A REMARKABLE LETTER OF MARY howgil TO OLIVER CROMWELL, CALLED PROTECTOR.  
A Copy whereof was delivered by herself to His own hands some Months ago, with Whom she had Face to Face a large Discourse thereupon.  
UNTO WHICH Is Annexed a Paper of Hers directted to the Inhabitants of the Town of DOVER.  
LONDON, Printed, and are to be sold at the black Spread-Eagle at the West-end of Paul's. 1657.   

To thou OLIVER CROMWELL.  
WHen thou wast a Soldier for the Lord, thou wast low, and little in thine own eyes; then thou remembredst the Lord, and stood in his fear, and he was thy strength; but now thou art in thy own strength, and hast forgot that time: I say, thou hast denied the Lord God, and thy own law with the pride of thy own heart; and the pride of thy heart is now acting all manner of cruelty against them who are in the fear of the Lord.  
When thou wast low, the Lord was thy strength, but now thou hast departed from him, and thy strength is in man; thou hast trusted in the arm of flesh, and not in God; thou hast chosen the glory of this world, and art as a stinking dunghill in the sight of God; thou hast shut thyself out of the kingdom, and them who are in the kingdom, all manner of evil is done and acted to them in thy name; and so thou hast strengthened all the wicked, and in stead of serving the Lord, thou hast served thy own glory, and thy own pleasures, and thou art going on in all thy power; but verily him whom thou once served, which thou now art turned from, he will overtake thee, for thou hast almost filled up thy measure; many fair things hast thou promised to them whom the Lord is their strength, but they see thee, and all thy subtlety: For verily, hast not thou suffered in thy name (whose name is Oliver Lord Protector) many bloody actions to be done in thy name? And he that protects thee now is unrighteous Mammon, and so him that is our Protector will rule thee, to him must thou bow, for verily the law of God shall overturn thee: And when thou hast filled up thy measure in thy cruel bloody actions, who hast suffered the innocent to be persecuted, yea unto death; and some hath suffered stoning and sore bruising.  
Therefore in the name of the Lord God, whom we serve, and whom once thou trustedst in, verily, I say unto thee, thy condition above all men is most lamentable; for them who are born again, and witness a new birth in him, whom we receive tribute from; we are all soldiers against all sin and deceit, and have overcome death, hell, and the grave; and being of them who partake of the Resurrection of Christ, the second death hath no power over. And so in the power of God we all stand to follow the Lamb wherever he goes, and so we follow the Lord in the new generation. But I say unto thee, thou hast forgot thy promise, and what the Lord did for thee, when he gave thee victory over unreasonable men.  
Woe is me for thee, that ever thou shouldest departed from that of God that was once in thee, and hast trusted in the arm of flesh, and so thou art one with them whom once thou foughtest against! For there is that in thy conscience will let thee see thou art one with a proud man, one with a drunken man, one with a covetous man, and one with all them that are in the evil, the light in thy conscience will let thee see all these things; for verily, that in thee which should have brought forth fruit unto God, hath brought forth nothing but wild grapes, brambles, briers, and thorns; and Crown 〈◊〉 which thou hast now is nothing but thorns.  
Oh! thou hadst better had the Angels to have guarded thee, and the Lord to have protected thee, then to have trusted in the arm of flesh.  
For verily his Son is brought forth in them who have believed in his name, and all the Angels shall worship him: But thou hast crucified the Son of God, and hast chosen thy own way, and thy own strength, and thou art one with all them who are set against Christ; for verily I say unto thee, he will overtake thee when thou hast filled up thy measure; for he who is Lord of heaven and earth, is ready to deliver thee into the hands of thy enemies within and without; for I say unto thee, thy way is now darkness, and thou hast turned thy back on him who is all our strength and light, in whose strength, I tell thee, thou hast even owned him who is the god of this world, and the glory of the world is thy portion and delight, and that which is of another world is crucified by thee.  
Oh! my heart is sad for thee, that ever thou shouldest be found where thou art; many true messengers the Lord hath sent to thee for the good of thy soul; but thou wouldst not lend thy ears to them, and so thou must have no peace with them; for them who would have loved thy soul, thou wouldst not hear, and the soul is more worth than the glory of this world. But verily thou must have thy portion amongst them who are in their own glory; for we who know the Lord, and have found him whom our souls loved, our glory is not of this world, nor in our own glory, nor in our own strength, but in the Lord our God, who is our glory, and hath crowned us with his everlasting glory, and we stand in his glory, and in his power, and so we stand in the righteousness of God, who hath brought us into the innocence, and in that we know our being and our habitation with the Lord, and with him to reign for evermore; for them who suffer with him shall reign with him. But thou, where thou standest, thy reign shall be but for a time, for misery and great condemnation shall be thy portion, and all them who have forgotten the Lord our God; for we have the Lord to be our strength, and thou who acts against him, the time is come that we are justified, and with him that justifies us shalt thou be condemned, and thou shalt know that thou hadst better that thy tongue had been cloven to the roof of thy mouth, ere these things had been acted in thy name (we are kept in perfect peace) And them who hav● suffered to death in prison, their blood, yea the blood of the innocent sha●● be required of thee, whom the Lord set in the place, but thou hast departed from that place; and so thou dost not, nor canst not bear rule for God, but against him; but he is coming upon thee, whom thou hast acted against, which thou shalt know, and all thy gallant glory will he bring down; for no flesh shall glory in his presence, for dreadful will he be to thy glory, even him whom thou hast crucified, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world: I say unto thee in the name of the Lord, whom we all know, and for whom we are a witness against thee, this shall witness for us; for thou must have condemnation with the light which thou hast turned from, which witness is in thy conscience, which thou once wast in, and heard speak, and breathed after the Lord, and many dear servants of God have warned thee of thy earthly glory; the Lord did send me once before now to thee, for the good of thy soul, and I could have done any thing once for thee, for the seeds sake, that thou mightst have known the way of truth; but thou hast counted us all of small worth.  
Woe is me for thee, that thou canst not see him whom thou hast pierced, nor canst lay it to heart what thou hast done.  
I told thee once before, that thou hadst crucified the Lamb of God, and trodden the blood of the new Covenant under thy feet, and counted it a vain thing: Thou askedst me once what it was; and I told thee the blood of Christ cleansed from all sin, and his water washed, and his Spirit made alive; but thou couldst not receive these things, for all the cry that thou couldst hear which was in thee; for verily I say, thou couldst not hear, but hast hardened thy heart; for the righteous hath cried to thee for righteousness sake but it could not be heard, neither in thyself, nor in others; and all that ever thou didst do for God is now in vain, for thou hast now chosen thy own way, and so the cry could never be heard, how the righteous hath cried for righteousness sake, that they might have had Justice in the Land, that many a one might have worshipped God without any disturbance.  
Thou hast suffered thy soldiers, which are in the abomination with thyself, to disturb peaceable meetings, and to hale men to prison: Thou hast many colours for thy deceit, but thou hast none for these men which were met peaceably together; for violently they came amongst them with their horses, and acted violently, by treading amongst simple and harmless people.  
Oh! what shameless things are done in thy name, and by thy authority? yea verily the righteous spirit of God is grieved with thee: And all these things shalt thou know; for all the cunning and subtleties of thy heart is seen and known by them who are come into the everlasting spirit: And when thou givest account or all those actions which have been acted by thee, and in thy name, and by thy power, oh what a day will it be with thee! For as my soul lives, these things shall be laid all to thy charge: And for us, whom the Lord hath redeemed from the vainglory of the world, and hath graffed us into himself, he will plead our cause, yea the righteous cause of himself, and he will make thee an example to all great ones in the world; and when that day comes upon thee, thou shalt me remember, that thou wast warned of all thy evil  
By a Lover of thy soul, whose name in the flesh is MARY howgil  
This in one of its first Copies was delivered to Oliver Cromwel's own hands by the Author herself, at or about the eighth day of the fourth month 1656. about ten a clock at night, with whom thereupon she had much discourse.   

TO all you Disputers at Dover, and all other Towns in the County of Kent, who, some of you, would have a threefold Light, and you are disputing with that which is darkness; neither can you come to the true Light which is in God, because you are shut up in darkness, and cannot understand the things of God, but by your darkness and dispute calls good evil, and evil good: How is it that you refrain in darkness, but because you hate the Light which should bring you out of darkness. And you Anabaptists, who have another colour, a finer colour for deceit then the Priests of England have, a greater abomination to the Lord▪ in the Light of the Lord you are seen and discovered; you who have ●●●sed yourselves up in that great abomination, which is fornication, you are found in Idolatry, and the mother of that Idolatry is a whore; You who are contending about Water-Baptism, I say, in the Lords Light you and your Baptism is seen by them who are baptised with the true spiritual Baptism, which is, to be baptised with Fire and the Holy Ghost, by one death into one body, which joins to the Lord; and they are not they which joins to the Harlot, nor to the Whore, but they are joined through the death by the Word of God, which baptised into the death, and that Baptism takes sin away: But see what your outward elementary Water-Baptism hath done for you, or what it will, or is able to do for you; you who live in pride and envy, persecuting them who are born again by the word of God, which leads into the Spirit of God; your gay and glorious clothing, it's of yourselves, and of the whorish woman, which hath the cup of abomination in her hand, and you are found in an ill smell, stinking in the nostrils of God: Some of you, I say, are digging and pruning; some of you with your Water-Baptism, and some of you eating bread and drinking wine, and say it is a command of God; but the time is come that your outward Water-Baptism, and Eating and Drinking is seen, and in the light of the Lord you are weighed and tried in the even balance, and you are all found too light, and with the Light are to be condemned; a day of terror will overtake you; a day of sorrow, and all your gallant flesh shall come down, and you shall be laid waste, all you who have exalted yourselves by your own works; it is your own works, and your own ordinances, which hath shut you of the Kingdom of God, and the fear of God you have lost, and are out of the cross of Christ, which you do not know, but have it left behind you, and so the Lord God is coming to make waste all you bvilders of this County of Kent, the Lord God is coming to reckon with you, a day of thunder shall come upon you, and that speedily, which will make your works abomination, for I say you of all people are most lamentable, the righteous Spirit of God is grieved with you, the seed of God is slain by you, which is the seed of the Son, yea the righteous blood is trodden down by you, and that blood are we cleansed by, which is the blood of the Lamb, and them who drink of it, it taketh away all guilt of sin, and there is no sin remaining where guilt is taken away; the Son of God hath redeemed us from all evil, and there is no evil in them who are in the Son; the Angel is flying thorough heaven with the everlasting Gospel, and you who will be washed by outward water see now your blindness; and you who are raking in the Scriptures to find the way to God out, I say you shall not find it there, nor the word of God is not there, for the word of God, which was in the beginning, we who have found it, by it we were led into the way; God and his Word is one, and by his Word we were wounded, & it laid desolate all our own buildings, and by the word of God the Son of God was redeemed, and the true faith in God was witnessed, and that which gave victory over the world is God, and the Word and he 〈◊〉 & so we witness the Scripture fulfilled in us: And some of you asketh questions, whether the reading of the Scripture is of none effect to them who are in the fall? I answer, you have made them of none effect by your 〈◊〉 fallen wisdom, with your pride, who live in all manner of evil, and in the earthly nature, who with the earthly nature crucifies him who gave the Scripture forth; for he gave it forth for a true declaration of the Light, Life, and Way to the Father, which Light, Life, and Way, are the true way to walk by; and you live in all manner of evil, you do not walk according to it, but contrary to it, and so to you it is of none effect; for it is theirs who are learned of the Lord, and are in his fear, they are the Lords, and the Scripture is theirs as they witness them; and the Lord God is ●●●●ming to take vengeance upon you, who will not be warned; yea, I say, he will make you all afraid at his coming, and he will silence all you vain d●sputers; a day of vengeance is coming upon you, the fierce indignation 〈◊〉 the Lord shall overtake you, because of your abominations; for your abominations are so great, that the innocence of God is lost by them, and ●he Lord God is coming to take hold of you all, yea all of you filthy and ●roud Sodomites, who are found in the evil, your gold rings, and counterfeit jewels shall be pulled off, for your jewels are not the true jewels of God: And you who say the Lord will have a willing people, you are ●●ling to the God you serve, even the Prince of the Air; your jewels, 〈◊〉 your willingness, and your filthy garments inwardly and outwardly, the Lord God will destroy, the Lord God will have his own in you, he is appearing, which is stronger than the man of sin in you; a warning to all sorts of Profession which hath no possession, but hath lost the fear of God; he who is the Possession, and the Substance, and Life, and Light, with it you shall be condemned, and then you shall remember your abominations; the Land shall mourn no longer by you; the Lord God with h●s pure righteous Law shall take hold of you, and he shall ease the creation of you; you who have cumbered the ground so long, and have been unfruitful, you have dishonoured your Head, but he who is Head over heaven & earth, I te●l you, will 〈◊〉 down all fruitless trees, and throw them into the fire, and so he will have his own: And you are all hereby warned of your evil, and all your profession will be in vain to you at that day; for the Lord God is righteous, and you unrighteous ones shall me remember that you were warned of all your evil, that you may return while you have time to return; the Law of God shall take hold on you, and the coming of the Son of man shall be like the roaring of a lion; the lions and the bears shall roar, and the earth shall pass away with a great noise; he shall come upon you suddenly, and the end of your work shall be destruction, the power of the Son of God shall all your works destroy.  
Given forth by the Spirit of the Lord against all deceit 7. day the 5. month, 1656. By a true lover of all your souls, who hath a new name given from above, which is not earthly nor carnal as yours are, though 〈◊〉 the outward called MARY HOUGHIL.