THE LABYRINTH the KINGDOM's in: With a golden thread to bring it forth into Light, Liberty, and Peace again.  
BEING A brief but impartial History OF THE Good and Evil of the former, later, and present Power of the Nation, as it relates to GOD and the PEOPLE.  
The Result is a Plea for the Restauration of all in Christ (the Kingdoms Rest,) who is expected to appear more in the present, then in any former Power of the Nation.  
By R. BACON, a Lover of Mankind.  
Obsequium amicos, veritas odium parit. Terent.  
1 Pet. 4.6. For this cause the Gospel is preached to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but saved according to God in the spirit.  
Gal. 2. If I build again the things I have destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.  
LONDON, Printed in the Year, M.DC.XLIX.   

TO THE High Court of justice, so called, Light and Truth, Mercy and Peace.  
Right honourable,  
YOu are in your present proceed a shadow, and but a shadow of good things to come, not the very things themselves; not he that should come, we are yet to look for another, even Christ himself the true anointing, that shall not, as you, judge according to the seeing of the Eye, and hearing of the Ear, but he shall do righteous Judgement upon you, as well as others; I mean, not upon King Charles for All, but King Lucifer in All, King, Parliament, Army, All. This is and hath been the King of the bottomless pit, who hath let in all manner of devils into the Nation to be the torment and trouble of it; his name is therefore in the Hebrew tongue, ABADDON but in the Greek tongue hath his name APOLLYON, and is indeed the great Destroyer of all Good in You, and the whole Kingdom: I give my vote to the slaughter of this King.  
I have but two things more to say to You (and say it I may (I hope) without offence, for I intent none, neither do I say it after, or to serve, or please, men, but God,) as they said to Christ, By whose Authority do you do these things? or who gave you this Authority? or as Christ said to them of John, Is it from heaven, or of men? If You say, it is of men, than you yourselves are witnesses against yourselves, that you tread in the steps (i. e. are living in the same principle) of those that went before you, and do as they did, judge that evil in others, which you have not yet overcome (in the principle of it) in yourselves: Let therefore he that is among you, without this fault, throw the first stone. But if you say, it is from Heaven, let it appear by your doing the works of your father which is in heaven: This we will believe, when we shall see you do that which none others did before you, that is to say, when you shall do good for evil; not only love those that love you, but those too (not their evil) that hate you, and despitefully use you: Let your rain of goodness descend, and your Sun of righteousness shine, upon the Just, for their Justification, and the unjust, for their Clarification, and Restoration: Then shall we set to our seal, that you are that you expect to be, 
* As Cyrus was said to be.  The Christ of God, the anointed of the Lord, for the saving, healing, and restoring of the Land; to which God and all good men say, Amen.  
The aberrations from, and the walking after, the light of this star, this anointing, by King, Parliament, Army, is the subject of this Discourse, with all Christian submission, put into your hands,  
By R. BACON, Who, in his sphere, seeks the good of all.   

The Labyrinth the Kingdom is in; With a golden Thread to bring it forth into LIGHT, LIBERTY, and PEACE again: Being an impartial History, of the Good and Evil of the former, later, and present Power of the Nation, as it relates to God, and the People.  

CHAP. I.  
Of the height, and fall of the King, and his Party, together with the cause, and manner how.  
THe King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, so is his title, at least so it was in times past, being through Flattery, Oppression, Superstition, Ignorance, and the like, lifted up in himself and over the Nation, and all orders and estates of men, and consciences therein; yea, above all that was, or is, truly called God among men; so that he said in his heart, and all that were heightened by, and took up their rest in, this great and tall Cedar, as sometime the King of Assyria did, I will ascend above the heights of the cloud; I will be like the most high: that is, as wise, as strong, as great as he: Or as did that other great and mighty Poter●ate, we read of in Daniel▪ reflecting upon his own glory, and the works of his own hands, boasted himself before God and men, saying interpretatively, and in the account of both, Is not this great Babel, which I have built, for the honour of my Majesty? for the spreading of my glory, and for a lasting rest, and tabernacle to me, and mine to all future ages?  
§. 2. No sooner was this, thus in his ignorance of God, gone forth of the mouth of him, and his, but there appeared written upon the wall of this his, and their so great, but carnal Confidence, by the invisible and irresistible hand of God, (which only then, and now, the daniel's of the Kingdom were able to read and interpret,) MENE, MENE, TEKEL UPHARSIN. This is now not only Prophetically, but that which is come to pass, easily to be interpreted by every one that passeth by, or goeth in and out, this Kingdom; so that every man may see, and understand this to be the interpretation of the thing, or hand writing. Mene, God hath numbered thy Kingdom (taken a note of all the particular vanities, follies, cruelties therein,) and finished it, in respect of the glory, pride, and vanity, it now is, and hath been in. Tekel, Thou art weighed in the balances (of God and man) and art found too light. Peres, divisit, God hath divided it from thee, and thee from it; or divided it into several pieces, and smaller parts and parcels: so that one hath one part, and another hath another: First, the Irish take one piece; then the Scots take another; and the English take the last, or rather the first and best, and they too, divide it among themselves, and strive who, shall have the better part, or the whole of it.  
Sect. 3. Thus the King, in this way and confidence of his, and those that had stretched themselves with him, upon this bed of rest, which they have now found, by woeful experience, is too short for them; I say he and they have found that come upon them (at the Call and Command of God) which sometime the Land of Judah did, yea, that very voice of God hath thundered in their ears, houses, and among their friends and estates, as sometime did among that people, and that in these very words, or to this very purpose, He, the Lord hath, lifted up an Ensign (for God set up his Standard first against the King, before the King (in a way of open War) set up his Standard against the Parliament, or People; the Ensign is lifted up of God, and given for a sign to the Nations; first, to the Irish; then, to the Scots; and lastly (though not first in a way of open War) to the English: all of them standing still in times past, and so seeming (as to the shaking of the King's rest and glory) afar off, (though some keen and quicksighted men had a view in God, of all this before it came:) they all obey his Call, and come forth against him and his with exceeding speed, God saying of them, none of them shall be weary, nor stumble among them; none shall slumber, or sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, till they have brought to pass his Act, his strange Act, nay, not so much as the latchet of their shoes be broken, to show that all lets and hindrances should be taken out of the way, that the Council of God might take place, whose arrows are sharp, every one piercing to the heart of King, Queen, Bishops, etc. and all their bows bend, men still in readiness to second and supply one affrightment with another: their horses hoofs shall be, saith God, counted like a flint, that every march and preparation of calamity against him might succeed; the wheels of their Carriages and Ammunition like whirlwind, all being always in a readiness to annoy him. Their roar shall be like a Lion, (as the King hath found,) they shall roar like young Lions; yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it; as it hath come to pass in all those great Engagements that have been against the King; and therefore saith the Text, Isaiah 5. Vers. 30. In that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea, (against the prevailing, mighty, proud waves thereof there is no standing out;) And if one of that way, or that engagement, look unto the Land, or any part of it, behold darkness and sorrow, or disappointment, and the light of this Kingly glory, or glorious Kingdom, opposed now to the Coming, and Kingdom of God (which yet they themselves, in blindness, and in a way of tradition, prayed for,) I say all that light and glory is darkened, and eternally eclipsed in the heavens thereof, that is to say, in the firmament of it, which was the persons of the King, Queen, Nobles, and all those either birds or beasts, that had taken up their shelter under the shadow of this great tree, which by the Commandment of the Watcher, or strict Observer of all things and Kingdoms, even the holy One of Israel, that for Israel's sake, never slumbreth or sleepeth, is now felled down.  
Sect. 4. The King, to prevent, or rather to occur, and make resistance against this inundation, or flood of Fears, and troubles, flowing in upon him, threatening the overshadowing, yea the total ruin of this Babel, that was so glorious in his, and others eyes, endeavours first the upholding it with the wit and policy of his Friends and Favourites, and his own personal affronts, and discountenancing, yea, openly, as in the Parliament House, menacing, especially the heads of that party, or sort of men, from whence his expectation of fear did come; but though this was effectual, to the casting down many Stars, that seemed to be more fixed in the Firmament of the People's expected Rights, and Freedoms; yet the opposition, made against the other, was so far from blunting the edge of their affections, then, to the Public, and proceed against the corrupt interest of the King and Bishops, etc. that they by opposition multiplied, and were so much the more fortified, and united against him; so that these bricks of policy, and swordless, or bloodless opposition, made against the Power prevailing against, and feared by the King, being fallen down: He speeds into the North, and there is resolved to build with hewn stones, and though the Sycamores had failed him, and his hope in them, yet now minds to make further trial, and change them into Cedars; sets up his Standard, and makes Proclamation among the Gentiles, men of loser and more apparent, corrupt, and evil lives, and so appearing more remote than others from the knowledge and fear of God, and thus calls upon these Mountains to cover him from the wrath of the Lamb, who now appeared to sit on the throne of God against him; to these in all Countries he says, Prepare ye War, wake up the mighty men in all parts; Let all the men of War draw near, to the King, and come up to his defence: Beat your ploughshares into swords, your pruning hooks into spears: Let the weak say, I am strong: Let none deny his assistance of Money, Plate, Horse, Arm●.  
§. 5. Thus the King, and all the fading, worldly glory, and cream of the Nation, being embodied into a potent, and resolute Army, marches up and down like a swift Dromedary, traversing her ways, or as the same Prophet speaks, like a wild Ass Colt used to the Wilderness, which no hand had yet meddled with, and therefore snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure, or according to the desire of her heart, as though none could turn her out of the way, so that all they that go to seek her for the use of man, do even make weary themselves, as though it were bootless to pursue after her any more; as was indeed the case of the King, and those with him, who had led at sundry times after so many fights, and frights, his and their pursuers (as they say,) such a dance, that they were weary and wasted, and even ready and upon the matter willing to give over; they said once and again as David, We shall one day perish by the hands of this Saul, the fierce and first King of that, but (as some say) the last of this our Israel: but as the wild Ass is taken and made tame in her month, so that a child may lead her, so after a while this Army, and mighty gathering together of men of War, become bedrid, and are taken as a wild bull in a net; so that to every child is now given to play on the hole of this Asp, and the weaned child, to put his hand on this Cockatrice den.  
§. 6. 
A digression, by way of lamentation for the many slain.  Which though I so express in the language of the Scriptures, they being such to some upon a true account, yet I acknowledge them upon another, to be men of might, and great renown, and therefore am so far from writing this as rejoicing at their fall, that I hardly do it but with weeping eyes, and a heavy heart, and am ready to lament with David over them as he did over Saul and Jonathan his son, The beauty of Israel is slain upon the high places, how are the mighty feign, tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askhelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice. Ye Mountains of Gilboah (ye the several places, Cities, Hills, Plains, and Valleys) let there be on you no dew, neither let there be rain any more upon you, that there spring not up from you, by virtue of any moisture, or blessedness upon you from above, as it were from the seeds of the many slain upon you, to beget a resurrection of another War; and the like dreadful slaughter of men, and inhabitants, the flower of this Nation, For how were the mighty slain there in the midst of Battle. O Jonathan, thou noble Brooks, thou noble, but misguided Faulkland, how wast thou slain! and many others, famous in their Generation, both on the one side and on the other, how were and are the mighty fallen, and the Weapons of War perished!  
§. 7. But to return; after some few years, and in this manner, this Mountain of pride, oppression, vainglory, superstition, and cruelty, is melted with the blood of those many thousand slain, for it is the day of the Lords vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversies of Zion; And therefore it is as to them and the Kingdom they sought to uphold, that the streams thereof, that is to say, all the means of their refreshing, is turned into pitch, and matter, and fuel only fit and prepared for the fire, and this fire shall not be quenched night nor day, but it shall burn continually, yea the smoke thereof shall go up for ever and ever, from Generation to Generation, it shall be waist; it shall never again be called from the dead, none shall pass through it any more, it shall only be for the Cormorant and the Bitter●e, the Owl also and the Raven shall dwell there; for God bathe stretched out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness; they shall call for the Nobles thereof to come to the support of this Kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her Princes shall be and are become nothing. Thorns shall come in their Palaces: they shall afford them nothing but vexation, yea there shall be found in them, and in their Land of delight, only such of the creatures Ziim and Jiim, the Satyrs, the Vultures and the Owl, whose place is the Wilderness and deserts not inhabited: those Puritans and Roundheads, of whom before there was little or no appearance in the Land, for their abiding was as it were in the Wilderness, and their presence was as strange as ghastly, and as much affrighting in times passed to the multitude, especially to the rulers of the Nation, as are those birds and beasts that dwell in such solitary places, to such as are unacquainted with them: so that the Wilderness and the solitary place, such was the state of those rejected by the King and Bishops, shall be glad for them, and that desert shall rejoice and begin to blossom as a rose.   

CHAP. II.  
How the corrupt principles of the King & Bishops begin to fructify, and spring up again in the Parliaments and Synods of both Kingdoms.  
§. 1. BUt to take up all (I intent) as I go. This rose began first to be nipped in the bud, even before the forenamed desolation of the forementioned State of men came to that height, both intended of God (though not then purposed of men) and since accomplished, and brought to pass through the overruling power of God, by men: And that after this manner and on this wise: that old Serpent the Devil and Satan, the head even of the King and his Bishops, or followers, respecting the whole, though not all the particulars or wholly, being now by the mighty hand of God, wonderfully bruised and broken, and laid even half dead, as a hopeless, useless, hurtless thing, which thing came to pass about the time of the King's escape from Oxford to the Army in the North, and this came to pass thus, the old Serpent, of which I made mention even now (not intending the King's person, which I did reverence and love, but the evil reigning in him, and others of his side and way, which I make mention of by the way, that I may not provoke any man, professing myself one that seeks unfeignedly the good of all) brood's as I may so speak, upon the seeds of it, both in the Scots, and English Parliaments & Armies, so that it might be said to the better part of both, that sought after freedom and rest in God in the Land, in truth, and thought that that had been the time of their joy, and rest, yet there was said to them, as to the Palestine of the West, as in the Prophet Esa. ch. 14. 29. Rejoice not thou whole Palestine (though some of them did) because the rod of them that smote thee is broken, for out of the Serpent's root, shall come forth a Cockatrice (or Adder, or the serpent renewed) and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent, more subtle, swift, fierce, or as the Scripture speaks, the piercing Serpent, even Leviathan that crooked, and ●very ways turning serpent, lifting up his head, and living again even in our bosom, the Parliament; For being even to death nipped with the frost, and cold, the Winter of adversity, and disappointment of the King and Bishops, is now taken by these merciless, merciful men into their bosom, where receiving warmth and strength, he gins to grow strong and vigorous, not only in them, but to live and rise again in them, the Kings own party in whom he seemed as to outward hurt, and appearing to be wholly exhausted of life and being, so that this last deceit or Serpent became more deceiving and pernicious than the former, yea the Serpent is now turned Dragon; every Dragon is a Serpent, but every Serpent is not presently a Dragon, the Dragon than is Serpens annosus, the old Serpent, though in a new skin, a new and another better, though a more deceiving appearance, as having eaten up other Serpents, a deceit that hath (to make it the more deceiving) swallowed up into itself all other more gross, and now discovered deceits, and therefore the more likely to deceive, even as an Angel of Light in the Parliament, and those of their side, though in those of the other party, like a Lion, or a Bear rob of her whelps, or kept long in hunger, as those were, that were made ready to devour Daniel, that they might with greater ravening and appetite, fall again to, and upon their desired prey.  
§. 2. To all which they were prepared, and made ready, by the Scots complying, and committing whoredom with the corrupt principles of the King and Cavaliers, contrary to their Oath, Covenant, and first Engagement; yea, the whole Presbyterian Order, Scotch and English (that I speak nothing of the Independent for the present) like Ahola and Aholibah, she so discovered her whoredoms, and her nakedness, that the mind of God himself is wonderfully, and apparently alienated from her, like as it was from the Episcopal, her elder and first rejected sister, I say first rejected, out of the bed of God; for they like a woman prone to Adultery, have multiplied their whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of their youth, wherein they all knew themselves, and others know it of them, that they had played the harlot in the Land of Egypt, in the state of Egyptian darkness, in the Bishop's days, wherein they bowed the knee to the same Idols they did; so that they have doted, every one upon their paramour of Egypt, whose flesh, as the Prophet speaks, is as the flesh of Asses, and whose issue is as the issue of horses, that is, that which to the full gives content to the unsatiable appetite of carnal and corrupt principled professors; i e. such who notwithstanding their great pretence of Religion, and Reformation, intent nothing but the washing of the outside of the cup and platter, and under a pretence of long prayer, and strict government, devour widow's houses, loving one part of them to be called Rabbi, another domination or tyranny of another kind: building, and setting up (like Jeroboam that made Israel to sin) two Calves, gilded indeed with gold, having for it a glorious pretence of holiness, and conformity to the Scripture, that every thing might come forth from them in the name of jus Divinum; these they set up in Dan and Bethel, 
Dan being in signification, the place of judgement. Bethel the house of God.  one in the place of common justice, corrupting the very principles, and glory of a true and right Magistracy, the other in Bethel, called the Church or house of God, being nothing else but a dead, wooden, weak, worthless Idol, yet done over all with gold, entitled in all the pieces and parcels of it (Directory for Worship, Confession of Faith, Form of Church-Government, Catechism, the mother, and the daughter, the greater and the less) to a justification from the Scripture, Scripture being made now adays to speak to every man's fancy: and thus whiles it was boasted we had arrived in a Land of promise far remote from Romish, Popish, and Episcopal tyranny, and superstition, we were, as now we see, now our eyes are open, led back again as that Army of men was that came to besiege Elisha, brought as it were blindfold, and set down in the midst of Samaria; we find ourselves in the midst of Rome, Egypt, and Babylon; but as it now falls out, in the power and hands too, of those Prophets, these Reformed Romanists had shut up, and besieged, who are now (as many as are such in truth) preparing food and necessaries for those that would have been the slaughter of them.  
§. 4. Thus Aholah was no worse than Aholibah, and Aholibah no better, but of the same complexion and adulterous disposition with Aholah, Judah as Israel, and Israel as Judah, the Presbyters as the Bishops, and the Bishops as the Presbyters, and both as the Papists, for what was said of the one, mutato nomine, might be said of the other; hence it was they loved exceedingly, and longed to be together in one, as appeared by the Scots complying with the King, and that party as yet corrupt: first at Oxford secretly, after at Newcastle, Holmby, London, Hampton Court, Isle of Wight openly; in all which they had the concurrence of the English Presbyter, who together like an imperious whorish woman, open their feet to their Lovers (whom they had courted before in private) upon every mountain and hill, to the apparent view, and discerning of all; so that there is now a marriage made, or a reunion at least, in heart and will betwixt the King and Parliament, Bishops and Presbyters, (which the King observed well enough, and therefore being at the Treaty asked by one of his friends, what he thought of M. Seaman and others, he answered him in the ear, yet so as others heard, why they would be Bishop's man) this union was not in God or in Christ, but in the common enemy of both Satan the Accuser, and destroyer of all good in all, so that the Bishops now lived in the Presbyters, and the Council Table, and other the high Commission, and the Courts Ecclesiastic, Monopoly-men in the Parliament and Synod, and their first borne, their several Committees, so that by this means, a bridge is made for one, to pass over to the other, plain and easy.   

CHAP. III.  
How this present Army appeared first in the light of God, and after that, in the darkness of this world.  
§. 1. BUt Captain, Army, or rather Mr. Agitator, otherwise and since called Leveller steps in (as one late jeeringly writ) and forbids their actual, outward and open coming together, seeing it so illegitimate, and tending so to the prejudise of all, even of the very parties themselves; and to that end whiles the King longs, or rather lusts after the Parliament, and the Parliament after him; This bold, young, manly, and yet fair, and as yet untouched Virgin, at least so in her own account, and in a good measure so in truth, and certainly so in comparison of others (those adulterous women or people I have spoken of hitherto) I mean that honest principle and people in and out of the Army, these (I say) are so bold to demand the King as though they meant a marriage with him, which they did not out of pure love, but to prevent his union with either of the two former, which they judged, as unfit for him, as he for them, and to that end possess themselves of his person, and so in him, or because of him they take the greater boldness, to seize upon the Parliament, whom the King liked better, as being more like him, in disposition, and complexion; and this they did, having the sword, the better end of the staff of power in their own hands, not first at least appearingly, by the approvement, and some think scarce really at all, or at least not till afterwards, and that rather out of necessity, then good will concurred with, and assented unto, by many, if not almost all the heads of the Army; but for one end or another they are now all united as one man, having an evident, and manifest presence of God upon them, they resolve to be his Subjects and servants for the Kingdom's good and peace, and to withstand all without difference opposing it, seeking without respect of persons, the profit and honest interest of all, the King, Queen and Cavaliers not excepted, as appears in their Proposals, and therefore they make addresses to him sometime more open, and sometime more private, that upon his concurring with them, they would prosecute his just and lawful interest, as well as their own, and upon this account they march to London to chastise the follies of the Parliament, and check and put a stop to her unreasonable lustings after the King, and other the onions and garlic of Egypt, as apt to breed evil diseases in them, so that in this they were a reviving to the King and those of his side, who thought but perhaps to attain only to the forbidden tree by them, i. e. to satisfy their own lusts, which yet I will not altogether affirm, but this I do openly profess, and declare, that this overture with the King, was the most hopeful, promising, innocent, candid, and Christian, that ever was made since these troubles began, and the most like to bring forth the wished for peace truth and righteousness, to and for the rest of all the inhabitants of the Nation, without respect of persons; into which, unless the door stand equally open unto all, it is like, nay it will certainly be shut against all, it being the nature of all good men and governments, to give down like the Sun in the firmament, light & warmth as well to the benefit and refreshing of the unjust and unrighteous, (though not for their encouragement, as such, but for their conviction) as the just and righteous, according to the pattern given us in the Mount, which is Christ himself, to whom the Publicans and Harlots, which were outwardly unclean, as that party of people are, which we in ourself justifying language, have and do call Malignants, had as easy and open access as the Scribes and Pharises, which were only outwardly holy and clean, but within were full of rottenness and filth, as the most of those are, on the other side, amongst us that boast of their Saintship and reformation. This sun of righteousness, mercy, and peace, was dawning in that day, I say an appearing of righteousness and peace: of Justice and mercy: for the one without the other is not in God, or Christ, or good men, and therefore where they are divided as for the most part they are brought forth among men, they are not in truth, but in pretence.  
§. 2. And therefore I do utterly dislike the late unreasonable Jewish, Heathenish, unchristian outcry, or clamour for justice to be done upon the person of the King and those of his party; and no mention made of mercy, love, grace, goodness, reconciliation, nor reaching forth the arms, and turning of the bowels of compassion towards him and them; it being certain, the former is not of God without the later; yea, the former without the later, doth but irritate, provoke, and stir up anger, wrath, war and tumults, to the confusion of the Nation. And therefore I affirm again, That that overture with the King, as it was more Christian, so it was infinitely more probable to bring in truth and peace, then is the present course taken, though by the same party and persons.  
SECT. 3. But an eclipse came suddenly upon this Sun, that it set even at noonday upon the whole kingdom, and all the Heads of it, King, Parliament, Army, English and Scots: The common Mother of the good and peace of all being forcibly made to withhold her breasts; her Son, the man-child of all our hope, being taken up to God, and to his throne, ruling yet among men, though in a hidden and secret way: the woman herself (those weak and feeble people) being fain to fly into the wilderness to hid herself, not appearing scarce with any comeliness or beauty at all among men: she hath a place prepared of God, where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time, from the face of the Serpent: that is, (as Paraeus on the Revelation observeth well, a time seeming lon, but proving short.  
SECT. 4. And now, Behold, the Devil is come down again amongst men, having great wrath, reigning, raging working, confounding, darkening the Counsels, of King, Lords, Commons, Bishops, Presbyters, Independents, Anabaptists, Levellers and all; In all whose counsels and projects appeared manifest weakness, error, ignorance; yea, open wickedness and Apostasy in some: The retiring himself for rest, and recovery out of his lost estate, into his old principles, and compliances with his Bishops, and now again beginning to be revived party, who are prepared every one in secret to engage again, and to revive their old and almost crucified Cause; which immediately after broke forth into a more fierce and cruel War, almost in all parts. That which nourished and gave life again to this dying Cause, was apparently, and to the view of all, the triple Apostasy of the Army itself, England's glory, that I say not, England's pride. And I pray God that spirit that is too potent in them, which was both the life and ruin of both King and Parliament, prove not in conclusion both their own and the kingdoms ruin. 1. This Army, this so Saintlike Army fell, first from making good those honest Proposals they had made in the behalf of the King; which gave too much cause to the King and his party to desist from their expectation of salvation, and hope from them, which they had too, beforehand given them just cause to look for from them. 2. They fell from any further concurrence with the honest Agitators, which now they begin violently to oppose; that I say not, exasperated, yea pursue and persecute: witness the strife at Putney, the unrighteous and untrue suggestion that was made of them to the King, as though they intended to lay hands on him in secret, or indeed, at all: which opposition grew to that height and heat, that either side appeared in a way of open war against the other; folly in the one, begetting frenzy and fury in the other: so that the Heads of the Army imprisoned their own persons and errors, in the persons and errors of others; so that they themselves were not free, till they had repent, and set the other as free as themselves. This awakened the Spirit of God in Sedgwick, Saltmarsh, Pinnell, Ingrave, like the Angel of God that met Balaam riding beyond his Commission, openly and professedly to oppose and stand in their way: so that even as the dumb Ass reproved the madness of the Prophet; so at the light of God appearing in these men, the very natural strength and sinews of the Army stood senseless, as a brute amazed animal, not able to go either backward or forward; either back to a compliance with the honest principles of the Agitators, or forward in their acquiescing in the Parliaments Votes and Counsels. Which leads (3) to a discovery of the third degree of their deparure from their faith, hope, and first good purpose: to wit, their hiding and burying that good principle of seeking without partiality the good and freedom of all, like the earth, our common parent, especially the new Earth, Jerusalem, which is above, the true parent of all the Children that are truly and eternally free, in the freedom of God and Christ himself: I say, in stead of this, they bury this good and useful talon, or rather bottle it up in one sort of Vessels, whence arose that great strife at Windsor about Ordinances, having this only, for the most part, like the Jews to distinguish themselves from the Gentiles; and for this cause manifestly opposing, that I say not brow-beating, and persecuting those that professed to live in no other Ordinance, but that which is the same in all ages, Jesus Christ our Lord, following the Lamb whithersoever he goes; whose words and lives are a continual witnessing to Christ, by whom is pulled down in all ages the partition wall betwixt jews and Gentiles, the stricter and loser sort of men, that equal access may be for both to God, by him, they being all alike good, or alike bad before him.   

CHAP. IU.  
Of the Confusion or trouble that came upon the Army, and the whole Kingdom, upon the Eclipse of this Sun.  

SECT. 1.  
THus Christ in his light, truth and glory, is again crucified, that I say not dead and buried, even in the Army itself; whence it follows that in this dark and gloomy day, such is the state of all things in the denial of Christ, who is the only life and light of man; I say in this dark day, or night rather, for in the absence of the Sun the day is as the night, the wild beasts break forth again, and come abroad; first in Wales, having this Spirit formed and moulded in them, by the like appearing in a great though not so great a degree, first in the Parliament, notwithstanding the great shaking of it, like the figtree, by the march of the Army to their door, by which some of those many unripe and useless Figgs and fruit fell to the earth; and not only in them, but even in the Army itself, professing a better spirit, dealing with too much roughness, and occasion of provocation, with those quondam-Parliament Colonels, Laughorue, Poyer, and powel, who not being led with good words, or good dealing, which they call good payment, out of their command, as they might have been, scorned; which yet was their pride and error, to be commanded out of all, and therefore put all upon the adventure, and have since for their folly lost all, and are now prisoners, expecting the sentence of Death upon some of them. Now though the Army, (the honest faithful and victorious Army, for comparatively I have always accounted it so,) were a scourge not only to them in Wales, but them too in Kent, Colchester, the great Army of Scots, that bubble of of an Army, (though they consisted, they say, of above two millions of men) headed there by Duke Hamilton, and the like comparatively nearer at home, by the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Holland; I say, though it be apparent that the Army was a scourge, and a sharp one too, to these last and dying fainting re-onsets of those, that would, but were not appointed of God to live and rise again; and therefore stronger was he that fought against them, than he that engaged in them.   

SECT. 2.  
Yet it cannot be denied by any good Christian, or any true principles of Christianity, but that they also were a scourge, yea, a bitter and sharp one too, discovering the evil of the Army to themselves, awakening the good principles that lay buried in them; so that I may boldly say, They were the rod of God chastising them, there being I believe (to speak the least) many hundreds of them lost their lives, and of them many an honest and good man. So that though the Army see many and grievous offences in those given into their hands this Summer; yet certainly they have cause, if they look into themselves, to complain of their own giving too much occasion, though unvoluntarily; their own errors having too great an influence, like some malignant Stars, to engender the like errors in others, so that upon the matter, which I mention, that they might not boast either before God or men; and while they complain of others faults, they would remember their own, and be more faultless themselves, before they be overhasty and violent against the faults of Others;) I say, what have they done, but punished their own errors upon the backs of others, though according to State-rules, they were greater offenders than themselves.    

CHAP. V.  
The divers kinds of fruit brought forth this summer, like Jeremiah's figs, some very bad, some very good:  

SECT. 1.  
THe fruit brought forth in this Summer's engagement (which use to be either good, and so for the health of men; or bad, tending to the nourishment of evil humours and diseases in the bodies and minds of men) was indeed like Jeremiah's figs, some very good, even like the figs that are first ripe, but the other very bad, that they cannot be eaten they were so naught; the bad were so naught, that there was little or not discerning of the good; the bad were of three sorts, whereof the first was very pleasant and desirable in the eye of sense, but very pestilent to the heart and stomach: and this I call either first the underhand dealing of the Scots with the English, and the English with them, they both with the King, and the King with both, by which his person was wronged, and the evil principle too much nourished in him, by its like in th● Parliaments of both Kingdoms, who must needs be access●ry and so guilty of the evil, is so violently and without mixture of mercy charged also on him; the appearance of this fruit, being very pleasant in the eyes of most, was desired by most, and therefore the most and best were deceived into the liking of it, and have since found it to be of an evil nature, so that this was another door opened to the corrupt principle of the King to come out at, and manifest itself to his prejudice; for had he not been thus complied with, first by the Army, since by the Parliament, and Scots, it might (through the manifold afflictions that have been upon him, with the blessing, grace and mercy of God, which is always open to him) have been more apparently mortified in him, so that here it again appears the King's fault may be devolved on those that strenthned it in him, aswell as charged on him alone, they being no more righteous than he.   

SECT. 2.  
The second sort of bad and evil fruit, I call all those perishing hopes of all those appeared again in A●mes this summer, They having been both Scots and English, like the multitude the Prophet speaks of, Isa. 29.7 8. that fought against ariel that is the Lion of God, which is as much to say as the Israel or Church of God, for the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Nations in the midst of many people, a as Lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young Lion among the flocks of sheep, who if he go through, both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. I say, all the Army and engagements this summer that have come up against the Lion of the tribe of Judah, this ariel the Church in Christ, Christ in the Church, they all hath been as a dream of a night vision, that they have seen, as when an hungry man dreameth and behold he eateth, but he awaketh and his soul is empty, or when a thirsty man dreameth, and behold he drinketh, but he awaketh as they have done at their scattering, routing, slaying, kill, imprisoning, and his soul hath appetite, so shall the multitude of all the Nations be that fight against Mount-Sion.   

SECT. 3.  
The other part of the bitter fruit of which I speak, The Army and Kingdom have been fain though sore against their will and desire to taste, and that hath been their many fears, troubles, affrights, plunders, ruins, wounds, death, and loss which they have been fain to partake of, as the fruits of their own, aswell as others errors; but God who is able & sometimes wont of these and such stones to make bread, gave many of them bread to eat, which others as they would not, so they knew not of; and this I call the good fruit, which the Army themselves, and the Nation by them, have given them to feed upon.   

SECT. 4.  
And this doth appear thus, in that they have not only with Samson been delivered together with the whole Nation, out of the paw and power of the ramping and roaring Lion, the Army in the field, and the young Lion, the Lion in the Lamb's skin, appearing in policy, and undermining at home: nor only in that they have had power over both these Lions, rending them as he did, even as they would have rend a kid; but that also in the carcase of both is found a swarm of Bees, a sort of men gathering, feeding on, and yet yielding honey to others: which though a riddle, hath appeared true in part; but that there be two sorts of Bees among them; which, for distinction sake, I will for the present call, after the language of those that converse with those kind of cattles, the one is profitable, the ●ther unprofitable; the last is the humming Bee, the drone, or lazy Bee.    

CHAP. VI  
A description of the corrupt and excrementitious, together with the good and useful part of the Army.  

SECT. 1.  
IN the first sort I find these three properties: The first is, they make as great a buzzing and noise about and for Justice, Peace, Righteousness, Religion, Liberty, Equity, Saintship; and on the other side, against Tyranny, Oppression, Superstition, etc. nay, a far greater than any of the rest; because having far less than others, he is necessitated to make the greater show of zeal for the one, and against the other; when in mean time he is totally ignorant of, yea altogether an enemy to, and in secret, yea in his life opposing of the first wherever it doth appear; and on the other side, one that hath no other principle but that which feeds, and gives life and being to all the evil in the Land.   

SECT. 2.  
Another property of this kind of , is, the pursuit of that which is alone as honey to them; that is, their own profit, honour, ease, wealth: and they may easily be discerned from others, as excelling all others in pride, vanity, folly, superciliousness, overlooking, ov rtopping the honest, quiet, meek, and silent spirited men among them. As for these, if they would have justice, it is for themselves; if liberty, it is for their lusts: These are like those flies, that infest those sores of the already galled, grieved spirit of the Land; that are so far from healing, that they keep the wounds of it raw and open, and are indeed to the good spirit of God in the Army, as Peter was in his pride and ignorance to Christ, even as Satan himself.   

SECT. 3.  
I will name but one property more of these unprofitable men, and that is this, They detain and keep others from the hive, and the taste of the honeycomb; being indeed a veil, or a hedge of briers and thorns, imprisoning, concealing, clouding the Son of righteousnese, which is behind this wall, within this hedge, on the other side this cloud; indeed the very Man of sin and son of perdition, which must be taken out of the way before the Son of God will in his full light, sweetness and glory appear, to the healing of the Land, and they in it.   

SECT. 4.  
This is the first and worst sort of Bees, the excrementitious and unprofitable part of the Army, and those that adhere to them. The other, which I only prise as the good and useful sort of Bees, such as are more silent, more painful, more profitable, of a lesser size, in appearance, than the former, not so sightly: 

At fessae multa referunt se nocte minores  
Crura thymo plena.   

The less and tired Bees return at night,  
Get much, but yield the fruits of all their might.   These are the light, life, rest, peace, joy, hope, and healing of the Land; trees of righteousness (in the Lord) that bring forth fruit in season, the very tree of life (in Christ) is appointed of God, and expected of men for the healing of the Nation, plant● of Gods own planting, Aaron's rod, that at the same time buds, blossoms, and bears and yields Almonds; the rod of Moses, by which he did all those wonders in Egypt, devoured the rods of the Egyptians, gave them no rest till they were made free: In one word, the very rod of God, the sceptre of his right hand, by which he divided the red sea, and by which he overturned the Nations that stand in his way of love to them, that he who blesses himself in the earth, may bless himself in the God of truth. If any rest or recovering be brought to King, Parliament, and all others in the Land, it must be by them, for the anointing of God is upon them, and them alone to that end.    

CHAP. VII.  
A comparing the Armies former pretences, with their present actings together.  

Sect. 1.  
THis Sun hath not appeared, no not in this last engagement, in that beauty, brightness and splendour it did the first time they assayed the same thing: In this they are more severe, rigid, fierce, unmerciful toward the King, and those in the same condition with him, than they were before; and therefore appear more Jewish, heathenish, fearful, disobedient to God, and unbelieving, all which tend to the hardening of their hearts against God and them. First against God; for I may say it boldly, the name of God, called upon by the Army, is blasphemed among these Gentiles (for so they are in account by most) because of the Army, in that the fruits of that Spirit, the true anointing they pretend to, appears not, except in word, to all. Secondly, As their heart is hardened against God, so against them; for they can find no place of rest, love, or mercy in them, that they might be called and provoked to lie down in their bosoms as on their bed of rest: but contrariwise, when they think of them or see them, they are fraught with fear, trouble, wrath, and enmity against them, because they look for the like measure from them. Whereas, if love, mercy, forgiveness and compassion did appear in the Army, and others towards such, it would transform them into the same image, and melt them into the love and knowledge of God: after this manner God persuades Jophet to dwell in the tents of Shem.   

SECT. 2.  
The evil then of the King and Parliament is opposed either by the good or evil of the Army. The evil of the Army, though it doth and may oppose the evil of both, though not as evil: the lusts leading and reigning in the Army may be brought forth in a way of zeal for justice, and under a pretence of righteousness, peace, truth, liberty, to oppose lusts of another name and cognisance in the King and Parliament; this contest is but like Satan's going about to cast out Satan, whereby his kingdom is no ways weakened, but confirmed, evil in the Army nourisheth and promotes evil in the King; wrath, malice, revenge in the one, maintains and upholds it in the other.   

SECT. 3.  
This then is the iron gate and door of brass and steel that shuts righteousness, truth, peace and love out from the view, peace and rest of men in them: by this the King and Bishops ruled, and by this they were ruined too: The same course took the Parliament, and were brought into the same Labyrinth as was the King. And so far as the Army walks by this rule, they run the same hazard, will split themselves upon the same rock yea, are for the present, in respect of that principle, in the same M●ander, in the same pit, where is no water but that which moistens, fastens, fattens that evil root and bitter in them, whence comes forth nothing but weeds, briers and brambles, the fruit of the first earth, which is under the curse, and is eternally to pass away, whereby they are a vexation and torment, yea, devils to themselves and all sorts of men in the Land.   

SECT. 4.  
That then that is worthy of applause in the Army in their present undertake, is their good, or rather the goodness of God in them, opposing the evil, or rather, the evil One in King and Parliament: This alone is to be reckoned among the Saint● (as we hope they are) as the common enemy of the Land; this is only worthy of all opposition: let this be withstood to death and bonds. It's a great mistake, and by all means to be removed out of the hearts and minds of men, that the sword of steel, or the instruments of war have gotten them success and victory over the other side; nay, it hath been the word of the Lord, the counsel and presence of God, helping the one, and opposing the other. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: (saith the Psalmist of Christ, or the Anointing in the Church) therefore God, even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows; that is, thou getst the better upon this account, and art too hard for all other Companies, and Armies of men whatsoever, because of this.    

CHAP. VIII.  
Of the door of hope was opened to the King, and is to his party in the valley of Anchor, or forlorn state of trouble they are in.  
Sect. 1 TO conclude: The case then of the King, Parliament, Army, and all estates of men in the Nation, was & is this: 1. Of the King; he had the Kingdom, and in it all that was comprehended, all the glory, fullness, beauty and riches in it, the head and foot, himself, his Queen, his Crown, his Children, his great Estate, Attendance, Honour, Glory, People, etc. But all this in the flesh, in and after, or according to the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, which like an ignis fatuus, led him and all of the same spirit with him, huc & illuc, after several objects of rest and delight, all which yet perished in the use; it being, in respect of his way of enjoying of it, but as the grass of the field, or corn upon the house top, which withereth before it be grown up: nothing is in it but that which is earthly, sensual and devilish; all appearances are of a like nature; but not of one and the same form, all from beneath, some black, and some white Devils: his fearing one, and following the other, hath not suffered him to enjoy any lasting rest.  
Sect. 2 The Almighty then hath by the loss of all the King's glory, greatness, his Queen, his Servants; yea, and since, his natural and bodily life, shut him up so, that he hath had no liberty in the aforenamed enjoyments, as to the outward, fleshly, or sensual man: this was therefore to the King in respect of the old man, the valley of Anchor, that is to say, the valley of trouble: but in respect of his Person, and God's intendment, yea, and the longing prayer and endeavour of all good men, in whom is the sure and lasting mercies of God, and the bowels of Jesus Christ, it was to him, and 'tis to all his friends, and those that took part with him, for a door of hope. In this wilderness of trouble in respect of the outward man, God returns (which thing I will not deny) and gives in again into the heart of the King, together with himself, 
* For the fullness of all things is in God in Christ.  all things, his Crown, his Queen, his Kingdom, etc. but washed and made white, that he might enjoy them eternally and without interruption in him.  
Sect. 3 And to this, he was, and those they call the Royalists are in a greater propinquity, and more likelihood to attain unto, than many either of the Parliament or Army; who are like Capernaum, lifted up in a glorious fig-leave profession as high as heaven; their turn will be next to be hurled down to hell, the hell in which the King was, whiles many of that side (the byword, especially of the professing people) shall be lifted up to heaven, and made to sit with God in Christ in heavenly places; for there shall come from East and West, and places and conditions most remote, and shall sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of God, and the supposed children of the kingdom cast out: For God will not (though it may be, man would) contend for ever; neither will I (saith he) be always wroth, for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him; I hide me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart: I have seen his ways, and will heal him, I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and his mourners. For the language of Christ is to this day in the Church, speaking as 'tis written, The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound. This I profess myself to be daily in expectation of, according as it is written, The first shall be last and the last first: the Jews, and those that profess the knowledge of God after the letter, shall be provoked, and made ashamed by a foolish and despised people: the Gentiles, which make no such profession, shall be beforehand with them in the knowledge of God and Christ, in spirit, power and truth: To which I say and pray, Deus faxit, This thing, O God, bring to pass.   

CHAP. IX.  
Of the glory of the Parliament at their first assembling together, with the cause of their ruin; viz. their dividing themselves into a threefold Schism, Royalists, Presbyters, Independent; with the hurtful principles and practices of each.  
Sect. 1 THe second is the state and condition of the old, and now decayed and worn out Parliament: together with the state of all them that shrouded themselves under the shadow of this great and tall, but now fallen Cedar. This people had their day (i) their morning, noon, and evening-tide. Whiles 'twas yet morning, or young days with them, they began (according to the Country Proverb) as a new broom, to sweep all clean: and therefore made themselves, after the similitude of Christ, (the true pattern of all good and wholesome undertakements) a new threshing instrument having teeth, that with it they might thresh the mountains of Pride, Superstition, Oppression; they made them a scourge of small cords, and minded indeed to cleanse the Temple, and to cast out the buyers and sellers of doves, those more innocent and harmless ones in the Land, of whom these money-changers made merchandise, (as 'tis said) They shall make Merchandise of you: For they did, as Christ, 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  cast out the gain gotten by doves. In one word, their going forth was like the morning Sun, rejoicing as a Giant (newly awoke out of sleep, and silence in the Land) to run his course of light and truth: so that by them, as by the Woman's seed, (Christ born in spirit and power among them) the Serpent's head (that is to say) the wit, power, policy, enmity that prevailed in the aforegoing Hierarchy, Monarchy (for the last was above the first) was wonderfully discovered, bruised, spoiled and disappointed.  
Sect. 2 And therefore this Serpent after a while betook himself to another course, sought after another and more secure place to save and hid his head; so that whiles these husbandmen slept, though beforehand the Lord of the harvest had sowed good seed among them, the enemy came in by night, the night of their ignorance, and sowed tares; that this garden of God, that at first seemed an earthly Paradise, was full fraught with weeds, I mean, pride, ignorance of God, selfseeking, faction, not going oc together in bearing the burden of the Kingdom (as at first) with one shoulder; but as untamed heifers, according to the Scripture phrase, unaccustomed to the yoke of Christ, (that is to say, his presence and government in truth, peace, mercy, justice, his seat and throne) they all hung back, or drew contrary ways one to another: so that while every party and faction minded their own particular safety, honour, greatness, the whole Kingdom was neglected, and that stool of rest intended and expected by them, and from them, being removed out of the way by their own party-making; the whole wearied body of the Kingdom did begin again to fall quite to the ground. This was the forbidden fruit that the whole Parliament in their several parties were overtaken with: for if the Paradise of God were not secure, but that the Serpent got in there to deceive the woman, no marvel he had admission here, where there was so much of the woman (weakness and inability to overcome temptation, and discern the hour of it) that they all sought their own things, and few or none the things of Jesus Christ. which might make for the rest and profit of the whole.  
Sect. 2 And to that end, having several forms and patterns in their minds, of ways and methods to make a bed of rest to the Nation, they all proved too narrow, or too short; so that there was not room in't for all: for that which would first serve the turn of the Royal party, was too noisome and offensive, as a defiled and polluted bed, a bed of whoredom and lust; and therefore these were as a smoke to the nose of the preingaged, or fore-resolved men of the Presbyterian or Scotish way, who proclaim with open mouth the jus Divinum of their own new invention; and therefore preach, and print, and hold out to the world at at home and abroad, as though Christ had said to them and that order of men, what he did, and always doth to his true and only Spouse (which is always hid with him in the wilderness, and not at all exposed to common view; for as Christ, so is the Church (as in union with him, or as his Spouse) hid to the world) Behold, thou art fair, my Love, behold, thou art fair, (yea, our bed (say they) is green) and the only flourishing, fruitful, hopeful woman or Church in the world. Yet this also takes after her sister, and justifies them that had gone before, in all their abominations, and all her children prove the sons of the Sorceress, and the whore, neither had any of them a heart to plead (in the behalf of God and Christ) against their Mother, making it appear, she was not his Wife.  
Sect. 4 This Woman, or prevailing party in Parliament and Kingdom, usurps all power, and takes all authority into their own hand, and boasts, she is Lady and Queen of Great Britain, at least; therefore makes use of it to the establishing of herself, and depressing of all others, that would not, or could not sing her song, drink of her cup, or dance after her pipe; and therefore makes a decree, that none should either buy or sell, that receive not her mark in their hand or forehead. But whiles she is thus drunk, but not with wine, and thinks she is, and none besides her, even in that very hour, it is said to her, as to her mother before, out of whose womb she sprang, Babylon the great, How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her. Therefore her plagues come in one day, (while it was yet noon-tide with this new invented Idol) death, mourning, and famine (of all that power, wisdom, policy, and great riches that did sustain her) and she shall, as her elder sister Sodom and Samariah the Popish and Episcopal Church, be utterly burnt with fire; for strong is the Lord God in the Church, that hath undertaken to judge her.  
Sect 5 And now behold all her Princes, and those that reigned as Kings by means of her; yea, all the Merchants of this seeming new, but indeed the first earth that was to pass away, that had enriched themselves by her sorceries and whoredoms, that were as so many bawds and Panders to this Adulterous woman, are now standing afar off, weeping, and making great lamentation, forasmuch as no man buyeth of their merchandise any more, for behold her smoke goeth up for ever and ever. Thus now the pit these dug for other, they are fallen into themselves; so that it may be said to them, by those that were in the pit before them, as it was by those that were in the like case to Babylon and the King thereof, Isa. 14.10. when he came into the like condition with them Art thou also become weak as we are? art thou become like unto us? thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols is ceased: the worm Jacob is spread under thee, and the worms (such as thou hast despised) cover thee, that thou hast no glory left. Thus this party (and being but a party, and for themselves) seeking the possession of all, lost all, the bed of rest intended by them proving too short, not only for others, but themselves; so that they are now as well as others, cast out, to the loathing of their person, and shaking of the head of all against them, the very byword of the people, and so cast into the furnace, out of which many of them may come forth, pure and refined gold; which I beseech God to grant and bring to pass.  
Sect. 6 The third part this City (the old Parliament) was broken and fallen into, would be Independent, at least in respect of the two former; and therefore, though they would not come into the bed of rest, made ready, or at least preparing, and endeavoured by the other two, as protesting against the defilement of both; yet many of them had in their hearts, according to their pattern in New England (though it was not policy for the present to profess it) to make themselves the only Sarah or Mistress, and to cast out all others as Agar, and not at all as the Wife and Spouse of God; yea, in effect, they openly declare it, though afterwards they saw a necessity of being of another mind; for they looked upon the Presbyterian Church as an adulterous woman, and were loath to have any society with her, or almost any of her Assemblies, as accounting them not in a capacity to be communicated with. Yet in many, their opposition against them was but to break open a way whereby the Serpent's head in them might have more certain hope of rest then in the former, being now much more transformed into an Angel of light then before. And therefore, lest the tail of Anabaptists and Sectaries (so in their own account) should prejudice their acceptance with their elder sister, they, to please and soothe the one, openly and before the Sun disavowed the other in their Apologetical Narration. These neither being but a party, and mostly for themselves, were rather the vexation of the former, than the expectation of the meek and quiet in the Land, to receive rest and freedom by them.  
Sect. 7 Thus we see of all the children the Kingdom hath yet brought forth, whether Royal and Episcopal Parliamentary Presbyters, or Independents as such, none have been able to take her by the hand, as Joshuah, to lead her into the land of expected rest and freedom; they all (though English men) going into remote parts (as sometimes King Ahaz did) to take the pattern of the Altar they intended to worship God by. The Royalists seek for, as being enamoured with, the old and new Hierarchy of Rome and England. The Presbyterians were no less taken with that of Scotland. And the Jndependents, as much as either, with that of Holland and New-England: So that no side having seen the pattern in the Mount (which is Christ in the spirit) as Moses did, they all not knowing what was become of him (since ascended) make together a murmuring in the camp, or chief Assembly in our English Israel, the Parliament, crying out to their several Aaronical Priests among them, Come, mak● us gods to go before us; for as for this Moses (Christ since ascended upon high) we know not what is become of him. But he is now come upon them as a thief in the night of their blind zeal and ignorance, and there shall not a man of them escape the sword of his justice. So that there is none of the old Parliament, as such, whether Episcopal, Presbyterian, or Independent, but as they have all drank of, and been drunk, with Babylon's golden cup; so they have, and do, and will yet more taste of her plagues; yea, their torment shall be to be tormented day and night in the presence of the holy Angels, that are sent in truth from God, and in the presence of the Lamb, the meek King, of the holy, meek, and quiet in the Land. The light that shines now in the evening of the late Parliamentary glory; so that in this darkness there shines forth this light unto them, to lead them forth of the wilderness they are in, to the Land flowing with milk and honey: that is to say, the true Mount Zion, where is the Lamb, and all those with his Father's name on their foreheads, harping with their harps, and singing that new song which none but those that are redeemed from among men could learn; even those, and only those in whose mouth there is found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God: To this rest show them O Lord the way.   

CHAP. X.  
Where, of the Army 's hopeful, but difficult rise: their successful victorious progress, the cloud of reproach they lay and acted under, their breaking forth in open light and glory, their sinking again into the Earth, their rising again, with cautions, reprehensions, directions given them.  
Sect. 1 IN the last place I shall set down the state of the top power of the Nation, as it is for the time present; I mean, the Army: for a power above them there is not visible in the Land. Concerning which, I shall observe first, the day of their small, mean, and low beginning, and how they came to this height of power and regiment over the whole Land.  
The Parliament, in all their former power, policy, Armies, grew weak, and withered as a dry tree, and were indeed, in respect of good, like the dry parched ground: yet because God had not forgotten to be gracious, or left off his merci●● which were of old: he causeth the earth to bring forth truth, whiles righteousness looks down from heaven: both which meeting and kissing each other in a company of honest and  Christian men, many of them having much of the true anointing upon them, they are modelled, by a divine hand, into another new and distinct Army from all the rest, and are indeed (as it is said of the Branch of righteousness) men wondered at by all; yea, feared and suspected as well of friends as foes; not only their enemies abroad, but even their very friends and fautors at home; insomuch, that this Hercules was very like to have been strangled in the womb or cradle, at their very first setting forth and contriving; but that there was of the seed and strength of God among them, that there could be no divination against them, nor enchantment against this new supplanter, for J●cob is their name. These (come forth into an Army) pass thorough the Land from one end to the other, like Leviathan in the sea, in the might of God, ●aking (as it were) in the great waters their pastimes: so that all engagements against them prove as successless as doth man's endeavours to draw out that great Leviathan out of the great deep. Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish-spears: lay thy hand upon him, remember the battle, and do so no more, behold, the hope of him is in vain. Shall not one be cast down at his sight of him: None is so fierce that dare stir him.  
Sect. 2 A great while this Arm of God, or rather, the lighting down of his Arm upon the Royal party appeared hid or vailed under the present and yet remaining Parliament power, which like the interposition of the earth betwixt the body of the Sun and us, darkened or kept in continual eclipse, either thorough neglect or reproach, the newborn hope of the Nation, the Army; for so they were, both in respect of crushing that power of which all stood in fear, as also that they were the only Asylum, or City of refuge to all the afflicted and oppressed people of the Nation. Here they centred, as in the presence of God among them.  
Sect. 3 But at length they cast off the yoke, and appear free (heirs of all things) independent, in respect of all power, but God alone above them: and that first in their first, but ineffectual March up to London: wherein it did befall them as it did Tamar, Gen. 38.27. for they had, as she, twins in one womb; for behold, while they traveled and laboured to bring forth, one put forth his hand; that is to say, there was a weak appearance of those principles and purposes of peace, truth, and righteousness (since brought forth to greater perfection:) but they that undertook the midwifery of this so hopeful newborn babe, took immediately a scarlet, bloody, persecuting thread and tied about the finger of it at its first putting forth, concerning which only this might be said, This came forth first. When also it came to pass, that as this appearance drew back again into the womb (where it hath for a while been hid) that his brother or next neighbour (for evil is always nigh to good, but never one with it) got then the upper hand, and came forth first; for which cause it was and might be called 
* Perruptor. Pa●aeus.  Pharez, that is to say, A breach, or a Maker of a breach. Therefore it was said by all that undertook the Midwifery of their first born to this later unexpected and undesired brat, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee; bear thou the burden of this affront done to thine elder brother, Truth and Peace.  
Sect. 4 This was the first appearance or defilement upon the Army; in this thing was their virginity (in which they had lived all the days of their affliction and trouble) first of all stained and deflowered, whiles (like Dinah) they were not content to keep at home with God in the house of their Father Jacob, (who was and is a supplanter of none but his elder and worse brother Esau, a man that lives upon the spoil of other) but [they] would be going abroad to see the daughters of the Land, and the fashions of other people, which proved a snare unto them, and was indeed a reproach to their father's house, making his name to stink among the people.  
Sect. 5 In this defiled estate, even (as I may so speak) whiles they were sore, and this great infirmity upon them, of their conformity to, and (as it were) prostituting of themselves to Sechem and Hamor, promising to acquiesce the one in the other, all (King, Parliament, Army) being (as it were) circumcised, and of one Religion, there comes upon them Simeon and Levi in the anger of God, the English and Scotish Forces (yet brethren in their agreed upon Covenant:) Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret, unto their Assembly mine honour be not thou united; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall▪ they both together first made, and then avenged the seeming holy, but corrupt league was made up between them: Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. After this great slaughter and captivity of men, God will (I hope) say of them as Jacob did of Simeon and Levi, I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel, restore and sanctify them among their brethren that abode in the Covenant and light of God. For though both sides excuse the matter (as they did) and say, Should our Sister be dealt with as with an harlot? For the Royal party being now one with the Presbyterian, and the Presbyterian one with them, they said, Shall this holy Cause we have undertaken to defend by Covenant, be prostitute to these uncircumcised Independents and Sectaries? Therefore they both openly and secretly prepare war against them, even whilst they pretended to lean upon them. On the other side, the Army, (who indeed had the better end of the staff, and most cause of complaint: for though weakly, yet it may be for the most part honestly, run into their forenamed error) also have their mouths opened, and their hearts awakened, to see the dishonour would come by dealing with Dinah as with an harlot, suffer that honest cause they had engaged in, and taken up their swords for, to be prostituded to the lusts and wills of evil men (though themselves had too too much betrayed it a little before) promised to acquiesce in that Power which they knew in heart did not adhere unto them (for though they had their hands, yet they had not the hearts of most of them); yet in effect, and interpretatively in this last Summer's War they made null their promise to acquiesce in the Parliament: but since they have done it openly and declaredly, as it appears in their remonstrance and proceed.  
Sect. 6 Now though these things afford no good savour in the nostrils of those, either at home or abroad, that by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern betwixt good and evil; and therefore the true Jacob in the midst of them is making his complaints of both, though not of both in the like degree. This being the time of Jacob's trouble, and Tamar's travel, there comes forth now in the late transactions 
* Oriens, vel Ortum.  Zarah, that is to say, that which should have come forth first, but was strangled in the womb and crucified in the birth, but recovers life again, and appears now to be of right the firstborn, to whom the inheritance doth belong; he that should come, and we are not to look for another: the good and holy One in the Army, and so in the Nation, seems for the present to be predominant, and Lord of all.  
Sect. 7 But Rebeccah Jacob's mother (the good people of the Land, whether the Remainder of the Parliament, or those bearing office in the Army, and the honest men of the City and Country, that have an influence into this engagement) making more haste then good speed, out of a good mind notwithstanding, remembering the word and promise of God concerning Jacob, That the elder should serve the younger, that Jacob, a plaindealing, smooth and honest man or men, should have the blessing, the upper hand of Esau, she makes use rather of her policy then the promise of God, she puts Jacob into the clothing or goodly raiment of this elder brother Esau; which will no more fit or become him, than saul's Armour did David, who was fain to put it of again when he had done, and betake himself alone to his sling and stone to throw down the great Goliath, the contemptible means of the word and power of God, against which there neither is nor can be any prevailing. Whiles Jacob, this new and hopeful Supplanter of evil stands thus ready to administer savoury meat to the dying kingdom, as he did to his father Isaac which now in his old age could scarce discern one thing from another; yet coming near and feeling whether this be his very son Esau (which is best beloved of his father, and most desired of the Nation) or not: findes and concludes as he did, The voice is jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau: this deceit of this good woman, and this good man's complying with her therein, cost her much sorrow and grief, being fain after a while to send this her beloved son out of the way from the fury of his brother Esau; and Jacob for his own part to serve another Aprentiship, enjoying not the blessing, at least in his own Land, till after much struggling with God and man to obtain it; yea, he had it not at all indeed, till God himself touched him in the hollow of his thigh, (that is to say) till he had lost all strength and confidence in carnal and worldly courses, counsels and policies, and had nothing left him to rest in but the naked will and presence of God. For this cause he was made to halt, that it might be a sign to him of his former halting, and a caution to others to take heed of the like. This thing I desire the present power of the Nation to take heed of, and lay to heart: they have indeed Jacob's voice, talking much of God, Christ, the Spirit, Revelation, prayer, prophecy, the power and presence of the Almighty, the highest form of knowledge, and talk of things divine is amongst them: which if it be not in power and truth; that is to say, if it proceed not from the presence of the true anointing, and holy one among them, it is the most deceiving Antichrist that hath ever yet appeared in the world: and yet this I dare be bold to aver, that this knowledge and talk of many of them (that I say not, the knowledge and talk of most) is but traditional, and by imitation of others, having Christ in their mouth, but Satan in their very hearts and lives, being, as the rest of the world, holy by fits, holy now and then, holy upon Sundays, holy at a Sacrament, or a Sermon, holy in their several churches of which many are members, holy upon their days of fast and prayer; but not holy as every true Christian is holy, in all manner of conversation, holy as God himself is holy; holy through their union with him, and enjoying of him. These, these in the Army, God says, They are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day: who being as ignorant in respect of pure and divine knowledge of God, and as full of enmity in their spirits against him as others, they condemn and say yet to others (in respect of themselves) we are more holy than ye.  
Sect. 8 But yet I dare not, yea I should grievously sin against God and his presence in the Army, should I deny that there is the shout of a King, even of the King of Kings amongst them; should I deny that he hath given to many of them, yea some of the chief and top of them, to sit together with him on his thron●, as the Father hath given him to sit with him on his throne: these are they, to whom is given a pure language, not the language of Egypt, or Ashdod, no not of Samaria a mixed language, a language that is near, or very like, but not the very language of heaven, or true Canaan: such as is the language of the Jew, not such a one that is so only in the letter, and in respect of the outward man, but he that is so in the inward man, such a one that speaks such a language that shall confound all other languages; for thus saith the Lord of Hosts (the Lord of Armies) In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold (of all languages, such as are the languages of the several Sects and sorts of men among us) of the skirt of one, (such a one that doth not only say, but) that is a Jew, and of the seed of Jacob indeed, they shall take hold of the skirt of such a one, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. This is indeed the voice of Jacob, which I and all good men delight to hear among them, the joyful sound, the roaring of the Almighty like a Lion among you, whose presence is terrible to the world: For because of truth, meekness (for the meek shall inherit the earth) and righteousness (not that which is narrow and humane, but that which is divine and superlative) he shall bring mighty things to pass. But as the Kingdom hears among you Jacob● voice (either pretended or in truth) so by feeling they find your hands are too too much like Esau's hands, your little finger (in some regard) heavier then your father's loins to the sense of City and Country; the afflictions that have been and yet are upon them by the Parliament and their Proceed and Armies, are much more heavy and intolerable, and that upon both their friends and foes, than ever were the oppressions of the King and Prelates, respecting the outward man, upon that sort of men that have now by a divine power got the upper hand of him. This is certain, the burdens of the people are many, and their fears are more, that one oppressing power will still succeed another; so that the Land shall never enjoy her Sabbath, this I say, not to upbraid you, but to remind you that you fall not into the same condition and censure others did that went before you; for as their inward thought was, that their houses should continue for ever; and their dwelling places to generation and generation, that they call their lands and their ways after their names. Nevertheless, we see (one year after another) man, in true Christian honour and integrity abideth not, but is like the beasts that perish being earthly, they sink again into it: This their way is their folly, which too is made manifest sooner or later: yet their posterity, they that come after them in power and place, approve their say, see a delight in their mouth, as it is in the margin; they have, as it were, one mouth, and are in effect the same in a new, and another seeming better disguise, the same Spirit appearing in another form; one evil generation and power of men opposing another.  
Sect. 9 The Lord therefore rebuke the evil Spirit that seeks to undo, deceive and misguide the Army into those courses that may any way tend to shut up the way of men to Christ their Saviour, who is pretended to be among them more than among other people, and those that went before them, that it may be said of this King, (I mean not either King Charles, whose person yet I loved and prayed for) (or as the Country people speak) King Fairfax or Cromwell, but King Jesus; a King that is a Saviour, and in that he is a Saviour, a King; for every one worthy of the name, honour and title of a King, is a Saviour, a Saviour not only of his friends, but his very Enemies; King Charles would indeed have saved his friends (so, but corruptly called) but he being corrupt and ignorant of the true pattern [Christ] would fain have destroyed his (indeed but supposed) Enemies: let not the present Kingly power of the Nation in the Army, for there it is, interpretatively, and by way of Execution, let not them dance after his pipe, and do the thing he did, and have since condemned him for; that is to say, Let not them be the Saviour's of their friends only, or men of one side, this is not the true Spirit of Christ, or of Government; but let them even be Saviour's to, and of those, yea, even of those that would in their ignorance and unbelief have destroyed them. This is truly noble, Christian, and worthy of men of high place and power; let them be a Sanctuary of rest to all, even the persons of all Roundheads and Cavaliers, yet withal standing as a Cherubin of light, right, truth, life, peace and glory, to keep the way of that tree of Life, (a true Christian Magistracy, formed according to the pattern in the Mount, whereby may be opened unto men that long expected and looked for paradise of Truth and Peace meeting together, and giving rest to the Nation;) and that no thing or person may be admitted, that may bring any evil into it, for the defilement and disturbance of it.  
Sect. 9 This, this is the business the present power have to do, being reserved and kept as in the secret of God to such a time and purpose as this, that they might evidence to all, both friends and foes, that there is indeed such a presence of Christ, and the true anointing among them they have all this while held the world in hand with, that it may be said of this Presence, even of this Anointing among you, this King in the Army, to the whole Nation, on the one side and on the other, none excluded from the grace and benediction of it; behold a King (God himself in Spirit) shall reign in righteousness; and Princes (for such are the children of the true Church in all lands) shall rule in Judgement; that is to say, not ignorantly and in the dark, not knowing what they do, as the manner of the Rulers of the earth is, (being drunk with Error they stumble in Judgement;) then shall a man, (that is to say, every one that lives in the heavenly MAN) be for an hiding place, (what to one sort of men only? that's Jewish, a course that hath undone us all this while, but to every man, though to the evil or lust of no man) a hiding place, I say, from the wind, and a covert from the Tempest; as the rivers of water in a dry place: such is for certain the state of the Royal party, and in the next place the Presbyters and many others that are bitter and grieved in Spirit; in one word, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary Land, which how welcome it is in a Land of drought, as this Nation is, in respect of peace and rest, they know, that have been by experience sensible of the one and other. By this it would appear to all the world, that you have skill not only to kill, and to destroy, which hath been your work for the most part hitherto; but that you have heard and learned of the Father of mercies how to save: which is that one and only thing the whole Kingdom is in expectation of from you: that it may be said of you, Saviour's (not destroyers) are come up upon Moun Zion, the true seat and place of Government, to judge the Mount of Esau, that is to say, the evil of all men, by the spirit of judgement, and by the spirit of burning. Let the Kingdom and all in it first taste of your good, that is to say, your mercy, meekness, forbearance, seeking not your own, but others profit, even the profit of your very opposers, whereby you wli lindeed appear to be of the only true Royal blood, even of the seed Royal of God and Christ himself: say, yea, you have much more cause to say of yourselves then Saul had to say of himself, in the first day of his power, when the people came and clamoured in the ears of Samuel, as the people of England, so called, have of late in the ears of the Army, immoderately and to excess, to have justice, not divine justice (for they know not, most of them, what that means) upon the person of the King, saying, Who is he of the King or Parliament's side, that said, or shall say, Shall Saul reign over us? Shall the Army power prevail over all sorts of men in the Land (as you know, there is much murmuring)? Bring the men, that we may put them to death. Let Saul's Answer be yours, (I confess, you pretend to a conformity to a better pattern, David, who though he were anointed to succeed Saul against whom there is no question but David might have had as much to say, as you have had against Charles Stuart, late in title King of England; yet David your pattern abhorred the thought of taking away his life, as you also, according to the grounds of true Christian Religion ought the forenamed and late King) And Saul said, There shall not a man be put to death this day, for to day the Lord hath wrought salvation in Israel. Let not your morning glory, the glory you seek, be stained with the blood of any; especially, the blood of war in the time of peace: be not so hasty, hot and violent in condemning the Powers went before you, before your righteousness, integrity, innocency, honesty, ability, impartiality, and bowels of mercy, pity, and compassion toward the p●● and f●the●●ss be justified on all hands to be of a nature exceeding the pretence of others. Let the Kingly and Parliamentary Powers see, and the whole Kingdom with them, that you know as well how to mend faults, as to find them out and punish them in o hers. In one word, Set up a high Court of grace, mercy, and avour (in opposition to, or union with this new high Court of Justice) to which all the afflicted and grieved in spirit may repair, and be relieved.  
This I humbly suggest, and lay it at the feet of Jesus Christ among you, with whom I know it finds acceptance, for as much as it is his mind, and the fruit of his anointing in me, by whom alone I have been able thus to speak. He speak it in you, even in the whole Army and Kingdom, that did indite and write it in my heart; which the everlasting Spirit of grace work and grant, Amen, Amen.    

A Postscript To the READER.  
IT is apparent, the late Proceed of the Army have awakened all sorts of men to a more deep consideration of the things past, present, and to come, relating to the Kingdom: At least, I am sure they have had this operation and effect on me, as may appear by the bringing forth of this— call it what you will, scarce the travel of two days: It may be thought of many, it had been better (as was desired) to have had it strangled in the birth; and the truth on it is, had I consulted mine own outward peace and acceptance among men, I should have been first in laying hands on it. I believe there is so much truth in it, that it will almost offend all, though (if 'twere possible) I would not displease any. I confess, I perceive in the ARMY much more of the Soldier yet, then of the Christian, as there did appear in the Powers before, more of the Man, or Man of Sin, then of Christ or the new Creature. I have therefore, as Moses coming down from the Mount (though I would not attribute any thing to myself) who broke in pieces the two Tables, of which the people in his absence, or rather, in the absence of GOD, made an Idol, made a Calf (I believe the Nation hath done little else these many years;) I say, I have not (as he) spared mine own flesh, mine own People, mine own Interests on the one hand, or the other. I acknowledge in it many Erratas; some happening through the neglect (though voluntary, not mine) of the season intended to bring it forth to censure; which was indeed before the fall of the late Great KING; yea, purposed, according to its strength, (which was (and you see is) but as the strength of a little child) to stand in the way of that spirit that consented to the putting him to death; hence mention is made confusedly of him, sometimes as living, and sometimes as dead and gone. Secondly, others, not a few, occasioned through my absence from the Press.  
I have but two things more to take out of the way, that I offend none.  
1. My sugesting mine own apprehension touching God's favour and presence with the King in the day of his affliction; which I judge was much with Him for his support: What others attribute to the power of Nature, and a Roman-like Spirit (as they speak) that I give to the immediate mighty power of God.  
The second is, My offending the present Power: To this I answer, 1. I have said nothing to offend it; but (as much as in me is) to rectify it. 2. They are but even now come forth; and it will be for their further clearing, to scour off what is dross and filth among them. Lastly, they themselves, even some of the top men among them, profess they act much in the dark in these things.  
FINIS.