have been making themselves rich with the Nations Treasure and loved this worlds perishing honour and vaine titles the Nation hath starved for want of mercy and just judgment and the cause of its necessity hath bin forgotten and mercy and truth and the freedome of the people neglected and the cause of the faeherlesse widdow and stranger and the cause of the afflicted people have they not respected Oh Nation the men that have sitten on thy Throne they have left thee groaning yet under great oppressions wounded with the spirit of Tyranny yet un-cast out and thy people are yet unhealed but the breach hath been made wider even by that Spirit which hath possessed thy Kings thy Parliaments thy Protectors thy Councils thy Committees who hath proved unto thee Phisitians of no valew but have bin the encreasers of thy greefe and even because of their iniquities and the Sin of their ambition and oppression hath the Lord dealt thus with them and suffered them to dash one another in pieces and through judgment unto themselves and thee oh Nation are they at present ceased from thee and thou art left alone and without a deliverer in the Earth full of troubles and distractions oh that thou wouldest now look unto the Lord and seek him in righteousnesse that he may heale thee for there is none of all them that do pretend to Rule thee that do rightly proceed in the way of thy deliverance they do not apply healing balm unto thy wound they rather add unto the cause of thy sorow then removes it from thee their hearts are not aright before the Lord and how then shouldst thee prosper in their doings All these things have we veiwed and pittied the condition of our Nation and thus we do declare that the very cause of these things that are come to passe in thee is in that oh Nation thou hast sinned thou hast sinned and the cry of thy iniquities is come up before the Lord even the sinns of thy Rulers and thy People is the cause of Gods displeasure against thee and he is provoked through their transgressions in thee is found the blood of the innocent in thee is found the murther of Souls in thee is found treachery against God and hipocrisie and dissimulation with God and men in thee is found pride and oppression whoredome and drunkennesse stealing and murther in thee is found the very burthen of iniquitie and the full measure of transgression even the transgression of Gods whole Law deceit is found in the unsoundnesse of heart and unconstancy in all good things multitude of hypocriticall fastings prayers and services in thee is found even destroying sins of all sorts doth abound and thou hast provoked the Lord God by thy abominations Thy Rulers have bin oppressors thy Teachers deceivers of Soules and thy People are froward and perverse against the Lord in thee is found the men that judge for rewards and the Priests that preach for hire and the Prophets that divine for money thy fins are like Israells of old for number and greatnesse and thou hast lost Gods favour and gain'd his fury by thy own doings and thou art the very cause of this misery and hast brought it upon thy self and because thou art departed from the living God by thy transgressions therfore hath he confounded thee and turned thy wisdome into folly and he is departed from thee and out of thy counsells and men are left to the counsells of their own hearts and as it were ready to destroy one another Ruler against Ruler and Neighbour and Friend full of strife one against another and this is hapned unto thee as a judgment for thy iniquities who hast also neglected a glorious day of visitation thy Rulers and inhabitants have bin warned and the cry of repentance hath bin sounded towards them all by a despised people but warning hath not bin regarded but the Word of the Lord rejected by thy Rulers and People and loe what wisdome is there in them not so much wisdome from God as can preserve them but it may be just with the Lord to suffer them to drink the blood one of another even because they have finned against God and rejected his counsell therfore is this come to passe in the Nation for hadst thou oh Nation walked in the light of the Lord it had bin better with thee had every one obeyed the light in his own conscience and had every one sought the Lord and not himself had thy Rulers Ruled for God and had thy people bin Ruled of God then this day had not bin a day of trouble but it had bin a day of joy and sorrow and anguish had bin removed farr from thee and blessings had filled thy habitations And now wheras many wise men have bin advising and consulting the peace of this our Nation and they have given in their counsell for the removing these troubles yet peace and unitie seemes to be farr away and though they have sought peace for this nation yet they have not walked in the perfect way therof for innocency truth and simplicitie have bin wanting which God only will blesse and by flatteries and deceipts and the pollicy and wisdome of this world have they thought to make up thy breach but it cannot be for in the way of that proceeding will not the Lord be found in a needfull time and his presence hath bin wanting in their counsells and therefore the fruit of peace is not yet grown up this we have seen and therfore thus we do declare O Nation the inward cause of thy distractions must be removed even thy iniquities must be forsaken and thy transgressions repented of thou must forsake thy former waies and doings that are not right thou must leave off thy hypocrisies and flatteries with God and men thou must repent thee of thy profannesse and of thy profession also thy sin and thy righteousnesse must thou put away which are both abominations unto God thou must cease to do evill and learn to do well and thou must be uncovered of thy Sheeps cloathing thy large profession of Religion and the multitude of thy prayers and Sermons and the number of thy Oblations and Offerings these things have not bin pleasant unto the Lord from thee but because hrreof is he the rather provoked against thee and thou must be stripped of thy filthy garments and sett as in the day that thou wast borne before thou canst be cloathed with divine righteousnes and O Nation thou must be changed not in name only but in nature thou must be converted that the wrath of the Lord may be turned back from thee every inhabitant in thee must becom a fighter against the evil in his own heart and the plague therof must be sought out and removed the sin must be forsaken that judgment may cease and every one must cease to provoke the Lord and no longer vex his Spirit within them and every one must love the light of Christ in his own
A DECLARATION From the PEOPLE CALLED Quakers To the Present Distracted Nation of ENGLAND With Mourning and Lamentation over it because of its Breaches and the Cause thereof laid down with Advice and Councel how Peace Union and Happinesse may be restored and all the present troubles removed LONDON Printed in the Year 1659. To the Present Distracted and Broken Nation of ENGLAND and to all her Inhabitants A Presentation and Declaration from the Seed of God and from the People called Quakers with their Sense and Knowledge published concerning the present Divisions and Confusions come to passe in the Land with the Causes thereof laid down and discovered and also good Councel and Advice held forth how Peace and Unity may be restored and how the present tribulations may be removed OH poor distressed Nation and full of troubles how art thou broken and divided how hath divisions distractions compassed thee about and entred into thy bowells and how are thy inhabitants and thy people divided even into hatred one against another and how are they filled as with mischiefe one toward another even as it were thirsting for the blood one of another Oh! how are thy Rulers and thy Subjects thy great men and thy poor confounded amongst themselves and how is the wisedom of thy wise men turned into folly and their union into present contention and how do they seeke the overthrow one of another and how do they lye in waite to be avenged one against another and how are the hearts of many filled with envy contention and revenge and love peace and unitie are farre away meeknesse patience and long suffering which ought to be among thy people seemes to stand afar off And oh Nation this is the day of thy trouble and the begining of thy sorrows And for as much as it hath pleased the Lord God Almighty to bring and suffer things thus to be brought to passe as if he would make our Nation a heape and suffer destruction upon it and having suffered the Rulers and great men to overturne and break down one another and to rend and tear one another from off the Throne pulling down others and setting up themselves even thorough their ambition and vaine glory and for corrupted ends to themselves wherby this our Nation is brought into present confusion and many are begotten thorough these things into fury heart burnings and malitiousnesse as if men were ready to devoure each one his neighbour and their Brother about Government and Rule being greatly divided and distracted in this matter some crying up one way of Religion and Church and Civil Government and some crying up another way being each one sort of people seeking themselves and the prosperitie of their own interests and to have their own desires accomplished but few seeking the Lord and to advance him in truth and righteousnesse And because of this there is no establishment in the Earth but strife and contention and heart burnings in the bowells of the Nation and great want of true love true unitie and true peace and all the contrary doth abound among the people because of which the Nation is subject to present misery even to bloodshed and murthers and liable also to greater judgments which may also come upon it because of these things all which we have deeply considered with mourning and with breakings of heart on the behalfe of the Nation the Land of our Nativitie we have seen we have seen the cause of thy distractions to be the Sins of thy Rulers and People and we have seen the effect of them to be dolefull and miserable unto thee except the hand of the Lord turne it backward And oh how do we mourn and lament to behold the out goings of men and the present condition of the People and Rulers in this the day of their trouble alass they do not behave themselves towards the Lord that his judgments may be turned away they do not seeke him in truth and righteousnesse they do not turne unto him with all their hearts neither do they tremble at his Word But they the rather reject his Counsell and despiseth his visitation and they seek themselves and exalt their own horne and loves the honour of this world and their hearts are hardned and the great men seemes to be utterly insencible of what the Lord is a doing but seekes great things for themselves and each one rejoycing in anothers fall and glorying in their advantages one over another one sort being first down and another sort comes up boasting themselves over the fall of their Enemies and not knowing that their time also is but very short And thus is our poor Nation tossed to and fro thorough the ambition of men who even makes a prey upon the poor peoples Persons and Treasure for their own corrupted ends and thy Rulers hath not had respect unto the counsell of the Lord but seemes to refuse the way of peace and even adds fewell to the fire of Gods wrath by heaping up one trausgression upon another and they receive not the instructions of the Almighty Behold oh Nation great trouble is upon thee and the men that should rule thee and which have pretended to govern thee they do not walk in the way of thy peace neither do they bring healing to thee These things we have considered and thus we lament over thee and over thy present State Oh Nation how are thou like an ungirded vessell that is ready to fall one piece from another and how art thou like a body without a head and all thy joynts out of order and what confusion art thou fallen into which is thy present State and art even â—s a widdow without a husband and art left comfortlesse unto this day and ready to devoure thy self thorough the envy that lodgeth in thy owne bowells though thou hast had Kings over thee and chosen the Parliaments and set up Protectors and Committees and Councels have bin creaated in thee to have bin as a defence upon thee and to have borne the Scepter of thy Government but alass these have all left thee and thou art now as alone and left in trouble and confusion and none of all these that have sitten on thy Throne have brought salvation unto thee but thou art left comfortlesse even as a widdow unto this day and the Staffe of thy hand hath peirced thee and thy strength and considence hath betrayed thee and them whom thou hast chosen have wrought no deliverance at all in thee even the men that thou thoughtest should have healed thee they have made thy wound more incurable and they in whom thou hast reposed trust they have been deceiptfull and treacherous in thee for many have sought themselves and who should be the greatest and they have trifled away many precious houres in vaine contentions about Government what it should be and who should Govern while as no good thing hath been effected by them but in the meane time of their delaies and while they
right to rule in Nations and our heireship to possesse the uttermost parts of the Earth but for the present we are given up to beare and suffer all things for his names sake and our present glory and renowne therin stands till the appointed time of our deliverance without the Arme of flesh or any multitude of an hoast of men this we declare and O Nation though we have born thy reproches these many yeares and have passed under the Rod of thy wicked Rulers and people and we have bin afflicted through their hard-heartednesse though we never have provoked thee otherwise then by our well doing and though persecution imprisonments whippings banishments and all hard things have bin our portion from thee yet this hath bin for righteousnesse sake and not for any evill doing and we have borne all these things in much patience and we are not now provoked against thee to seek thy hurt or to work evill in thee though thou hast smitten us yet would we have thee to be healed and though thou hast sought to destroy us yet would we have thee to repent and be saved and we are at this day thy mourners and are afflicted for thee in our hearts even because thou hast provoked the Lord against thee though we do rejoyce in the judgments which smiteth thee yet we mourn for thee who hath deserved such wo full stripes and also because thou refusest the way of peace and counteth them that reprove thee even thy Enemies and hardnest thy heart against Gods instructions and counteth his free borne people thy bond-slaves who hath not any larg portion not great places of honour in this Nation nor ny thing to glory in from thee but sufferings afflictions and tribulations where is the place in this Nation that we have not bin reproched in what Streete have not we bin reviled and in what Prison have not we bin unjustly imprisoned and among what sort of people have not we bin hated and what one of thy Judges and Rulers can cleare themselves before the Lord from the guilt of our unjust sufferings O Nation our portion in thee for these many years hath bin thy cruell reproches our greatest place of honour in thee hath bin under thy cruell oppressions and these things and the guilt thereof will God charge upon thee and reward thee for one time or another yet notwithstanding all this our present desires for thee are good and not evil that thou mayest be saved and not destroyed healed and not wounded unrecoverably and we would â—ot add unto thy grief by any just provocation through any evil towards the neither would vve vvoek offence in thee further then vhat thou takest for righteousnesse sake and for the exercise of our pure conscience And though there hath bin in this Nation divers and sundry overturnings of late dayes and some have bin turned out and others brought into place each one sort of them crying against the evil of another and promising to accomplish such and such good things in the Nation yet alass what is there effected unto this day what freedom and true liberty to subjects more then was many years ago what oppressions taken off from the people what establishment in Government Alas not any of-these things are accomplished neither do we see a right thing propounded and rightly prosecuted by any party yet appearing but the cause hardly yet appears carried on by any among them which can be said of it this is of the Lord and is perfectly right and the Lord will prosper it for most of the men that have yet appeared on the Throne they have rejected the Word of the Lord and his Councel and what wisdom is there in them only the policy and subtiltie and wisdom of this world wherein they build but the Lord throws down even before it be finished and they consult therein and the Lord dasheth to peeces they set up but he pulls down because they want his spirit and wisdom and his authoritie amongst them and they are as the Potsheards of the earth that the iron Rod must break in peeces and this we declare the men yet seems not to appear in all these Parties which are worthie to handle the Lords Scepter and to be crowned with the honour of Authoritie in his Government but even this partie and the other party seems to be un worthie to rule for the Lord for they appear to be choaked with the honour of this world and corrupted thereby and uncapable of receiving that anointing that men must have that shall truly rule for God and though many in our days that have ruled over us have promised great things to the Nation yet we see all hitherto have wanted power to perform and have not bin blessed with the Presence of the Lord so as this Nation hath bin healed and redeemed by them and we are utterly out of all hopes of this party or the other party of this man or that man to bring salvation unto this Nation from all its bonds and oppressions for we know whatsoever men professe to do yet they cannot performe any good thing nor Rule for God in our Nation till that themselves be reformed and ruled by him and have the Spirit of God poured upon them for such a work and this we declare till that a man or men be ruled of the Lord they can never rightly Rule for him nor bring deliverance and freedome to an oppressed Nation though men may and have promised much yet their fruit is but little and thou O Nation hast long bin deceived by such men who have flattered thee with the multitude of faire words and promised thee deliverance and hereby might'st thou learn wisdom O England never more to rest under the shaddow of such men make no more a mountaine to cover thy self rest not under the shaddow of dead Trees that wants the vertue of God but now look at the living God and wait for that King of righteousnesse and peace whose right alone it is to Rule for he alone can bring salvation to thee he alone can heale thy breaches even Jesus Christ whose coming is at the doore and in the mean time O Nation while he is absent thou art dry and barren and empty thou art tossed and shaken and thou art tossed and perplexed and cannot be rightly comforted for men shall not be a rest unto thee but one after another shall they be overturned for it is the Lord alone and under his Government shall people finde perfect rest and freedom from all oppression for what is a King and what is a Parliament what is a Protector and what is a Councell or any other sort of men while the presence of the Lord is not with them and while his Spirit and Authority is wanting to them what can any of these bring forth none of all these whatsoever if the Lord be not cheefe in them and amongst them and his counsell their only guide shall be any otherwise unto
this Nation then as a broken Reed to leane upon and no more then a shaddow which shall not save the people from the heat nor from the storme this we know and this we declare in the Name of the Lord and we are not for Names nor for Men nor for Titles of Government nor are we for this party nor against the other because of its name and presence but we are for Justice and Mercy and Truth and Peace and true freedom that these may be exalted in our Nation and that goodnesse righteousnesse meeknesse temperance peace and unity with God and one with another that these things may abound and be borught forth abundantly such a Government are wee seeking and waiting for wherein truth and righteousnesse mercy and justice unity and love and all the fruites of holynesse may abound and all the contrary be removed cast out and limmitted and we are not for such and such Names and Titles of Government that promises faire and performes nothing but if a Council if a Parliament if any one Man or a number of men whatsoever that shall have the Spirit of the Lord poured upon him or them and shall be annointed of the Lord for such an use and end to Govern this Nation under such only shall the Nation be happy and enjoy rest from such men fitted of the Lord and called by him and under such a Government of truth and righteousnesse shalt thou O Nation enjoy rest from all thy Travells and under such a Government shall the righteous rejoyces and the whole Land sing for joy of heart when Tyranny and oppression shall be cleane removed strife and contention and self seeking utterly abandoned and when peace and truth flowes forth as a streame and the Lord alone rules in thy Rulers and he the principall amongst them and under such men and such a Government only and not under any other shalt thou O Nation be happy and thy people a free people Wherefore O Nation when wilt thou begin to look to the Lord when wilt thou begin to set up him and not man when wilt thou minde his Power and Presence in and through men more then any men themselves when shall it once be O ye people of our Nation that you will seek after him to be the principal and chief power among you Oh let your eyes be turned to the Lord alone that he may deliver you and bring salvation and freedom and look no more at men but only as they are in him and guided by his Spirit and only expect good from men as men are guided by the Lord and then shall you not ever any more be deceived as long you have bin with Kings with Parliaments with Councels with Armies nor any others for in these have you trusted and not in the Lord from these have you expected great things without him whenas alass what shall men accomplish or what can they bring forth while they reject the Counsel of the Lord and his Word as hitherto they have done and therefore hath he broke them and confounded them yea and he will break them and crush them under his Rod even till they learn his judgments and know him the alone Power and give honour to him that doth whatsoever he will and he will overthrow yet once and againe even till he come whose right it is to Rule and he is at work in this his day and because of iniquities doth he visit with tribulation and through great tribulation and overturning of Men and Powers will he advance his own Kingdome and Government and the end of all these things shall bring forth his glory and men that will not honour him by dealing righteously in their day upon Earth they must honour him in their destruction at their latter end and let not men glory one over another while some are put down and others set up but let them all know they have but each sort their houre and their end will come even as others for an everlasting Kingdome and Government will God set up that must rule over all and this is the hope of a poor despised people though for present hated of all and sought to be destroyed by all yet our soules are anchored and stay'd even in the sure promises of our God in this the day of the Nations trouble and though we are very poor and rejected of all and have nothing to glory in amongst any party or sort of people but even in our reproaches and sufferings that we sustain from all yet have we perfect rest in God and satisfactions over all these distractions we know him in whom we have beleived and we trust in the shaddow of his wing and we are not of a doubting heart concerning what can come or whomsoever doth Rule for this we know though all seeks after our blood yet he can deliver us if he will we know him that can do all things and if he save none can destroy if he blesse none can curse him we know and in him we rest and we give our power in all things to him and not unto mortall man whose breath is in his nostrills who must perish as the dung we cannot be afraid of their horror nor can we be drawn by their love but we trust in his Name and under his defence shall we be saved we give our power to him to be defended and preserved by him alone and we are well contented with our sufferings and murmurs not our sufferings are our present Crown but yet woe unto that Authority which maketh us to suffer and woe unto the men upon whom God shall charg the guilt of our oppressions and woe unto that Spirit that is found acting against Gods annointed behold ye Mountaines of the Earth behold ye Rulers and ye People the Lord hath blessed his people and every tongue that riseth up in witnesse against them shall be condemned and every weapon that is formed against them shall be broken this is our hope in this gloomy day and the hope of a Kingdome of righteousnesse and peace which must be set up is our refreshment in this day of trouble and let not our Enemies glory over us for though we are poor yet shall we be made rich and though we have no carnal weapon yet shall we conquer and thus have we declared our selves in much plainnesse and 〈◊〉 to our Nation whom we love and whose present condition we pity and lament over and we are freonds to any Appearance of good that may come forth in truth and sinceritie and as righteousnesse doth appear in any we are ready to joyne with it in our prayers and desires yea and otherwise even that which hath the Image of our God upon it whenever it shall appear we shall rejoyce therin and adde our help thereunto that it may prosper for for the establishing of righteousnesse in the earth our all is not dear unto us though hitherto we have bin silent and not medling with this party or the other but by way of reproof of the evil in all and informing all to the good and it cannot be charged upon us that we have sided with one or another for we have beheld all hitherto out of the right way as we have said but we truly seek the general good of our Nation and though we are accounted so and so yet we have not lost true reason nor understanding but we well know what is wrong and what would be right even in way of Goverâ—â—â—nt but the time appears not to be yet when innocencie and simpliâ—â—â—â—â— of heart can be embraced for men are yet too wise in their own wisdom and cannot receive the Councel of the Lord that they may prosper and therefore are they and must they be confounded amongst themselves and dashed one against another till they learn the way of Righteousnesse and Truth The substance of this was given forth the twentieth day of this tenth moneth being moved of the Lord by his Spirit thereunto through E. Burrough and is now judged meet to be published to the Nation in the behalf of us and our friends under our hands Geâ— Roberts Tho. Harte Gilbert Latye Iohn Anderdon Iohn Osgood Robert Benbrick Iohn Boulton Ellis Hookes William Crouch Gobert Sikes Iames Strutt Iohn Pennyman Iohn Crook Edward Billing Benjamin Furly THE END