they in whomsoever not in person or appearance disliking the same thing in this person and countenancing it in another If ye desire to see your sin This is thy sin O England All our thoughts all our wayes all our motions all our imaginations have bin are will be found before the Righteous God in this Day of his clear Judgment that is coming upon thee evil onely evil and that continually thou canst not turn thee to any one of them to find the least comfort and satisfaction of a good and righteous working and operation in them for How can an evil tree bring forth good fruit or a bitter fountain send forth sweet water Thy fountain is bitter thy root is rottennesse This I must testifie against thee from the Lord. Not but that thou hast done Gods work and fullfil'd and executed his pleasure upon Kings Nobles Bishops and all the slain and poyled of the Land Thou hast dressed the Lord's sacrifice but thou hast done it in thine own spirit and so art no better then Jeroboam then John then Nebuchadnezar and art accountable for all that thou hast done And God hath now taken thee in the snare of thy own heart and hath spread thy filthynesse thy unrighteousnesse thy ambition thy partiality thy hypocrisie in the sight of the Sun Thou art returned with the Dog to the vomit and with the Sow to the wallowing in the mire Thou hast corrupted thy self and art become abominable Judah hath justified Samaria Thy sins are as Scarlet they are of a double dye to the sins of the former generation which God hath cast out before thy face Thou sawest the Judgments of God on them for the wayes of pride unjustice oppression which thou walkest in and wast the Rod in his hand the Instrument of his vengeance upon them shalt thou therefore escape O! I dread to think what a sad reckoning this Generation hath to make I can see no glimpse of Comfort for us in any promise or prophecy or example or record in Scripture unlesse God powre out a spirit of grace and supplication a spirit of deep contrition and humiliation upon us but our Carcases must fall in the wildernesse as Israel's did Loruhamah and Loammi must be named upon us Israel shall be as Ethiopia and the bringing up of the Phlistins from Caphtor and the Assyrians from Kir shall be of as sacred memory as our Victories and successes the successes of the great Turk as holy things as all our deliverances I say unlesse God make us ashamed not onely of our sins but of our selves and of the spirit and root we have growen upon and acted from in all this I speak not now to natural men I know God judges every one by the light and law that they are under but I speak to the Saints of England that would be thought and call'd so many moral men have done bravely and faithfully and those that have corrupted in those principles having profest no higher shall be judged no deeper But you that say Ye see you that have discern'd and cryed up a Cause of God not civil liberties onely as men but a Cause of God in civil liberties all for God for the glory of God for the Kingdome of God I say you shall be judged out of your own mouths Is this the Cause of God Is this the Kingdome of God You in the Council you in the Army Is this the Cause of God now your turn is served Moral men shall onely be judged for their work not prosecuting the Cause but letting it fall but you shall be judged for no better a spirit unless you judge your selves I say there is no hope for you unlesse a spirit of judgment and burning arise up within you and cleanse your blood and filthynesse from you And ye shall pay not onely for your spirit but for that guilt also wherein ye are in Common with others for not prosecuting but letting fall this Cause when so far carryed on though darkly and blindly by you and in the letter For the same evil made you desist namely self-Interest that made you manage it in unrighteousnesse For be it known unto you The Cause of God is amongst us and shall go on and is carrying on through all these dark Meanders and Intricacies whilst you sleep on your down Pillows and stretch your selves upon your beds of Ivory and the next advance of it will be the routing of you Except God awaken you to meet him by speedy Repentance God will glorifie himself in his Judgments on you as upon the Cavaleirs before you Therefore trust not in vain Visions and cry not The Temple of the Lord. Is there any truth mercy and justice in the Land Are not the necessities of the poor as great as ever are not the oppressions as many is not pride luxury and profannesse as rife are not the Courts of Justice as corrupt Is not the spirit of God restrained and persecured Is Christ in the Throne Will ye call this a Reformation that ye are made Kings and Princes No! the Lord will not own it This is your work and your Cause it is none of his and God will make you know one day ye had power to have reformed these things but used it not forsooth because you would have offended this great man and tother useful Interest ye must have broak with a broken shatter'd World which will not be able to afford you the least shelter in the day when God shall visit you God will carry on his own Cause if we had never a tongue in the Parliament to plead it nor never a pen in the Nation to contend for is but what will become of you I know not How God will do it I know not but by his own appearing It is the day of His Power the day of the Spirit that is to have its turn next not Man's day but God's not Man's spirit but God's and whom He will use as his Instruments I know not if any of this Generation it must be by a Regeneration of them new moulding new framing new spiriting new principling of them The new wine must have new bottles but I see little towards any such thing in any of you Yet I believe God hath a remnant among you whom He will lead on to farther things but it will be with weeping and supplications with great brokennesse of heart and poverty of spirit with self-judging and self-abhorring and then what revenge will ye take of your selves what restitution will ye make to the Nation what right will ye do to all men even to your enemies Then will ye throw away your Idols of Gold and Silver to the Moles and to the Bats Then the lofty looks shall be humbled and the haughtinesse of man shall be laid low and the Lord alone exalted in that day Till the Spirit be thus powred forth from on high I look for no salvation to be wrought but the people shall labour in the fire
had the leading forth and management of all But when that Spirit had done its work and gone as far as it could goe which was to cut downe that Spirit and work that was more unrighteous then it self wherein God owned them and was assistant to them then other work of another and far different Nature appeared unto which this Spirit that had acted so strenuously and successfully all this while did bear no proportion which yet was the end that God had and still hath in his eye as the Crowne and advantage of all that Preparatory dispensation which was frequently in the mouths of many and they called it building work How often was the late Protector while General heard to say If ye have any more rough and breaking work for us to do We are ready but how to build or to lay one stone aright we have no knowledge Now was the time for faith to have been brought into exercise and to have looked up for another Spirit to take the work into its own hands to have resigned and given up to Him which Spirit was amongst us and not improbably was discerned to be growing upon us but men were afraid of it and could not trust themselves with it God ordering things so that it appeared in much weaknesse and unlikelinesse of the flesh and so was despised and rejected by the Builders Many stumbling blocks also of strange Spirits and principles being permitted to come forth with it so that then had been the time for men to have thought seriously of that Commonition of our Saviour Blessed is he that is not offended in me This work was the work of God which he hath been carrying on through all ages even the setting up his Son upon his holy hill of Sion This was that which God did but justly expect at our hands That he having subdued all our enemies for us and broken and put down all powers that stood in the way we should according to our many foregoing seeming promises and professions have acknowledged these Nations to be his and have given them up to be ruled and governed by him and this Rule must have been given forth and when ever it appears it shall proceed out of Sion from the Lords own Spirit in his poor broken Crucified ones whose earthly wisdom is brought into subjection by the Crosse of Christ to the Heavenly wisdom which is foolishness with the world whose weapons are not carnal but spiritual mighty through God The wisdom that is from above which is first pure then peaceable gentle easy to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie But the Master-builders reject this corner-stone and thinking scorn to deliver up the work to this Spirit and to be out at any thing though never so hard and difficult having had the Van all this while they could not fall in the Rear having had the guardianship of the Heir they were loath to part with it and to set up their younger Brother Must our sheaves bow to His Therefore they take up a Manly resolution having some convictions upon them of the right that Christ hath to the Kingdom 's of this World they could not down right deny him and therefore in part admitting his title they are only sollicitous to have as great a share with him as may be and therefore they will blunder upon the work as well as they may and they will square and model out the Government of Christ for him and so they call a number of Persons together of all sorts of judgments and interests which they chose with as much discretion as they had of such as were most likely to be friendly to this Mongrel Idea of a Kingdom partly Christs and partly this Worlds This so far as man can guels was the very Constitution of the thoughts and designs of the late Protector in Calling the little Assembly after the dissolution of the Long Parliament wherein he was upon this advantage with many honest people That he undertook this business not till such time as the forementioned Spirit and interest of Christ had been very much rejected and hardly intreated by the Builders in Parliament who had troubled some honest men and threatned a further storm upon tender Consciences What claim the Lord Jesus did then lay to the Government of these Nations in the very heart and conscience of the then Protector His Speech to that Assembly some passages whereof have been since quoted by others may testifie and how it was entertained the sequel will shew For though this Heterogeneous mixt Assembly were not found of wisdom and moderation sufficient to manage things according to the Platform in the head of the Designers yet they served to give the Protector a colourable ground and advantage to reject the thoughts of the Kingdom of Christ or the Rule of Saints having now tryed them and found such an improportionateness in them to such a work which some say was that which was sought and designed by him in the beginning We need not be so uncharitable to surmize that it is enough and too much that there was that ready and at hand to lay hold on this advantage to put Christ by the Throne as unfit to sit there And now having taken this offence without any remorse or regret of mind that generation of men turn their backs upon the the Kingdom of Christ and usurp the Grant of a longer Lease for a Kingdom of this World The Heir is an Idiot and He must have a Guardian a Protector Here was the first stone of Jericho laid again Now did they set themselves from that very day to build again the things they had destroyed How far and how fast the World recovered again after this in the space of five years I think can hardly be paralell'd by the Declensions of any time though some were to the last so * Of which number the Author confesseth himself to be one foolish as to hope the Protector did but put on a Disguise in all these Complyances with worldly Interest and that he would when he saw his opportunity throw off this Mantle and come forth in his own true Spirit which was hoped was to exalt Jesus Christ in the head of all If therefore it be demanded why we did not lift up our voice sooner and restify against this Apostacy in the life-time of his late Highnes The Answer is ready That with great longsuffering we did wait hoping better things looking ever when the Scene would change especially in every Crisis of Affairs the Lord hiding these dark Counsels from many untill the event and issue declared them of what sort they were But now God hath made them so manifest that he that runs may read and it is that which is due to his works to take notice of them and to sanctifie his Name which is holy in them Object But if the Kingdome of Christ was indeed at the door and come to the
for very vanity If it be not in this spirit in vain is all the tugging of our friends in Parliament though I would not discourage any honest and righteous spirit to be holding up the bucklers against oppression and slavery upon an honest account Yet I fear me nay I see and I see with joy that the day is gone down upon the head of man in his highest Activity wherein he boasts himself The Princes of Zoan are become fools through our laying too much stresse on them It is another spirit that must bring salvation a spirit that is true indeed that was never false a spirit that cannot lye nor deceive that cannot be corrupted A spirit that hath overcome the World And I hope this spirit is taking the work into his own hand in this day CHAP. VII Containing a brief Recapitulation of some principal Heads and the Conclusion of the whole TO sum up all briefly and clear up more distinctly what hath bin in general hinted Whosoever is able rightly to discern past affaires will see there was a double Cause set on foot amongst us viz. the Cause of God and the Cause of these Nations which most have had some notion of but few have adequately described or rightly distinguished them only have admitted the Interest of Spiritual as well as Civil liberties But certainly the Cause of God must needs be higher larger of nearer concerr of greater consequence than the Cause of the Nation though that be great as the Soul is more noble than the body and the Creator to be preferred before the Creature The Cause of God like the Heavens waters with its dew cherishes with its influence embraces in its Arms and bosome the Natural Rights and Liberties of men as its Earth and Spouse in a subserviency and usefulness to the illustration of its own bounty and glory The Heavens are independent on the Earth not so the Earth on the Heavens The Cause of God needs not us but we receive all our vigor and blessing from it 2. As there were two Causes so there were two people or sorts of men that were drawn forth to serve them some upon a Natural and Civil account only having a just resentment of the languishing state of their Civil and Natural Rights and Liberties and others upon a higher account as being sensible of the sad condidition we were in as to spirituall affairs by the Ecclesiastical Taskmasters 3. These 2 Causes and their Adherents went hand in hand together in a joynt socious way the cause of God the cause of the Nation The People of God were concerned in both Causes and contributed to both not only their lives and fortunes as we call them in common with the Nation but besides and above them their Faith their Prayers their Comforts their Experiences all their Interest in God and in the Promises for the promoting of both and this not only out of love to themselves and their own particular concerns but in love to the Nation and in duty and faithfulness to God whereby the Cause of the Nation in some sense became to them the Cause of God though always the distinction and subordination preserved The Cause of God consists of two parts the one outward and visible such as is the object of the Natural Man's discerning viz. Freedom from outward violence and persecution in the externall exercise of Religion and the worship and service of God which because of things that relate to God may in a large sense be called the Cause of God but in respect of the Subjects of these Liberties which are all Men or every Nation of men they are but Natural Rights such as every sort of Men and Religions whether true or false do challenge and expect for every Nation will walk in the Name of their God This part of the Cause of God is but as the outward Court which the Gentiles may come into and tread down and is such an Interest as may be playd fast or loose withall by the Owners if they hold it only on the tearms of a Natural Right according as its makes with or against their Ruling worldly Interest or Concerns whether it be profit or honour as hath been too too manifest in these days which hath made so many go back from those Principles in this kind which once they abetted and contended for The other part of the Cause of God is wholly spiritual and so invisible to that Eye that is only natural though ever so enlightned even in the Letter of the Scripture it self and is exprest by the Apostle to consist in the deliverance of the whole Creation from the bondage of Corruption into the glorious liberty of the Children of God It is the delivering up all to God the subjecting of all to him which is the true liberty of the creature and this delivering up to God is not to Him as the head of the first Creation exercising his Rule by natural Light or Principles but as the Head of the New Creation by Christ risen from the dead exercising a far higher and better Rule in the New Creature which though it have for its Subject Matter the same things that are found in the Rule of the Natural or Moral Conscience viz. All External righteousness Religion and worship yet it hath them upon another account that is on other grounds and to other ends and over and besides them it subjects the Mind in all its operations in these to the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus whereby the Creature is brought forth in newness of operation with Christ not seeking its own glory but the glory of its Head as Christ seeks the glory of his Father And this true spiritual and glorious liberty where it is brought forth in any soul is such an interest as cannot be disposed of or parted with by its possessor or made to serve but disposes of all things in that soul to the service of the Lord seeking alwaies to do the things that please Him not being able to do any thing against the Truth but for the Truth Thus those whom the Son makes free are free indeed and abide in the house for ever and never prove false nor turn their backs upon God or that that is his interest and glory Every other Spirit is corruptible and the Rule and Law of its walking is uncertain and variable may be turned this way or that way as worldly Interest or advantage swayes but though every man be a lyar yet God is true and cannot deny himself and so are they true that are thus born of him and become one Spirit with him by the spiritual slaying and crucifying of that life in them which is subject to chaxges and may be corrupted bribed and bought off from its Allegiance Had all that took upon them the defence of our Cause been of this Spirit we should never have had cause to have complained of the betraying and deserting of it But