This for the PARLIAMENT, COUNSEL, And the Officers of the ARMY Of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland; In patience to read and consider, Eccle. 7. 8, 9 Hag. 1. 5.  
Being that the servants of the Lord are to finish their true and faithful Testimony against the world, as the Lord shall move them so to do, who live and move in him, that so they may finish their course with joy; And now for this end and purpose have I ● given forth this my Testimony, that I might be found doing the Will of God, whom I serve in the Spirit of his Son, not knowing but that my service herein may be acceptable to all, or some of you, and if but to one, shall be glad, and if to none, my labour shall not be in vain in the Lord, who is the reward of all them that obey him and diligently seek him.  
Written about the middle of the sixth Month, 1659.  
By a lover of the truth, as it is in Jesus, a late Member of the Army, known by the name of THOMAS DAVENPORT.  
Lament. 3▪ 40. Let us search and try our ways, and turn again unto the Lord.  
LONDON, Printed for Thomas Simmons, at the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate, 1659.   

This for the Parliament, Council, and the Officers of the Army of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, in patience to read and consider, Eccles. 7, 8, 9 Hag. 1. 5.  
FRIENDS,  
THis is the day of the Lords power, wherein the light shineth, and hath most gloriously appeared, and is breaking forth more and more unto the perfect day, being the day of your visitation wherein you have been warned; so that none of you can say that you are ignorant of what you should have done for the Lord, for his Servants have not had their mouths shut, but by the Lord God have been opened to declare unto you their message from the Lord, that you might have been turned from darkness to the light, from the power of Satan to God; and though the most of you have sought by excuses to put it off from you (and made light of it) as a thing not worth taking notice of, and to cover yourselves; yet I say you shall not be covered in this his day, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known; for the word within you is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of your hearts, so that all cover and veils are and shall be rend, and woe be to him that is covered and not with the Spirit of the Lord; and therefore you cannot be cleared before the Lord God, for that which he hath placed in you, as a witness for himself, doth testify against you to your faces, that you have not been faithful to the Lord, to, and in what he hath entrusted you withal, even unto that which he hath made known unto you; therefore is the Lord God coming forth against you, to warn you, and also to plead with you, seeing the cause of his people you have not pleaded, and if deliverance will not come, by you, to his own seed, he will arise to deliver some other way, and break you in pieces as he hath done those that have gone before you, and he will plead the cause of his own dear and tender lambs himself, whom you have neglected to hear; hath not their cause come before you? have not you heard of the oppressions of the Saints, and who it is that oppressed them? are these things come before you, and they not relieved, and power in your hands to do it if you had stood in the Lord's Council? nay, you have been so far from pleading their cause, that you have taken part with them that have been their oppressors, in that you have strengthened their hands that they may continue still to prey upon the servants of the Lord; have not these greedy dogs the Priests (for so the Prophet calls them) which will never have enough? have they not been tearing in pieces, and spoiling and persecuting the Saints, declaring of what generation they are born, after the flesh, fulfilling the Scripture, for as it was, even so is it now; and are they not upheld by a Law formerly made by the Pope? and now upheld by you, nay worse, in that triple damage is established? and some have sheltered themselves under this, and have taken four or five fold, and others almost all that poor men have, having no regard to wife or children; such is their cruelty to satisfy their beastly lusts; and you having no more regard to preserve the Nation; Therefore it is just that the sword should come upon you, in that such a generation as this is now upheld by you, who are ready▪ (in all Plots and Conspiracies laid to shed innocent blood) to have their hands in them, and against yourselves, as at this day doth appear, which is all the reward you get from them at the best, which is less than to have your Souls devoured; And hath not the Lord overturned them that went before you, whose hands were found in these things which you uphold? and do you think to prosper whilst you uphold such oppression, contrary to what your covenant and promise was openly, and in secret before the Lord? Now let that of God in your own Consciences judge, whether this be right in the sight of God, and whether in this the Good Old Cause be maintained, or bondage continued (in stead of liberty) for tender Consciences? Now if you mind not your Covenant made to the Lord, as they minded not that went before you, whom the Lord hath overturned, the same shall overturn you and bring you down, if you walk in their steps; this was their iniquity, and is yours now to uphold such things, as namely, Tithes, which the Lord Jesus the second Priesthood by his coming in the flesh hath put an end unto, he abiding a Priest for ever, who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life; now the Priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change of the whole Law; I say, it was their sin and is yours now to uphold them; and shall not the iniquity of the wicked destroy them? Surely it shall, if they turn not from it and repent; now let that of God, which is just in you all, make answer; if the Lord should throw you down, and there should come to reign over you (you returning and becoming faithful to the Lord in what you knew) and for Conscience sake towards God could not submit unto such things as should be imposed on you, would you be dealt so with yourselves? would you have your goods spoiled, and your bodies cast into prison, into dungeons and holes? would you be whipped, stocked and stoned for that you could not do, because of the fear of the Lord? and would you Judge it a Just & Righteous thing in them, who had power to restrain your persecutors & would not? and is it a Just and Righteous thing that we should pay them wages that do no work for us? or would you have us to pay wages to other men's servants? nay, would you have the servants of the Lord to pay them wages who serve not the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies, who are enemies to the Son of Righteousness in that service they do, seeking to turn men from the true Light, and so shuts the Kingdom against men, and will neither go in themselves, nor suffer them that are entering to go in, which Christ cries woe against? Now can ye friends and servants of the Lord uphold such as these (and now let that of God in you all judge, whether you be his servants that uphold them?) shall not we rather with the Prophets, Christ and the Apostles bear our Testimony against them, who have said, The watchmen are all blind and ignorant, all of them dumb dogs and greedy, which can never have enough, and shepherds that cannot understand, they all look to their own way, every one for his own gain from his Quarter, like beasts of the field that seek to devour; and also the Prophet cryeth out, Mine heart is broken within me, because of the Prophets, all my bones shake, for both the Prophets and Priests are profane; yea, in mine house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord; I have seen also in the Prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing, They commit adultery, and walk in lies, they strengthen also the hands of the evil-doers, that none do return from his wickedness, for from the Prophets is profaneness gone out into all the land▪ and saith the Prophet, There is a conspiracy among the Prophets like roaring Lions, ravening the prey, they have devoured Souls, her Priests have violated my Law, and have profaned my Holy things, they have put no difference between the Holy and profane, neither have they shown difference between the unclean and the clean; and may not the same Testimony be born against the Priests of England, now in this his day by the Servants of the Lord? and the Lord Jesus calls them Pharisees, Hypocrites, and cries woe against them that go in long robes, and loves the uppermost rooms at Feasts, and the chief seats in the Synagogues, and greeting in the Markets, and love to be called of men Master, Master; and saith he, ye shall know them by their fruits, their hearts they have exercised with covetous practices, witness their cruel persecutions, & that they have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray following the way of Balaam, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but these are worse, for he durst not take it; and saith the Prophet, Put into their mouths and they will speak Peace to them; but these are worse, for those that have upheld them, and put into their mouths, they are preparing War against them; and if you say they are not all such, to wit, the Ministers, so called; I s; were, though some of them have put on a thicker covering, and their deceit, to them who are out of the Light of the Body which is the single eye, cannot be discerned, yet in the pure Light of God are they all seen and made manifest to be of the same nature, root and ground, for there is no difference among them, who brings not the doctrine of Christ, and being out of the faith that purifieth the heart, are driven out from the presence of the Lord God with Cain who was a murderer, and slew his Brother, and wherefore slew he him? because his works were evil and his Brothers good; but behold, the Lord is against all false prophets, priests and ministers, that steals my Word every one from his Neighbour, and use their tongues and say, He saith it, when the Lord hath not spoken unto them; the Lord will require it at their hands. Now be you warned from the Lord God of Heaven and Earth, that ye do not hold them up in their deceits, for this I declare from the Lord God of Heaven and Earth, that that which helpeth, and they that are helped shall fall together, for a witness I am for the Lord God, knowing the terror of the Lord, whose wrath is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, and unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of man that doth evil, for there is no respect of persons with God.  
And if you say, we will not be subject to the higher Power, but slight Magistrates and will give them no honour, nor yield obedience to the Laws of the Land, which ye Magistrates are bound to uphold.  
I answer, We are subject to the higher Power, for there is no power but of God, and to that Power which is of God we are subject, unto which all must bow, of things both in Heaven and Earth; and because we are subject to the higher Power, and for Conscience sake cannot resist the power which is the Ordinance of God, therefore it is that we suffer by them who are out of the Power, and will not be subject to it; and to all Magistrates are we subject, who are the Ministers of God for good, who Rule in, and by the Power, unto which all are to be subject for Conscience sake; but to those who are out of the Power, unto which all are to be subject for Conscience sake, and have set by another in their own wills which is of the Prince of the power of the air, to that for Conscience sake we cannot obey, but for Conscience sake towards God bear our Testimony against it, by our sufferings for the truth's sake, and otherwise as we are moved of the Lord, for we cannot be subject but for the Lords sake; And for the laws you maintain contrary to Christ, for Conscience sake towards God, you are not bound to maintain them, for that which binds here, is in the will of man; therefore are you bound by the Will of God and for Conscience sake to throw them down, and so to break the bonds of wickedness, that the oppressed may go free, that so you may be established in maintaining the righteous Law of God, that ye may become a blessing to these Nations, which if ye refuse, ye will become a curse.  
And for honouring the persons of the Magistrates with hat and knee, or the persons of any men, that we deny, and what honour can they expect who are not vessels of honour but of dishonour, being not purged from these things, and so not fit for their Master's use? Now whether ye be such, let that of God in all your Consciences, which cannot lie, judge, or whether you have gone from that which is truly honourable, and is that, in all, which is to be honoured? And those that comes to this, neither honour nor respects men's persons, nor honour one of another, but seeks the honour woh cometh from God only, which will slain the glory of all flesh; now as the Lord requires, have we honoured all, for our love hath wrought unto all men without respect of persons, that all might come to the knowledge of the truth, that they might be saved and redeemed from their vain conversations, even from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God; and hath not the mouths of the servants of the Lord been opened towards you in dear love to your Souls and bodies, to warn you to repent and turn from that which will be your ruin, if you turn not betimes unto the Lord? and have not the servants of the Lord been made free (for the seeds sake which is in you and among you, which most of you have not owned) to discover to you the Plots of your enemies that are intending to devour some of you (which had you stood in the Council of the Lord, had been under your feet, trodden on by you the dust, for such honour have all the Saints) and had not this been greater honour to you then the putting off the hat, and to give you flattering titles, which your enemies would do, if they came before you while mischief were in their hearts against you; though when such have come to some of you, to show love in making known your enemies, because they could not put off the hat and give you flattering titles, you would not suffer to come into the room to you; Is not this a shame that such a thing as this should be, when Jesus Christ hath denied and shuts them out from the Faith, which have it but in respect of persons? I say, that such a thing as this should be held up by them who profess to believe in the Name of Christ Jesus, who hath said, I receive not honour from men; And how can ye believe that receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour which cometh from God only? But saith he, They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God, therefore came ruin to themselves, and the Nation both. Now I say to you all, be you warned from the Lord God, that ye consider these things betime, and turn not from the Council of the Lord (which that of God in all your Consciences, if you take heed unto it) will make manifest to you, that ye perish not in your gain saying.  
This have I written in dear love to all your Souls, that the time and opportunity, put into your hands, may be by you faithfully improved, for the carrying on of the Lords work in this his day, as that of God in all your Consciences shall make manifest unto you, and whether you will hear or forbear I am clear of you all, having dealt plainly with you in the sight of the Lord God, who am a Friend to all men without respect of persons, for the seeds sake. T. D.  
THE END.