as we have made it If we set up an earthly and fleshly form it will corrupt and turn enemy to us that exalt it except we set up God and set up in all the powder of God and all in the power of God or all quickned with the Spirit of God And being the hoast of God and having all fulnes of the Spirit or being attended with al the divine perfections we can and shall spread forth in the fruits of righteousnes And establish righteousnes in persons and things living righteousnes This is your true state and the first and least of it and lesse then this is not your righteousnes I cant speak or think lesse of you he that thinks or speaks less then this or contrary to this be it Satan in you or others blasphemes the tabernacle of God them that dwel in heaven This is your own life and all below it are fancies dreams and lies Babylon and confusion keeping holding Zion from her glory T is a blessed face of God and the light of his countenance shining upon you and I know there is another face which is the same in you that answers to this and though it hath bin vaild awhile the brightnes and power of this will scatter that mist and call forth its own self and likenes in you to imbrace this Righteousnes looks down from heaven here upon you we might question whether it would be received or no whether it would not be judged a fancy a conceit but that we know also Truth springs out of the earth the same spirit hath been acting a long while in you though under and in the earth buried under flesh but now wil come forth and answer to this or say t is â—râ—th and make it truth in the performance You wil not say this is righteous in God he may do al this it is proper for him but not for us No righteousnes and peace have kissed each other you are râ—conciled to this righteousnes the partition wall is broken down of two made one new man and so you cannot but receive and rejoyce in it mercy here meets with truth in your brests The heavens powr down righteousnes and the earth opens and salvation springs forth together The Lord is come down yea the heavens all the host of them al the stars of righteousnes and the same truth arises out of you and these together are salvation God out of you works but in weaknes in trouble so do you out of God both together bring forth salvation I shall I know meet with this objection from your selves and others that this will be true but not yet and that it is farre otherwise with you for the present t is that you expect but t is not yet manifested To this I answer That this truth is eternall and there is no moment wherein you can say t is not t is he that was is and is to come That therefore it is darknes that denies it or that 's a deepe pit that saies t is not here doe not abide in such darknesse of hel where eternall truth will not be admitted That as it alwayes hath been so it now is brought forth borne into the world the childe is born I have been long travelling for him and now lay him amongst you it is true it is in the Stable amongst beasts Swadled and lying in a Manger in a very meane and contemptible condition but I shall own him and nurse him and so will you I hope it is your own God and Saviour though wrapped up in flesh and in the midst of a beastly crue yet smiling in your face offered to you yea arising up in you And he whom you have sought for is now come into his Temple you have long conceiv'd him and travelled too to bring him forth and now Behold thy King cometh riding upon an asse receive him and say This is the Lord we have waited for him If you can yet say these things are brought forth in you but not in us we cannot owne them in power you may we are yet in the flesh t is your light not ours we live not in this glory nor can act in it we must goe our way No t is yours as well as mine and not mine as distinct from you but mine in you and with you for we have but one life one spirit and if it breake forth first in me t is for your sakes T is not a personall or private spirit but the Spirit of God and of all the Saints t is the life and soule of the Army and therefore you cannot be strangers to it sure so soone as you see it you will say this is our portion our rock our strength But if you are in the flesh and this glory be not suffered to act in you What 's the reason of it Who lets Is it not the man of sin If it be so then you confesse your selves guilty of what I have formerly written for this man of sinne is not a limb or member but a compleat man and so hath all sinne in him where flesh is it is a body of sinne having all iniquity weav'd together into one vail pride hypocrisy self-seeking enmity against God and all in the highest way of sinne whose coming it after the working of Satan with all power and signes and lying wonders and with all deceivablenesse of unrighteousnesse T is no lesse then Satan though with all power and signes of praying seeking God justice and lying wonders wonderfull great things but lying because separated from the eternall truth with all deceivablenesse of unrighteousnesse I know none righteous but God and all waies beside are to deceive And if this spirit be in you it is not idle it comes forth this bloud runs in the veines of al your actions the Lord said it of you long ago Ezech. 21.24 Yee have made your iniquity to be remembred in that your transgressions are discovered so that in all your doings your sins doe appeare And thou prophane wicked Prince of Israel whose day is come when iniquity shall have an end This filth lies not still but comes forth in all your actions and fils them with darknesse weaknesse confusion instability but an end it come of sinne and that wicked Prince is cast out I am pacified towards you fury is not in me I have no more to accuse you of If you now object as I doubt you will your being in the flesh your weaknesse inability to manage these high and great waies the sense of your unworthinesse and sinfulnesse obscuring this glory Observe this 1. You now are the accusers I have done I have nothing to say against you I appear'd in fury and jealousie against you and by that fire have purified you and burnt up that drosse that was in you it s all cast into the bottome of the sea I remember it no more it s under my feet I am above it and now I am justifying and you are accusing
are indeed the supreme power taken up into the throne of God living in the secret place of the most high That the most high God rules in you and gives his highest wisdome and justice to you And that you have a more exquisite sense of the good and evil of the Nation then any and more able to judge what is truly for their good and to resolve those questions and controversies which yet lie in doubt and darknesse amongst us And that you are in the power of God mighty to save them when men cannot being the people of GOD or qualified with a divine strength Though the Kingdome be miserably broken and those that have attempted to heal it through unskilfulnesse and unmercifulnesse have more abus'd the poor people yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing There is balm in Gilead Though there be none in the waies of men yet there is amongst the people of God in Israel that is a prince with God and prevails over men Though the Sunne be turn'd into darknesse and the Moon to blond there is confusion shame and despair in and upon the greatest lights of the world Yet in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance as the LORD hath said and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call Joel 2.31 32 in the LORDS people a despis'd remnant is Englands salvation Therefore let them know that though through the floud of wickednesse that is broken forth amongst us religion be laid waste order and government in Church and Common-wealth be dissolved and the honour royalty greatnesse riches trade of the Nation be visibly lost yet there is a power with you that can recover all these into light and health againe to the satisfaction of all that desire to see good daies This al-creating al-restoring power is with us and wil not faile us in our worke Isay 58.11 12. The Lord shall guide thee continually c. Thou shalt be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters faile not Thou shalt build the old waste places thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach the restorer of paths to dwell in There is a fountain and spring of the spirit of God that shall run over the whole Kingdome and not faile in any worke you are upon be it never so high great and honourable and all that is excellent in the Kingdome though it be sunke into the foundations yet you wil restore and repaire them again Fourthly I present you to the Kingdome and so must you present your selves to them as the fruit of their own womb The son of God begotten by the Spirit of God of this Nation form'd and shaped by the divine wisdome out of the bowels of the people Or that little stone a precious stone being irradiated with the holy and divine nature cut out of the mountain or the Kingdome without hands There is in you the life and spirit of the Kingdome the vigour and strength of the Nation her first-born you are the staffe and strength of her age and although of all the children that she hath formerly brought forth by her elections laws customes there is none that can take her by the hand and guide her out of her distresse yet you will kindely put under your shoulders to carry her in your arms to a place of rest Cast away therefore that vail of a party of any particular interest and looke forth in your owne true face a childe and heir of the Kingdome our owne flesh and bloud of tender affection to us and pity of us we have given you lite and being by our purses prayers persons councels t is our life religion estate cause bloud that runs in your veines and therefore you owe to us your selves life strength paines labours watchings and ought to lay them all out freely for us purely in love and repayment of the debt you owe to us And coming upon these terms as the childe of our travels pangs and distresses the childe of our desires and prayers the issue of many consultations affections disbursments feares hopes the first borne of our owne Lord and Husband God and bearing his owne image upon you holinesse righteousnesse goodnesse we cannot but with joy embrace you after our sore travels and afflictions and though many people dying in feare and despaire as Rachel call you BEN-ONI The Son of my sorrow yet your Father who lives will call you BENJAMIN the Son of my right hand Let the Spirit of the Lord file off your roughnesse and un-evennesse and blow away that dust that covers your beauty and we shal see you a stone solid firme and stable that cannot be broken by any devices or force a precious stone that contains in it all the interests all that 's good or worthy in the Kingdome That you are as cut out so laid by the hand and art of God in Sion a tried stone a precious corner stone a sure foundation he that believeth maketh not haste You have beene tried and are found precious and a corner stone in which all our rights are laid and so squar'd by God with that exact justice as to be a rule and square to the whole Kingdome and a sure foundation of an everlasting peace such a foundation as hath the whole building in it and this will make men stay upon you and believe in you not hastening after any other helpe or Saviour You are being formed by God of that true and intrinsecall worth that you have the prise of the Nation in you and that in spirit and so in the purest and best union which is to us a ground and bottome of true peace But you neglect this true substantiall union and are making another an agreement of the people which shewes a grossenesse and filthinesse of spirit not able to discerne the union of God in you in one heart and minde and not onely amongst your selves but of the whole Kingdom in their true and right sense and therefore are framing a carnall and fleshly one according to the custome of the Heathen a worke below the Lord and a descending into the earth to doe that which God hath done already most excellently You are a living Altar and a lifting up a toole unto it doth polute it The Lord is building a house which is from heaven and you know the patterne is in the Mount and is thence brought forth the stone it made ready and there must not be beard while t is building neither hammer ax or any toole of iron in the house this sawing and cutting to make an outward literall agreement vexes and wounds your spirits and tends to dis-unite you from the Lord and from each other The Lord is with you in union he is one and gives you true unity one soule and spirit Therefore stand up and come forth in that entire forme that the Lord hath cast you into in that image that he stamps
justice love riches advantage to all Kingdomes afford a universall benefit The beasts of the field have shadow under it and the fowles of the heaven dwell in the boughs thereof all flesh feed of it All sorts of men receive protection from it those that labour and toil as beasts in the earth they enjoy their wealth and safety under it and those that fly in the aire of wisedome learning they make their nests of honour and preferment in it and all live upon it Or the beasts men of earthy and civill employment Fowles of heaven men of religious and heavenly employment all have their peace in this Tree But behold a watcher and an holy one came downe from heaven This watcher is the watchman of Israel that keeps us and looks to us while we sleep or that thiefe that comes in the night secretly stealing in upon us while we see him not and a holy one though a thiefe and in the night breaking downe the house yet a holy Child Jesus a holy Lamb and we may know who he is he came down from heaven T is the coming of Christ from heaven that doth this He cryed aloud and said thus Hew down the tree and cut off his branches shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit let the beasts get away from under it and the fowles from his branches Here 's harsh cruel doings from one that comes from heaven Cryes aloud t is not the still voice and nothing but destruction Hew down the tree lay the ax to the root cut down all government dominion King Parliament with all power order cut off the branches of lawes offices places Scatter the fruit let there be no safety peace getting of estates Let the beasts get from under it and the fowles from the branches let the inhabitants be scattered let wealth be removed let honour and preferments cease Neverthelesse leave the stump of the roots in the earth with a band of iron and brasse in the tender grasse of the field and let it be wet with the dew of heaven and let his portion be with the beasts in the grasse of the earth let his heart be changed from man and a beasts heart be given unto him and let seven times passe over him There is not utter destruction though the glory honour riches peace of the Kingdome be cut down yet it remaines in the stump and is sure there There 's nothing left but the stump of the roots in the earth some life in the lowest people and that bound down yet safe kept by a band of iron and brasse by the power of the sword In the tender grasse of the field in the wide field not in a setled built City rather a wildernesse amongst some weake tender spirits some smal blades of grasse that are grown up And wet with the dew of heaven lying open to heaven in the night of darknesse expecting continual dews of favours and providence T is a desolate and poore condition though it hath a blessing in it they that are gathered into the City of God live better Let his portion be with the beasts let him eate grasse as the ex It is not the condition of one man onely but of the whole tree the spirit of dominion in the Kingdome is changed from man to beast driven from men Man is a wise lordly creature that exercises dominion by wisedome and understanding and is invested with majesty which is honoured and reverenced by others The new man is the Lord from heaven living in the light and understanding of God and of excellent goodnesse and righteousnesse and is therefore honoured because he is the true and great Lord of al and doth good to al exercising righteousnesse in wisedome to al such a heart now appears not amongst us in no sort of men but a beasts heart rage violence fiercenesse exercise of force one to another compulsion driving in herds not wisedome to compose al into one body These eate grasse as oxen live as oxen a laborious traveling painful life without any setled rest And eate grasse All flesh is grasse the highest and best men feed upon what providence daily brings forâ—h to them and that of a fleshly fading dying nature Not upon the living bread that comes down from heaven not upon the fatted Calfe killed and offered up not on meat rosted by the everlasting fire not eating the spice nor drinking the wine of the Spirit and this till seven times passe over thee Till the compleat measure of Gods justice passe over which I would gladly restrain to seven yeares This is the state of this miserable Kingdome The intent of God in this which is sure and decreed and the demand by the word of the holy one T is required and shall be effected That the living may know First That the most high ruleth in the Kingdome of men God will make you all know that himselfe the most high not a minister or angel of his not a vicegerent not a civil Magistrate only but the high God the highest glory of God ruleth not only over but in the Kingdome of men This beastly ignorant man knows not but you must know it though you oppose it and would uphold an earthly Kingdome in which men may rule without God no the Lord himselfe and his most high excellency shall rule and be known to rule Secondly And giveth it to whomsoever he will He rules not in an abstracted sense without us but he gives it to whom he pleases will bestow it upon men administer this Kingdome in his highest glory in men And in bestowing of it will not be bound to any person or family as King nor to any society or company of men as Parliament nor to any form or custome of men but when he pleaseth will pull down some and exalt others will not be fixt upon this or that person or thing but walke up and down with it at his pleasure And thirdly setteth up over it the basest of men will not leave till he set the bottome upon the top advanced the basest mean common sort of men men of basest account of lowest smallest worth not renownd either for honour riches learning wisdome or any other excellency but set up men of base ignoble birth base spirits c. over it These three things hath the majesty of God written out clearly in these times the most high ruleth in this Kingdome and first gave it to the King but he did not know the Lord that gave him his dominion power and glory nor govern his People in the goodnes strength and light of GOD but served and pleased himselfe by it and so abused that rule and authority that God gave to tyranny covetuousnesse oppression and to self-pleasure and honour for this the Lord blasted his Majesty cursed his government rent his Kingdome and fild it with troubles and distractions and forced him against his will to call a Parliament which was virtually or in a kinde a resignation of his
in the roots of the earth the people Hence it is that bodies politique Kingdomes have their severall ages of childhood youth firme or full age and old age as well as the body of man and one as well as the other lies under this sentence Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne at best they are but the people dresd or set out with some outward honour and therefore they must returne to mingle themselves with dust of common men Againe We know honor est in honorante honour is in him that honoureth its seate and subject is in him that gives it and therefore in the people who doe by their breath create any man honourable or great and their breath is the life of all greatnesse and honour it being but an empty Idol a dead image if not quickened by the affections of the people T is they indeed or God ordering their spirits that make men honourable if they give him not respect meanes tribute honour their greatnesse dies at heart and becomes a heavy burden and a curse and therefore t is very naturall for it to come downe to its owne originall from whence it came and doth by that recover it selfe for as the people receive it into them so they will quickly send it forth againe with greater power and with encrease This course of things hath its method from the minde and will of God who hath said He will set over it the basest of men Dan. 4. He raiseth the poore out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill That he may set him with Princes of his people Psal 113. The Lord hath said he will exalt some and pull downe others Scatter the proud in the imagination of their hearts put downe the mighty from their seats and exalt them of low degree Luk. 1. T is a great sport and pleasure the Lord takes to set up and pull downe to bring great things to nothing and to exalt nothing to be all things its excellent justice to poure contempt upon Princes to tread upon them as morter to bring them under as the basest vilest creatures and to poure riches honour and greatnesse upon meane and base men is as excellent love and goodnesse This he hath said he will doe and this he doth doe and t is his prerogative This too is taken out of a higher copy the way of the Son of God who is in the form of God in the highest heaven and from thence descends into a low state of a servant to be borne of a woman to be a carpenters Son to be with people of no account to descend into the lower parts of the earth to make his grave with the wicked to descend into hell and from thence to ascend againe far above all heavens T is the great God the king of kings looks down amongst men of low degree and is content to have his foundation in the dust and so arise that he might fill all things and take up the lowest into the highest and be the highest in the lowest and so comprehend all things in one glory that he might fil lownesse with majesty and majesty with lownesse that ther might be a perfect agreement tween the greatest God and the porest man Thus we see the second thing manifested That this passing of power from the Parliament or any higher or Politique body into the lower or naturall of the People is rationall orderly and and according to the originall rule and measure of all things which is the minde and way of God Thirdly the people so rais'd and cal'd up are the supreme power or superiour to all others even to them that begat them the Parliament 1. The Parliament call as is manifest in their Declarations to judge saying let the People judge they appeale to them and so they have subjected themselves to the people and t is but reason they should judge for the people themselves have in themselves the truest and purest light of judging which is reason and the most exact sence of their rights and of good and evill respecting their liberty and safety and those principles in them of discerning men and things relating to publique weale or woe are more clere more incorrupted then they are in men rais'd by them into place and office especially when all high places are poluted by the divell and the mindes of men grow worse by preferments and honours as t is manifest they do in these times of defection wherein scarce any man in place either Parliament or else where retaines his integrity and the Parliament it selfe is one heap of selfe seeking they being generally bias'd both on the one side and the other with places advantages offices perticular interests so not fit to be the judges of publique and common right Therefore t is reason that God should call up the people who though they be rude despicable and unlearned yet have a plain and honest sâ—nse in them of good and evill and they are now set up to be judges of the affaires of the kingdom by God and by the Parliament as his hand 2. As they are higher being made judges and appeald unto so they are the stronger and more able to doe justice and defend themselves then any instituted power in all representatives there is some weaknesse being but figurative They are indeed very elegant beautiful and stately administrations of justice but have not that inward sufficiency and fundamental stable strength that is in the people And being but formes of government we have found them as in this Parliament trifling about punctilio's of honour circumstances and points of priviledge and prerogative and not gone down-right to the root of the matter which lightnesse of spirit is not a proper remedy for the huge bulke of wickednesse that hath gotten into this Kingdom nor able to stand against the height pride of injustice enthornd in the nation would be a whole age more in purging out these evill humours in their dull formall and customary way of proceeding which is wholly unsatisfactory to the justice of God Yea iniquity grew upon them and appeard in such an overflowing malignity and in persons of such eminency that they feard to meddle with it or feard they should be swallowed up with it and therefore sought the people to stand up and doe that which they could not whose weight and strength is only able to cast out the wicked spirit that had universally possesd it selfe of all parts of the Kingdome especially the superiour parts And the people thus authorizd and empowerd by the sword and inflamed with wrath and zeale against their adversaries have with much difficulty along while contested with these evils and at last got the better of them which would have long agoe as t is most evident have swallowed up the Parliament and by this t is evident this of the people is the stronger power Thirdly There is a third consideration proper for this which is the power
that is committed to the people it s the power of the sword and that in a military way If I give a man my sword I make him my Lord and give him my life so did the Parliamâ—nt in committing the sword to the people submitted themselves to them And with it they have declared that they would live and dye with those they have so entrusted T is as much as to say we give our lives to your command our prosperity and being is onely in you we must live only upon you Now t is reason that those that give life should give lawes too and them upon whom we depend for our being we must depend upon them likewise for out rule so that the Parliament have made the Army the Lords protectours of themselves and of the right and interest of England which while it stands is the chiefe power What makes a publique person above a private but that he hath the civill sword in his hand to administer justice Now the military sword is sharper it s a trust more absolute and independent more exercisd by will and lesse subject so the formes of law and therefore they that have it are much more Lords over those that are subject to it and so the Army more superiour to the Parliament then they to others This I know will seeme strange to many and is not cleare to the Army it selfe that the Parliament should become a subordinate and inferiour and they a higher and supreme power But God hath made it so and that as you see according to the reason and actions of men And let men consider but the actings of Parliament and Army they shall finde the same thing expressed in deeds which is a sensible and experimentall discovery of truth Since these warres we know the maine businesse of the Parliament hath beene to serve the Army to gather borrow and assesse monies for them and to provide them necessaries some things of government have passed from them but in a low weake in considerable way and in them they have beene up and down high and low this way and that way as they received impression from the Army It s true this hath not been spoken expresly but implicitly and darkely it hath and the Parliament have felt it really therefore you must be content to beare this yoke You have endeavoured to acquit your selves of it but cannot You have already lost your authority when you turnd England into a camp and set up martiall power when God leades them to restore it as he did you to give it you shall have it and not till then Fourthly This Army are truly the people of England and have the nature and power of the whole in them 1. They are of a popular stature men of the common and ordinary rank of people most of them of trades and husbandry with a small mixture of the Gentry which are the body and strength of the Kingdome and in whom the common interest most lies 2. They are the heart and life of the people men in whom appeares strong and lively affections for publique good manifested in their great labours and hazarding their lives so often for the Kingdome by which they have merited the honour to be accounted the very breast and strength of England and to have in them the soule and life of the nation 3. They did accept the appeale of the Parliament and answer their call of the people to judge and accepting of it its reason they should have it if others either are senselesse and cannot judge or sluggish and cowardly and will not through feare adventure or entangled with principles of slavery or engaged by particular and self-respects to a malignant party and so oppose them yet they seeing and apprehending the danger of the Common-wealth hearing the call of the Parliament and being valiant for the truth to steppe up upon this throne of judicature offered to them they are unquestionably to be entitled the people of England 4. To this may be added the concurrence of the affections prayers councels pens and purses of the honest spirits in the Kingdome who have at some time or other seald to them and contributed their best helpe to them Although it may be since many through darknesse weaknesse temptations divisions petty and inferiour factions have been distasted at them and withdrawn themselves from them But these earthly and carnall distractions arising partly from the Armies miscarriages and weaknesse partly from others passions cannot obliterate and blot out the many subscriptions of their names in heaven to and for the Army in their prayers and speakings especially in their distresse And after these mists are blowne away God will leade people backe to their owne hearty and earnest desires of a blessing upon the Army as on those in whom their lives and the life and safety of religion and liberty lay which are enrolled in heaven and so shew them though they are divided below they are one in the highest best and most generall actings of their spirits 5. This Army in their generall carriage towards the people have by their tendernesse of them care of preserving them forbearing to plunder and spoile them though absolutely in their power have shewd that they have a publique spirit and that the peace and good of the nation lives in them And although they be not so absolute and perfect in this but that there be some sad examples of violence and wrong by many ill members amongst them yet they have generally through the excellency of comand and the good spirit of God guiding of them so behaved themselves that the people every where have witnessed their great approbation of them as saviours or preservers of them by joy in their presence and teares at their departure T is true the Army hath of late for their iniquities by the judgement of God upon their miscarriage layne under the curse of many people and under a blacke and thicke cloud of wrath But former kindnesse will be remembred and God will give them greater honour and acceptance and let us know they are our selves and as we have said the people of England having publique spirits and minding the good of every person in England as their owne So that they are rightly and truly the people not in a grosse heape or in a heavy dull body but in a selected choice way They are the people in virtue spirit and power gatherd up into heart and union and so most able and fit for the worke they have in hand The people in grosse being a monster an unweildy rude bulke of no use but here they are gathered together into one pure excellent life and so usefull and active for their good and safety The cleare understanding of this will be a great meanes to compose the dis-affections of people to them and to draw their hearts to them in love being themselves formd by God into this body and that now their interest lies as truly in the Army as