised up when the fear of the Lord was before thy face and thy heart was towards him and thou was but little in thine own eyes then was it well with thee and the Lord blessed thee and made thee honourable and his people had love towards thee and desires for thee that thou might have been as a helper to the poor and a father to the faithful and a preserver of the upright from unreasonable men and an easer of the oppressed a taker away of every oppressive bond and it was not once thought concerning thee that the hands of the ungodly would have been strengthened against the righteous under thee or that such grievous and cruel burthens and oppressions would ever have been laid upon the Just and acted against them in thy name and under thy Dominion as unrighteously have come to passe in these three years as a large testimony might be given and this thy suffering of such things is thy transgression and thou hast not requited the Lord well for his goodness unto thee nor fulfilled his will in suffering that to be done under thee and in thy name which the Lord raised thee against to break down hadst thou been faithful to the end Again consider and let it move on thy heart not to exalt thy self nor to be high minded but to fear continally knowing that thou standest not by thy self but by another and that he is able to abase thee and give thee into the will of thy enemies when soever he will and how the Lord hath preserved thee sometimes wonderfully and doth unto this day from the murderous plots and crafty policie of evil men who seeks thy evil and would rejoyce in thy fall and in the desolation of thy family and countries how have they and do they lay snares for thy feet that thou may be cut off from amongst men and die unhappily and be accounted a curse and yet to this day he hath preserved thee and been near thee to keep thee though thou hast hardly known it and the Lords end is love to thee in all these things and yet a little longer to try thee and that thou might give him the glory O that thy heart were opened to see his hand that thou mayst live unto him and die in him in peace and beware least hardness of heart possesse thee if thou slight his love and so be shut up in darkness and given to the desires of thine enemies and left to the counsels of treacherous men who may seek to exalt thee by flattery that they might the better cast thee down and destroy thee and blot out thy name in reproach and make thy posterity a People miserable but now O consider and let it enter into thy heart for thou hast not answered the Lord but been wanting to him for all this and hast chosen thy own way and glory rather then his and not fulfilled his counsel in raising thee for the bonds of crueltie are not loosed by thee and the oppressed is not altogether set free neither is oppression taken off from the back of the poor nor the Laws regulated nor liberty of pure conscience altogether allowed but these Dominions are filled with cruel oppressors and the poor groans every where under their heavy hand of injustice the needy are troden down under foot and the oppressed cries for deliverance and are ready to faint for true Justice and Judgement the proud exalts himself against the poor and the high minded and Rebellious contemns the meek of the earth the horn of the ungodly is exalted over the Lords heritage and they that are departed from iniquity are become a prey to oppressors and the cruel hearted deals cruelly with the innocent in these Nations and such whom the Lord hath freed in their consciences from false worships and Teachers and from the wayes of sin and death are made slaves and greedily preyed upon by unjust men through casting into prisons and dungeons and unjust fines and Illegal proceedings and beatings and abusings and woundings and bruisings hard to be expressed and large to be declared even the hands of many of the people over whom thou art set to rule are full of blood merciless and cruel and neither fears God nor are subject to the just rule and Government of men and the mouth of many of thy subservant Rulers and Governours that have their power from thee are as the teeth of young Lions and the upright and harmless are devoured and made a spoil by them through policy and oppression both in their persons and estates if I perish I must speak the truth my life is not dear to me for the truth sake many who should have judged in true Justice and righteousness the cause of the poor have been as bryars and thorns to insnare and pierce the just man and have perverted Judgement and turned it backward equity have hardly had place to enter most of the prisons this day in all thy Juridictions have and doth testifie the unjust judgement and the great oppressions and cruelties of some in Authority who have used or rather abused thy name and made it a cloak for their hard-heartedness O my heart is troubled and my bowels pained at the remembrance of this how doth the poor cry under the heavy hand of oppession and the needy lament for want of true Judgement and the oppressed groan for want of deliverance and these things are thought upon by the Lord though not considered by thee as they ought to be and because of this will he arise to plead the cause of the innocent against him that is too strong for him and will dash to pieces his enemies and break the jawes of the devourers and the righteous shall not alwayes be a prey to the teeth of the ungodly O Friend when wilt thou consider the oppression of the poor and hearken to the cry of the oppressed within thee and without thee when shall it enter into thy heart this cause of the unjust sufferings of the Lords people from which thou canst not altogether be excused for it is acted in thy name though not by thee O let thy ear be opened unto the cryes of the oppressed in the prisons and let the cause of the innocent come before thee and let thy heart be pierced at the consideration of these things which are come to pass in thy dayes contrary to the expectation of many and see if it be not contrary to thy own promises sometimes vowed by thee let the light of Christ in thy own conscience answer and some of the multitude of the grievous oppressions of which the Land is full hath been laid at thy door and brought unto thee but scarcely found an entrance upon thee and this aggravates the crime of thy transgression in that thou knowest of these things wonderful is it to consider that even thou with whom the power of the Lord hath
injustice against them whom the Lord is redeeming out of this World into subjection unto that Kingdom least thou be such a one as will not enter thy self nor suffer others to enter and so destruction come upon thee wherfore arise as out of sleep and slumber not in this worlds glory and honour come away and appear for the Lord rather then against him be not overcome by the pleasures of this World nor the flattering titles of men wink not at the cruelty and oppression acted by some who shelters under thee and makes thy name a cloak for mischief against the upright but let the Testimony of God in thee answer for his people this Law is not just by which many suffers because they cannot swear and because they cannot cease to declare against sin and iniquity let that of God in thee bear witnesse and thou and thy name being chief in the execution of this Law what will thy account be to the Lord in his day Consider I say consider and be thou changed in thy mind and heart least thou having forgotten God and his many deliverances be shut up and numbered for destruction and I say and desire the Lord give thee a more perfect understanding of his wayes and judgements and that the Crown Immortal thou mayest strive for by meeknesse and righteousnesse through relieving the oppressed and shewing mercy to the poor and removing every burthen which lies upon the innocent and this is the desire of him who is thy friend and would not have thee crowned with dishonour through suffering the people of God to be oppressed in thy name which will be thy overthrow absolutely if thou remove it not by returning and easing the oppressed EDWARD BURROUGH This was delivered to his hands about the begining of the 4th moneth 1657. For the hands of the Protector FRIEND THou oughtest to stand in the Coucel of God in all things and not to follow the Councel of thy own heart nor to act things in thine own will neither shouldest thou suffer others to act under thee and in thy name that which is unjust and unrighteous much unrighteousnesse and great oppression is acted in thy name by which the good name Protector is abused and subverted and instead of protection by it great unjustice is acted under it and covered with it and this one thing I am moved to lay before thee which hath been acted by thee or under thee not without thy knowledge in which thou hast done evil in the sight of the Lord and one day thou wilt know it several in these Nations Justices of the peace and other Officers who have been in trust under thee when they have owned the people of God in scorn called Quakers have been cast out of their places though they have not denied to serve thee and the Common-Wealth neither hath unfaithfulnesse to their trust been proved against them and also several Souldiers now of late in Scotland and elsewhere have been turned out of their places because of the same thing viz. for owning the people of God and these things are not right in the sight of the Lord that such who have been for many years faithful in the service and in their trust and hazzarded life and liberty for conscience sake to injoy liberty of conscience which they cannot now possess because of thee but are cast out for the exercise of their pure conscience this thing the Lord is grieved with and with thee because of it for thou didest not obtain this victory of peace and freedom by thy own sword then why should it be thus improved to thy own ends Consider of it for this makes the Nations more unhappie and lesse blessed when such who delight in true justice and judgement are cast out of their places and so deprived of giving their judgement among men and absolutely this will make thy army lesse prosperous and more unblessed when such who feareth the Lord and against whom thou cannot justly charge evil are cast out and despised and this in time thou mayest see to thy sorrow and as thy friend I lay this before thee and do in plainnes tell thee if thou thus utterly deny the people of God in the day of thy prosperity and thus wholy cast them out of thy service they cannot stand by thee nor own thee in the day of thy trouble and such as thou cleavest unto may be a broken staffe in thy time of need Ah friend these things do shew that thy heart is not right in the sight of the Lord and that justice and true judgement righteousnesse and truth is even despised in this Land and not encerely owned by thee when as such who feareth the Lord are thus cast out of Judicatories in thy Government and out of defence in thy armies what is this the end of that long travel in wars and of so many fair promises of liberty of conscience that just men should thus be dealt withal the Heathen Kingdoms may mock at this that while some have pretended liberty of conscience are become persecutors of such whose consciences are justly exercised and as I have some time said to thee much injustice and great oppressions and cruel persecutions continues daily to be acted in thy name which is numbred up against thee upon account because of hiding thy face from the cry of the poor as one without bowels of compassion unto such who have truely served with thee in a faithful service for the Common-Wealth who many of them now are grievious sufferers under thee Consider of these things and search what will be the end of them the Lord open thy understanding that more of the wisdom of God may guide thee and lesse of the Policie and wisdom of man which will betray thee of Gods Kingdom and may in the end cast thee down in this World also Edward Burrough The Original of this was delivered to his hands in the fifth moneth 1657. FRIEND IT is upon me and also I am pressed in spirit thereunto to give unto thee even unto thee Oliver Protector the perfect measure of thy dominions and how they stand in relation to thee as concerning the affections of the people towards thee whereby thou mayest understand thy own condition and the state of thy Government as I have viewed it in true judgment and marked it upon serious consideration and what I writ is in perfect love unto thee how ever thou mayest judge of it and of these things it will be well for thee to consider now while it is time ere it be too late Many Enemies thou hast which watches over thee for evil and not for good who would rejoyce in thy overthrow and first there is a people scattered through all these Nations who is full of wrath and ravening envy towards thee even of those known by the name of malignants party in whose hearts to this day there is continual hatred and evil surmising lodgeth against thee and all thy off-spring and I