A second view of the Army REMONSTRANCE. OR Justice done to the Army.  
Wherein Their Principles are new modelled, brought out of obscurity into clearer light.  
BY Which the Army and the whole Kingdom are under the conduct of the Spirit of God, led out of a Wilderness to the view of a Canaan.  
Dedicated To the General, and the Council of War.  
By William Sedgwick.  In the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, ye are the sons of the living God, Hose. 1. 10. 
LONDON, Printed for H. Hils, and G. Calvert, and are to be sold at his house over against S. Thomases Hospital in Southwark, and at the Black Spread-Eagle at the West end of Paul's, near Ludgate. M.DC.XLIX.   

TO His Excellency Thomas Lord Fairfax, GENERAL Of the Parliaments Forces, AND To the General Council of War.  
I Have done Justice upon you because I saw evil in you; There is a holy One likewise in you, I must do him Justice too; I have smitten you, and not you only, but the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek: It pleases me to bruise him, and him as much to be bruised; 'tis his advantage, and therefore he freely submits himself to be chastised: Ephraim is my dear son, a pleasant child, For since I spoke against him, I do earnestly remember him still; Therefore my bowels are troubled for him, I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.  
It grieves me to see you as a Woman with child, big with justice, righteousness, reformation, etc. and know not how or which way to be delivered: Here is an arm stretched out to you that will gently lead them that are with young, and guide the blind into a way they know not. You have high and great designs, but are imprisoned in the darkness of flesh that you cannot get out into a clear and straight way; My intent is to open the two-leaved gates and free you. I have opened the left already, and so turned aside that dark and evil spirit that lay in your way; & shall now unfold the right, which brings you into light, and so makes crooked places straight for you, etc.  
You are upon the execution of justice, I would not have you go blindly, passionately and rashly upon it; but accept this anointing of God prepared for you, which will fill you with wisdom and righteousness. Ascend this Throne of majesty first, that is here set up for you: Arise from the common and dark nature of man into the holy nature of God, and then you will be able to judge; suffer this holy child Jesus to come forth, and then go on in the name of God.  
Read it, and if you see a little truth in it, read it again; the light is dim, but 'tis a morning and growing light, and will shine more and more until perfect day. This I dare challenge of you from that great and public trust that is committed to you, in which we have all a deep share, from those high and weighty affairs that you are upon, of such mighty concernment to the glory of God, and the good of his people, from that ingenuity and freeness that you have professed to receive advise from all, and to give satisfaction to all, and especially upon the authority of him whose name I here declare and set up, that you will not slight what is offered to you, and lay it aside unconsidered; but that you will give it due hearing And if in any thing you descent from it, I may know it, and either receive or give satisfaction; or if it be doubtful to you, I may have opportunity to clear it; or if these things appear true (as I believe they will) but yet at a distance from you, that I may by removing that out of the way that hinders you from fellowship with them, bring you into the power and possession of them; And to this end I am, and would be more.  
Yours, W. Sedgwick.   

Justice done to the Army REMONSTRANCE.  
I Told you when I was administering Justice upon your Remonstrance, that it was a mixed thing of good and evil; that the Lord was in it, but hid under so much filth that we could not discern him. You are Zion, but not perfect, and therefore we must wash away your filth and purge away your blood by the spirit of judgement and the spirit of burning: The Lord is amongst us, and sits as a refiner and purifier of silver; he is set to it close, and will make it his constant business, and do it hotly, sharply; even the silver, the sons of Levi, the people of God, must pass thorough this sire; and therefore Who may abide the day of his coming, and who may stand when he appeareth? Many cannot stand before it, but are overturnd into a beastly ditch of rage, fretting and foolish passion; this is a bastard spirit that cannot endure chastisement: But others do stand in peace and quietness, there we see the spirit and strength of the Son, who willingly suffers chastisement, knowing that he is chosen in the furnace, and that by it he is made partaker of God's holiness; purified from humane holiness, which is at best but filthiness, into the divine holiness: And to such I apply that of Solomon, As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold, so is a man to his praise.  
The fining pot and furnace are for the best metals, and 'tis for their praise, that they may be brought forth in a more noble form, and fitted to receive some excellent impression.  
Now therefore having cast you into the fire, and taken away your dross, we shall hold you forth with a beautiful stamp of the majesty of God upon you: That vail of an unclean spirit being rend away, we now behold your face shining with the glory of God upon you; Now we have taken away the scum, and cast it into the fire, we may safely eat of the meat, having done justice upon the fleshly, worldly part, we must do justice to the heavenly and holy part.  
The Remonstrance of itself is as the earth, without form and void, there is a face on it, but 'tis deep, and darkness is upon it: But the spirit of God moving, or brooding, upon the face of the Waters, brings forth a new creation, which is blessed and good.  
The Kingdoms of the earth, and the way of Gods dealing with them in these last times, are described in Nabuchadnezzar and his Vision, Dan. 4. A Kingdom is a great tree growing out of the earth unto a great strength and height, reaching unto heaven, and the sight thereof unto the ends of the earth; it grows out of the people, and receives its life and nourishment from the lowest element the inferior people, but arises up to such a height as touches heaven, i. e. comes near the heavenly glory, the Kingdom of heaven or Christ; This tree hath fair leaves and much fruit, meat for all; it brings forth honour, order, peace, justice, love, riches, advantage to all; Kingdoms afford a universal benefit: The beasts of the field have shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwell in the boughs thereof, & all flesh feed of it: All sorts of men receive protection from it; those that labour and toil as beasts in the earth, they enjoy their wealth and safety under it; and those that fly in the air of wisdom, learning, they make their nests of honour and preferment in it, and all live upon it: Or the beasts, men of earthy and civil employment; Fowls of heaven, men of religious and heavenly employment, all have their peace in this Tree.  
But behold a watcher, and an holy one came down from heaven; This watcher is the watchman of Israel, that keeps us and looks to us while we sleep; or that thief that comes in the night, secretly stealing in upon us while we see him not; and a holy one, though a thief, and in the night breaking down the house, yet a holy Child Jesus, a holy Lamb, and we may know who he is, he came down from heaven.  
'tis the coming of Christ from heaven that doth this, He cried aloud, and said thus, Hue down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit, let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches: Here's harsh, cruel do from one that comes from heaven; Cries aloud, 'tis not the still voice; and nothing, but destruction; Hue down the tree, lay the axe to the root; cut down all government, dominion, King, Parliament, with all power, order; cut off the branches of laws, offices, places; Scatter the fruit, let there be no safety, peace, getting of estates; Let the beasts get from under it, and the fowls from the branches; let the inhabitants be scattered, let wealth be removed, let honour and preferments cease.  
Nevertheless leave the stump of the roots in the earth, with a band of iron and brass in the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth; let his heart be changed from man, and a beasts heart be given unto him, and let seven times pass over him; There is not utter destruction, though the glory, honour, riches, peace of the Kingdom be cut down, yet it remains in the stump, and is sure there: There's nothing left but the stump of the roots in the earth, some life in the lowest people, and that bond down, yet safe kept by a band of iron and brass, by the power of the sword: In the tender grass of the field, in the wide field, not in a settled, built City, rather a wilderness, amongst some weak, tender spirits, some small blades of grass that are grown up: And wet with the dew of heaven, lying open to heaven in the night of darkness, expecting continual dews of favours and providence; 'tis a desolate and poor condition though it hath a blessing in it; they that are gathered into the City of God live better: Let his portion be with the beasts, let him eat grass as the ex; It is not the condition of one man only, but of the whole tree, the spirit of dominion in the Kingdom is changed from man to beast; driven from men.  
Man is a wise, lordly creature, that exercises dominion by wisdom and understanding, and is invested with majesty, which is honoured and reverenced by others: The new man is the Lord from heaven, living in the light and understanding of God, and of excellent goodness and righteousness; and is therefore honoured because he is the true and great Lord of all, and doth good to all, exercising righteousness in wisdom to all; such a heart now appears not amongst us in no sort of men, but a beasts heart, rage, violence, fierceness, exercise of force one to another, compulsion, driving in herds; not wisdom to compose all into one body; These eat grass as oxen, live, as oxen, a laborious, travelling, painful life, without any settled rest: And eat grass: All flesh is grass; the highest and best men feed upon what providence daily brings for●h to them, and that of a fleshly, fading, dying nature: Not upon the living bread that comes down from heaven; not upon the fatted Calf killed and offered up; not on meat roasted by the everlasting fire; not eating the spice nor drinking the wine of the Spirit; and this till seven times pass over thee: Till the complete measure of God's justice pass over: which I would gladly restrain to seven years. This is the state of this miserable Kingdom.  
The intent of God in this which is sure and decreed, and the demand by the word of the holy one; 'tis required and shall be effected; That the living may know, First, That the most high ruleth in the Kingdom of men; God will make you all know that himself, the most high, not a minister or angel of his, not a vicegerent, not a civil Magistrate only, but the high God, the highest glory of God ruleth, not only over, but in the Kingdom of men: This, beastly ignorant man knows not, but you must know it, though you oppose it; and would uphold an earthly Kingdom in which men may rule without God; no, the Lord himself and his most high excellency shall rule and be known to rule.  
Secondly, And giveth it to whomsoever he will: He rules not in an abstracted sense without us; but he gives it to whom he pleases, will bestow it upon men; administer this Kingdom in his highest glory in men: And in bestowing of it, will not be bound to any person or family, as King, nor to any society or company of men, as Parliament, nor to any form or custom of men, but when he pleaseth; will pull down some, and exalt others; will not be fixed upon this or that person or thing; but walk up and down with it at his pleasure.  
And thirdly, setteth up over it the basest of men: will not leave till he set the bottom upon the top, advanced the basest, mean, common sort of men, men of basest account, of lowest, smallest worth not renowned either for honour, riches, learning, wisdom or any other excellency; but set up men of base ignoble birth, base spirits etc. over it.  
These three things hath the majesty of God written out clearly in these times; the most high ruleth in this Kingdom; and first gave it to the King, but he did not know the Lord that gave him his dominion, power and glory; nor govern his People in the goodness, strength and light of GOD, but served and pleased himself by it: and so abused that rule and authority that God gave, to tyranny, covetousness, oppression, and to self-pleasure and honour: for this the Lord blasted his Majesty, cursed his government, rend his Kingdom and filled it with troubles and distractions, and forced him against his will to call a Parliament, which was virtually, or in a kind a resignation of his dominion into their hands: For his great design before was to rule without them, & to uphold his own interest in opposition to theirs, looking upon them not as a help to him, but as enemies to his prerogative, being set upon principles of government in contrariety to the Parliament; and his calling them being not natural or voluntary, but forced (the union being first violated by his dis-affecting and disdaining them) it was an erecting or setting up another power distinct and divided from his own; and by that God passed from him to the Parliament, left him, and set up majesty, power and glory in the Parliament, and gave hearts, affections, honours, riches & strength into their hands, and so seated himself amongst them.  
They as ignorant of God as he, and not exalting the name of God that gave them their power, but seeking their own and a worldly good, divided from the Most High, they corrupt likewise; And God finding no satisfaction or rest amongst them, blasts and withers their glory, and fills the Kingdom with such wrath; or raises such storms in the nation, that they could not guide the ship, but are forced to cast themselves, and the government and safety of themselves and Kingdom upon others: Not being able to support their own and the people's good, they let all fall upon the people, and do expressly in their declarations appeal to the people to judge, and require them to defend their own safety; and upon that ground summon them to arms, or raise an Army; as may appear in their Declarations at the beginning of these troubles; and thus they erect and set up another power, The Army.  
Now it is exactly to be observed how secretly God passes out of one form into another, as from King to Parliament, and from Parliament to the Army; and not so secretly, but his footsteps are seen visibly upon and in the actions of men, and he rides his journey upon their backs. This very much concerns the clearing up of the Army's case, and the scattering the mists that yet cover them and hinder them from seeing their own right, and others from discerning and acknowledging their power; and therefore I shall endeavour to unfold it in these five particulars.  

1. That there is a transmitting or translating of power from the Parliament to the People, or Army.  
2. That this change of power from Parliament to people is according to humane and divine reason.  
3. That this power of the People so raised by the Parliament, is a superior and stronger power than that of the Parliament.  
4. That this Army is truly the people of the Kingdom, already formed into a body of an Army.  
5. That this form of an Army is the most excellent, agreeable to God, and fittest for the present work, and the mother of other powers.   
First, The Parliament having all power by the presence of God with them, and the majesty of the King dying into them; they do, by the will of God, convey all that they had to the people gathered together in arms for their own security.  
1. They themselves cease and expire, their end ceasing. The end of a Parliament is the execution of justice, reforming of corruptions, preserving the people's liberties, etc. Now 'twas manifest the malignancy of the Kingdom was such, as they could not heal it, and their liberties so endangered they could not save them, 'twas beyond their power and skill: And so becoming useless, surrender to others.  
2. Besides they raise up another power that is inconsistent with their own; for civil, legal or Parliamentary power cannot subsist together in the same Kingdom with military; but the military will, and necessarily must, silence, enforce and subject the other at his pleasure. The power of the sword in a foreign nation may be inordinate, but at home, being raised for its own safety, 'twil be master, and eat up, or trample upon the other.  
3. As an Army, being rough, thrusts out the civil power, being the gentler, so the people being raised, abolishes the representatives; for the figure or image ceases when the substance comes in place, it loses its use and employment when the body itself appears.  
4. The raising of the power of an Army is an act of God, who is the Lord of hosts, and hath a peculiar prerogative in gathering them together, and delights much to show himself in this forme● and the Parliament were but instruments, God the main in raising an Army for his own great designs; and therefore as soon as these are set up, he gins to show forth his glory in them, and to withdraw himself from the other; leaves the Parliament to weakness, divisions, vanities, disgrace, and appears in the Army in union, success, power, vigour: The Parliament since the Army was on foot could do nothing that had the face of majesty, justice or goodness: On the other side the Army go on with great honour and glory in their work, being as full of power as the other empty.  
The Parliament doing nothing suitable to their trust, or worthy of a Parliament, the Army discharge their place, gallantly, faithfully and happily: So that we see the Parliament hath expowerd itself and impowerd the people, emptied and made void themselves of authority, and filled and formed the people with it; and that there is a transition of the glory of God from one to the other, and so a translation of dominion from the Parliament the representative, to the body of the people, themselves.  
Secondly, We must know this, that this descent of power is most natural and according to the will of God, or agreeable to humane and divine reason: It is indeed very harsh and unpleasing to those beasts and fowls that live under the shadow and in the branches of this great tree of the Kingdom, and had their interest and subsistence in royalty, in offices, in preferments, etc. It seems to them nothing but confusion, that all this glory, and with it their lives, should go into the earth, and remain in a stump of the root; but if they had the wisdom of God, and did see his counsel and end in it, they would be satisfied.  
For 1. 'tis exceeding natural that when the sap of the tree hath risen to its height, and brought forth its fruit, it should, when the fruit falls, and the winter comes, sharp and cold seasons, return into its root.  
Power did arise from simple, poor man, had its original from the dust of the earth, common people, and receives its life and being from humane nature in its simple state; there it was purest, unmixed from pride, cruelty, deceit, it was quietest and at rest without violence and disturbance, though in a mean and rude manner: And thence it rises into the glory of Kingdoms, into Lordship, Monarchy, and all such greatness: Now when it comes to the top and gins to corrupt, finds storms of wrath, malice and mischief, in those heights it naturally returns to its centre, and retires for its own safety, and recover to itself in the roots of the earth, the people: Hence it is that bodies politic, Kingdoms, have their several ages of childhood, youth, firm or full age, and old age as well as the body of man; and one as well as the other lies under this sentence, Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return; at best they are but the people dresd or set out with some outward honour, and therefore they must return to mingle themselves with dust of common men. Again,  
We know, honour est in honorante, honour is in him that honoureth, its seat and subject is in him that gives it, and therefore in the people, who do by their breath create any man honourable or great; and their breath is the life of all greatness and honour, it being but an empty Idol, a dead image, if not quickened by the affections of the people: 'tis they indeed, or God ordering their spirits, that make men honourable; if they give him not respect, means, tribute, honour, their greatness dies at heart, and becomes a heavy burden and a curse; and therefore 'tis very natural for it to come down to its own original from whence it came, and doth by that recover itself; for as the people receive it into them, so they will quickly send it forth again with greater power, and with increase.  
This course of things hath its method from the mind and will of God, who hath said, He will set over it the basest of men, Dan. 4. He raiseth the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill: That he may set him with Princes of his people, Psal. 113. The Lord hath said he will exalt some and pull down others; Scatter the proud in the imagination of their hearts, put down the mighty from their seats and exalt them of low degree, Luk. 1. 'tis a great sport and pleasure the Lord takes to set up and pull down, to bring great things to nothing, and to exalt nothing to be all things; its excellent justice to pour contempt upon Princes, to tread upon them as mortar, to bring them under as the basest, vilest creatures, and to pour riches, honour and greatness upon mean and base men, is as excellent love and goodness. This he hath said he will do, and this he doth do, and 'tis his prerogative.  
This too is taken out of a higher copy, the way of the Son of God, who is in the form of God, in the highest heaven, and from thence descends into a low state of a servant, to be borne of a woman, to be a carpenters Son, to be with people of no account; to descend into the lower parts of the earth, to make his grave with the wicked, to descend into hell, and from thence to ascend again far above all heavens. 'tis the great God the king of kings, looks down amongst men of low degree, and is content to have his foundation in the dust, and so arise that he might fill all things and take up the lowest into the highest, and be the highest in the lowest, and so comprehend all things in one glory; that he might fill lowness with majesty, and majesty with lowness, that there might be a perfect agreement 'tween the greatest God, and the poorest man.  
Thus we see the second thing manifested; That this passing of power from the Parliament, or any higher or Politic body into the lower, or natural of the People; is rational, orderly, and and according to the original rule and measure of all things which is the mind and way of God.  
Thirdly, the people so raised and called up, are the supreme power or superior to all others; even to them that begat them, the Parliament.  
1. The Parliament call (as is manifest in their Declarations) to judge; saying, let the People judge: they appeal to them and so they have subjected themselves to the people: and 'tis but reason they should judge; for the people themselves, have in themselves, the truest and purest light of judging which is reason; and the most exact sense of their rights, and of good and evil respecting their liberty and safety: and those principles in them of discerning men, and things relating to public weal or woe; are more clear, more incorrupted than they are in men raised by them into place and office; especially when all high places are polluted by the devil, and the minds of men grow worse by preferments and honours, as 'tis manifest they do in these times of defection, wherein scarce any man in place, either Parliament or else where, retains his integrity, and the Parliament itself is one heap of self seeking, they being generally biased, both on the one side and the other, with places, advantages, offices, particular interests, & so not fit to be the judges of public and common right. Therefore 'tis reason that God should call up the people, who though they be rude, despicable and unlearned, yet have a plain and honest s●nse in them of good and evil: and they are now set up to be judges of the affairs of the kingdom by God, and by the Parliament as his hand.  
2. As they are higher being made judges and appealed unto, so they are the stronger and more able to do justice and defend themselves then any instituted power: in all representatives there is some weakness being but figurative: They are indeed very elegant, beautiful and stately administrations of justice, but have not that inward sufficiency and fundamental, stable strength that is in the people: And being but forms of government, we have found them, as in this Parliament, trifling about punctilios of honour, circumstances and points of privilege and prerogative, and not gone downright to the root of the matter; which lightness of spirit is not a proper remedy for the huge bulk of wickedness that hath gotten into this Kingdom; nor able to stand against the height & pride of injustice enthornd in the nation, & would be a whole age & more in purging out these evil humours in their dull, formal and customary way of proceeding, which is wholly unsatisfactory to the justice of God. Yea iniquity grew upon them, and appeared in such an overflowing malignity, and in persons of such eminency, that they feared to meddle with it, or feared they should be swallowed up with it, and therefore sought the people to stand up and do that which they could not; whose weight and strength is only able to cast out the wicked spirit that had universally possesd itself of all parts of the Kingdom, especially the superior parts: And the people thus authorizd and empowerd by the sword, and inflamed with wrath and zeal against their adversaries, have with much difficulty along while contested with these evils, and at last got the better of them, which would have long ago (as 'tis most evident) have swallowed up the Parliament; and by this 'tis evident this of the people is the stronger power.  
Thirdly, There is a third consideration proper for this, which is the power that is committed to the people; it's the power of the sword, and that in a military way: If I give a man my sword I make him my Lord, and give him my life: so did the Parliament in committing the sword to the people, submitted themselves to them; And with it they have declared, that they would live and die with those they have so entrusted: 'tis as much as to say, we give our lives to your command; our prosperity and being is only in you, we must live only upon you: Now 'tis reason that those that give life should give laws too; and them upon whom we depend for our being, we must depend upon them likewise for out rule: so that the Parliament have made the Army the Lords protectors of themselves, and of the right and interest of England; which while it stands, is the chief power: What makes a public person above a private, but that he hath the civil sword in his hand to administer justice? Now the military sword is sharper, it's a trust more absolute and independent, more exercisd by will, and less subject so the forms of law; and therefore they that have it are much more Lords over those that are subject to it, and so the Army more superior to the Parliament than they to others.  
This I know will seem strange to many, and is not clear to the Army itself, that the Parliament should become a subordinate and inferior, and they a higher and supreme power. But God hath made it so, and that (as you see) according to the reason and actions of men; And let men consider but the actings of Parliament and Army, they shall find the same thing expressed in deeds; which is a sensible and experimental discovery of truth. Since these wars we know the main business of the Parliament hath been to serve the Army, to gather, borrow and assess moneys for them, and to provide them necessaries; some things of government have passed from them, but in a low, weak, in considerable way; and in them they have been up and down, high and low, this way and that way, as they received impression from the Army. It's true, this hath not been spoken expressly, but implicitly and darkly it hath, and the Parliament have felt it really: therefore you must be content to bear this yoke: You have endeavoured to acquit yourselves of it, but cannot: You have already lost your authority, when you turned England into a camp, and set up martial power: when God leads them to restore it, as he did you to give it, you shall have it, and not till then.  
Fourthly, This Army are truly the people of England, and have the nature and power of the whole in them.  
1. They are of a popular stature, men of the common and ordinary rank of people, most of them of trades and husbandry, (with a small mixture of the Gentry) which are the body and strength of the Kingdom, and in whom the common interest most lies.  
2. They are the heart and life of the people, men in whom appears strong and lively affections for public good, manifested in their great labours, and hazarding their lives so often for the Kingdom; by which they have merited the honour to be accounted the very breast and strength of England, and to have in them the soul and life of the nation.  
3. They did accept the appeal of the Parliament, and answer their call of the people to judge, and accepting of it, its reason they should have it; if others either are senseless and cannot judge, or sluggish and cowardly and will not through fear adventure; or entangled with principles of slavery, or engaged by particular and self-respects to a malignant party, and so oppose them; yet they seeing and apprehending the danger of the Commonwealth, hearing the call of the Parliament, and being valiant for the truth, to step up upon this throne of judicature offered to them, they are unquestionably to be entitled the people of England.  
4. To this may be added the concurrence of the affections, prayers, counsels, pens and purses of the honest spirits in the Kingdom, who have at some time or other sealed to them, and contributed their best help to them: Although it may be since, many through darkness, weakness, temptations, divisions, petty and inferior factions, have been distasted at them, and withdrawn themselves from them: But these earthly and carnal distractions arising, partly from the Army's miscarriages and weakness, partly from others passions, cannot obliterate and blot out the many subscriptions of their names in heaven to and for the Army in their prayers and speakings, especially in their distress: And after these mists are blown away, God will lead people bacl to their own hearty and earnest desires of a blessing upon the Army, as on those in whom their lives and the life and safety of religion and liberty lay, which are enroled in heaven; and so show them, though they are divided below, they are one in the highest, best, and most general actings of their spirits.  
5. This Army in their general carriage towards the people, have by their tenderness of them, care of preserving them, forbearing to plunder and spoil them, though absolutely in their power, have showed that they have a public spirit, and that the peace and good of the nation lives in them: And although they be not so absolute and perfect in this, but that there be some sad examples of violence and wrong, by many ill members amongst them, yet they have generally, through the excellency of command, and the good spirit of God guiding of them, so behaved themselves, that the people every where have witnessed their great approbation of them, as saviours or preservers of them, by joy in their presence and tears at their departure: 'tis true, the Army hath of late for their iniquities, by the judgement of God upon their miscarriage, laid under the curse of many people, and under a black and thick cloud of wrath: But former kindness will be remembered, and God will give them greater honour and acceptance, and let us know they are ourselves, and as we have said, the people of England; having public spirits, and minding the good of every person in England as their own.  
So that they are rightly and truly the people, not in a gross heap, or in a heavy, dull body, but in a selected, choice way: They are the people in virtue, spirit and power, gathered up into heart and union, and so most able and fit for the work they have in hand: The people, in gross, being a monster, an unwieldy, rude bulk of no use; but here they are gathered together into one pure, excellent life, and so useful and active for their good and safety. The clear understanding of this will be a great means to compose the disaffections of people to them, and to draw their hearts to them in love, being themselves formed by God into this body, and that now their interest lies as truly in the Army, as ever it did in King or Parliament, and will too be a guide to lead the Army into ways of common good, and will enlarge their principles to a general love of all, and a desire of making all happy as themselves.  
The Fifth and last particular is very considerable, and is that which the evil spirit of darkness hath obscured from the Army and the Kingdom, and by it denied them the comfort and us the benefit of their being; and that is this.  
That the Army are the People gathered and united into a most excellent and divine form: Or an Army is a singular Ordinance of God appointed for special purposes, and at this time raised by God as most fit for those noble, honourable and difficult works he hath now in hand.  
For the clearing of this I would have considered; That Army is a peculiar Ordinance of God wherein he hath a special delight, and appropriates it to himself as a power that hath more near relation to him, and more immediate dependence upon him, & in which he will most visibly show himself, & therefore chooses so often to be called the LORD OF HOSTS. And though they have a very dark and black outside, being the instruments of his wrath, so they have a very sweet and precious inside, when God brings forth his own name upon them, and discover them to be his: As the blackest afflictions have in them the choicest mercies; the cross of Christ hath glory in it; and privation itself obtains the honour to be a cause, and to bring in new and more excellent forms: so an Army that in the outside sounds dread and terror, yet hath riches treasured up in it; which when we see, we shall not fly from it, but rejoice to have it near us, and to go into it for subsistence.  
1. When God brought forth the first creation he cast them into this mould, an Army, and so laid the foundation of all his works in the camp, Gen. 2.1. When he had finished the heaven and the earth, and all the host of them: In this posture hath he put all things, not only the stars above, who fight in their order, march in their course, but the very locusts go forth by bands. The reason is, that they might all quietly serve him under the protection of an Army; and that if they be infested with any adverse power, they might have force to retreat to: In this military wisdom hath the Lord of Hosts made and established the world.  
2. When God expresses his presence with his people in the world, he manifests himself to be in a military state, I will encamp about my house: Pitch his tents about them; so in a second, middle or angelical state he is an Army, while he preserves us he gathers his Ministers about us in a body, an Army.  
3. When he comes in his last and great glory, he brings his hosts with him, and comes as a General and Lord of Hosts, thousands of thousands attending upon him, all his Saints and Angels; so that wherever the Lord appears, it is in this state, either in the rear or lowest, in the body or midst, in the van or highest, 'tis in this order; the creatures a camp, the Church militant a camp, the Saints in glory a camp or host likewise.  
In the providence of God in the world, God hath made great use of Armies.  
First, They have been the parents of all the Empires and Kingdoms of the world; all the present Commonwealths upon earth must own the sword to be their original, and confess that from it they had their beginnings; and 'tis rational, for an Army hath in it all government, and all parts of government, order, justice, etc. in highest and noblest virtue and majesty.  
Secondly, As all Kingdoms come out of an Army, so are much cherished and upheld by the same; most Kingdoms flourishing while their military virtues are kept bright and clear by use; and quickly languish when the sword is wholly laid aside; The presence of the sword keeping off destruction from them.  
Thirdly, As Kingdoms are begotten and nourished by Armies, so do they again resolve into them as into their first principles: And when by strength of wickedness civil societies are disturbed, they naturally retire to a military, as unto their own Father, for safety; for they have a peculiar majesty, severity, activity and masculine virtue or force to uphold a state against such evils as are in the world, which no power besides hath: And therefore Armies are not such hideous evils, as some imagine, but are beautiful, glorious and exceeding profitable societies; not only scourges, but saviours and protectors; they have motherly bowels as well as iron hands: and so in Gods raising and supporting this Army there is a most perfect wisdom of God; casting his people into this form is very seasonable and proper for us at this time.  
For we are at this time become a wilderness, the pale of civil power being broken down, and men let lose to furious and beastly lusts, such as would lead them to inhume and brutill villainies, were there not this curb in their mouths; nor could any man promise himself security in what he hath, but that God is a wall about us in this Army: And wise men will easily see, if sense of some present suffering, or adhering to another side or party did not blind them, that the violent and exorbitant lusts of men in this age, is no way to be restrained but by this sharp bit, an Army: 'tis true, 'tis our wickedness hath brought us to it; but seeing it is so, 'tis mercy in God to put himself and people into such a posture for our defence: And this is the mind of God1 formerly decalred, not only to break nations, but to rule them also with an iron sceptre.  
2. The work that God hath now in hand is not an earthy, fixed thing, but he is upon motion, marching of us out of Egyptian darkness and bondage, into a Canaan of rest and happiness; and therefore 'tis proper for him to gird up himself, to contract himself from a vast body of a Kingdom into a narrower compass, into a few spirits in an active body, such as an Army is, lose and free from the clog of old forms and customs, to act lively his pleasure and to follow him into those new ways and paths of truth and liberty, that he shall lead them: and because this work is attended upon with difficulties, and through a wilderness full of wild beasts and enemies on all sides, it's his great wisdom to Arm himself and to employ men skilful at the sword as well as at the truel, to build Jerusalem with weapons in their hands, our great dangers requiring it. And we know the beginnings of God's great works of good to his people, have been by Armies: as their deliverance out of Egypt and Babylon, in the same part doth he walk still, and therefore doth he now in his last appearing gather his host about him, and put us into this state as he hath foretold, Rev. 20. The camp of the Saints, The Armies in heaven.  
Thus have we brought you forth as the Virgin daughter of Zion, a select and chosen Generation, a lovely and precious people: But yet a female, a woman, and so in flesh and weakness being subject to sin and suffering: a state that must be tried, and by temptations improved: 'tis no sure nor stable condition, being not in complete and eternal union with God: you have had the love of espousals, many kind favours from God, a Father, a Lord: but have sinned against them and him, for which he hath caused you a while to wander in dark and troublesome ways, and not admitted you to that state of rest and glory which he intends to you. He hath taken the Crown and Diadem from off your head, for your unbelief and departure from him, and for that impurity which was in you: he stripped you of your beautiful garments of Praise and Honour that once clothed you, and so exposed you to wrath, curses, reproach, and put you again into a new fire of trouble to purify you, to make you seek the Lord. But he hath not dealt with you, as he hath dealt with other people: he hath refrained for his namesake, that he might not make an utter end of you. Because he will have a people that shall bear his name. Hath he smiteen him as he smote those that smote him? Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? No, In measlure when it shouteth forth thou wilt debate with it, be stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his sin. When he maketh all the stones of the altar, as chalk stones that are beat asunder, etc. Isa. 27, There is a a shouting forth of the righteous branch in you, and therefore we must stay all rough winds, and breath gentle gales upon you: your iniquity being taken away, we will present you holy to the Lord, and marry you to the God of your salvation.  
Know therefore, that the Lord, the most high God is in the midst of you, is in you and with you in a glorious presence, as you have professed: The glorious God, or the glory of God, dwells with you, or God in his highest glory rests upon you; so that you are not only the People of England, but the People of God, sanctified by the holy, mighty, wise spirit of God, and en lowed by the divine wisdom, strength and justice; and you are as an Army, so the LORDS host; or the Lord himself in his great majesty appearing amongst men in an host; the whole host of heavenly and blessed men and Angels, with all their various and innumerable excellencies and perfections gathered together, and embodied upon the earth in you. An earthly Army in union with the heavenly host, or the Lord of hosts in Mount Zion among his people gloriously: This is your Righteousness, the Lord Jehovah is your covering, your garment of salvation, and only this can justify you; honest intentions aid good meanings are rotten rags, and too narrow to cover your nakedness; we shall therefore open and unfold this glory unto you, and bring forth this your righteousness.  
First, The Lord is with you in his highest and greatest majesty, there is no power, no glory of God, but 'tis in you and with you, and no power nor glory greater than that which dwells in you, none besides, none above, none beyond it: The Lord is here, the most high God, and with him all power in heaven and earth; there is no wisdom or strength that you have not, and all imaginations of a power absent from you either in heaven or earth, is an injury or accusation to Gad and to you, is theft and robbery, stealing away the riches of God from you and from himself in you; if you look upon the Kingdom of God, the new creation, new heavens, and new earth, as absent or to come, you deny the holy one with you, who is present in deed and power, though under your weakness.  
Secondly, The Lord is with you in perfect union and communion; you are what he is, he is what you are; whatever is in him 'tis communicated to you, and whatever is in you, is communicated to him: Is there power or glory in God? 'tis in you also: Or is there weakness in you? it lies upon him: Or is there righteousness in God? 'tis in you as it is in him, to live in it, act in it and by it; to employ and bring forth: And is there infirmity in you? 'tis in him as 'tis in you, a clog, a burden, an enemy hated, separated, taken away, etc. Nothing now is spoken of God, but may be spoken of you; you being in union with him: or nothing spoken or done to you, but 'tis done to God with you, you being one: And 'tis the blasphemy of hell and devil to separate God from you, or you from God. Will men say you are Rebels, Destroyer's; they say it of the Lord: or will you, or satan in you, say you are weak, and men, and can't do such high things: they are too great for us, you and they will know you speak the same of God, and so judge him as weak and unable to do them. For in nothing you must be divided: or if you think that is God's, but this is our work, you wrong God, and yourselves: you must speak the words and do the works of God: God is now, God in the earth, and you an Army in heaven.  
3. The Lord is with you in spirit and truth, eternally, inseparably, in a kingdom that never shall be destroyed: in an everlasting covenant that cannot be broken. The kingdom is so with you the Lords people, as it shall never be taken front you; but shall endure for ever, and all oppressing fears or dark doubts, they are of the malicious one, your enemy, and the darkness of hell that obscures the glory of God, which is an everlasting light, a Sun that will not set: and all attempts of Satan or his instruments, will be as waves against a rock dashed in pieces, and you shall grow from a little stone, to a great mountain: from a little branch, to a great tree, that shall spread itself and fill the earth with fruit.  
Upon this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest. Having laid this foundation; now shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of the Lord shall be thy rerc-ward: you shall at once have light, clear light to walk by, health to cure your diseases, to make you strong: and Righteovesse to justify all that you do: For these cannot be separated when the Sun rises, with light to direct he is a Sun of righteousness; to justify and take away sin and shame, and hath healing in his wings, giveth life and strength to do what he leads us to do.  
1. Seeing the Lord hath passed from other powers to you, and exalted or set up you as the present standing power of the Kingdom, and hath given himself to you, and taken you up into his glorious presence; then must you exalt the Lord, publish, declare the name of the Lord. Confess him to be in the midst of you: sound him forth evidently, boldly, aloud; say the LORD lives with you, that he is come to reign amongst you gloriously. Bring him forth in brightness and power: let this oppressed one go free; tell it to all the nations, the Saviour of Israel is come to redeem his people from all their enemies: you do mutter it, and speak it softly, and by halves, but declare it fully, that we may hear the shout of a King in the camp, that God himself is in you of a truth: Let us hear the sound of that Trumpet in the Camp, which the seventh, last and blessed Angel sounds; And those great voices in heaven, saying, The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever: Do you, not in words but in power and truth, cast your crowns down to the earth, fall with your faces to the earth; your crown of successes, victories, lay them down in the dirt, being but earthly; and your faces, your excellency of honesty, valour, wisdom, honour, lay it down to the earth, for 'tis but dust; and do you worship God, live God, confess God, exalt God, his righteousness and power which is worthy, perfect, almighty; Say (and do) we give thee thanks, O Lord God almighty, which art, and waste, and art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned, Rev. 11. Give tip yourselves from humane, weak and fleshly state, as thanks or a free will offering, to the glory and majesty of God, to act and live the life of the Almighty, put on the Almightiness of God, be clothed with God Almighty; and know the Lord is with you who art, deny not his present being in power and glory in you, and confess he always hath been with you; which waist, and that which is to come, that which is eternal and everlasting, is present; disjoin not these, let not him that is now with you, be another from him who is to come, or from him who was; but say and swear in truth, that he who is to come, in all that he will do, is now present with you to do it; He hath taken his great power and hath reigned; he hath already begun, hath taken his last and great power, and is in the exercise of it.  
Therefore, Arise and shine forth, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee: For behold the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall rise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee; And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and Kings to the brightness of thy rising. This lifting up the name of the LORD in you will have a very great effect upon others and yourselves.  
1. Upon others; Sad darkness now covers the People of this Nation, & they are in perplexity, not knowing which way to go: Do you shake your selus from the dust of your own vileness, and put on the goodness, power and wisdom of God, and all people will flow in unto it for help and secure; you will presently cause all to gather about you for relief: The glory and light of God will melt the heart of your adversaries into love to you; The sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending into thee, and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, and call thee the City of the Lord, the Zion of the holy One of Israel: Holding forth the goodness of God you will be a joy of many generations; revive the Nation now lying in a grave of misery: And those that continue obstinate, the name of the Lord will be a terror to them, fill their faces with shame and confusion; 'Twill be as lightning, immediately blasting and withering them; 'Twill pierce through their heads, hearts and loins, and for ever disable them from any undertake or practices against you.  
2. For yourselves; This presence of God will burn up all those low and base spirits that are amongst you, covetousness, pride, self-love, shall not dare to abide in the camp: 'Twill be an anointing to you, filling you with royal and Princely minds, create majesty, power, wisdom, justice and truth amongst you; fill you with light and understanding, so that all your ways shall be clear and plain before you, and every one shall be more mighty than a hundred, able to fill the earth with righteousness and truth.  
Secondly, You being the People of England, and all power and dominion descending and coming down into you: You are the Mother of the Nation the earth, basis and foundation upon which all lie: and being thus, in the light and strength of God, you are Jerusalem which is above, the Mother of us all: And therefore must,  
1. Spread your arms to receive the whole Nation, open your bosoms to us, and let us see that you carry in you all the happiness and welfare of the Kingdom; manifest the largeness and comprehension of your spirits, that you have in you the King and his royalty, the Parliament and their wisdom and majesty; these two in Treaty nay in perfect union, that religion, trade, justice, order, covenant, settlement, reformation, riches, honours, propriety lies treasured up in your breasts: What you have not, gather into you all the offices, treasure; authorities, seals, judicatures, all the prerogatives and privileges of the Nation, let nothing lie out of you and be lost, but be you the centre of all, and call in all into you.  
2. Let it appear that they are in you as in the Lord; In the Lord in you, and so are in you most excellently, safely; that though we have them not in a visible and sensible way, yet let all know they are in you as corn sowed in the earth; that you do embrace them all in your tenderest bowels of love and care, and but entrusted for a time with them; that as all have seen a seeds time, a fall of the fruit and leaf, so we may expect a spring; as we have seen a death by you of all, so we may hope to see a resurrection.  
3. Receive them and retain them all in judgement, make a thorough digestion of the good and evil of them all; keep them as in a fire, by the sword of divine justice, with the exactness of God; cut off all evil things and persons, separate the precious from the vile in the Commonwealth, & let nothing that is of particular, or hurtful interests remain, but be a merciless grave to all tyranny, oppression, to all ungodliness and unrighteousness; let all things that are just, good, holy and honourable, incorporate with you, receive a new life from you: Know the Lord is upon his Throne amongst you, and every one, and every thing that is not his must be rejected; Every plant that he hath not planted must be pulled up; there must be no judge but the Lord; and no rule of accepting or refusing, but the divine law of the spirit of God: What God will own and say, 'tis mine, shall live, and what he will disclaim, must die, and the poor, narrow minds and fancies of men must not be enthroned, nor have leave to judge amongst you.  
4. So receive and retain them as ready to restore them when they are tried and purified; let it appear that you are the womb of the Kingdom, that will with labour and travel conceive, breed and nourish it: But that it is to you a burden, and when the appointed time comes, you cannot but desire to be delivered of it; and that it is your sorrow to have it in you, and will be your joy to bring it forth unto others. By letting forth this public and good spirit you will be carried up above that petty, low spirit of malice or enmity to any; you will kill and tread upon this serpent, which is a base principle and unworthy of God, and would keep you down in earthy and dark ways; but coming forth into the largeness of God, you will act in high, noble and generous ways.  
And by being thus enlarged you will be as the walls of the Nation, enclose and embrace all men, and all interests, and of a sudden gather up all men into yourselves, surprise and catch men's hearts before they are ware: and begird the Kingdom with your arms, and bind up all her breaches in union with yourselves: and be a present ease and stay to men's sad and aching spirits: that whereas they are now in a wilderness and know not where they are, they may of a sudden, their eyes being opened see they are in the hands of a wise and good God, taking care of them by his own people whom he hath blessed with largeness, judgement and goodness for their safety. That men may see that though they are fallen, yet not into a pit of utter destruction, or not into the hands of enemies, but unexpectedly upon a very good bottom; a people having the tenderness and goodness of the Nation, and the firmness, largeness, judgement and stability of God in them, both in civil and spiritual things: and discover a foundation, a firm rock and beginning of peace and happiness to the Kingdom arising up in the midst of us.  
Thirdly, Let me bring you forth too as the highest and strongest power in the Nation, being superior to King, Parliament and All, in a true and good sense: 'tis God and Nature gives it you, and you wrong the Kingdom and yourselves, till you come forth in a clear and free owning of it: You darkly and in the twilight steal it by your actions, but deny to profess it, which subjects you to reproach and scorn as adulteresses and thiefs, if you could boldly and in the light and strength of God challenge it as your right and manifest it; what is now feared would be embraced: Truths while they are faintly owned and by halves are abused and rejected: when they lie low in the dust and are obscured by darkness are terrible, and men fly from them: but when we lift them up into our faces, and give them a throne in our open and free possession of them they are lovely and acceptable; and command subjection in all: Besides the Kingdom is unstable and looks this way and that way for a head: some look to the King, and others to the Parliament, and neither appears to head them, which keeps them still in a wavering state, fare from any staidness or settledness: Now lift up your heads, be upright: stand up in the name and power of God, and this will compose the divided and doubting minds of men, knowing where to fix, and attract and engage all to you: for you appearing their natural and head cant be disowned.  
'tis true you may be thought a Jacob a supplanter of your elder brother of his birthright: But you having the blessing too, it will bear you out: God gives it: The smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord bathe blessed. God give thee the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve thee and nations bow down to thee: Be Lord over thy brethren, and cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee. Show forth that riches of heaven, that light and glory of God, and that fatness of the earthy, that goodness, power, justice and kindness that is in you, and then all power must bow to you, all will seek to you.  
While you hold it forth in a night dream, as Joseph doth his brother's sheaves bowing to his: they despise and envy you for it, but show yourselves possessed of all the corn of Egypt, of all the good of the land, and then your brethren there being a famine in the land of peace and righteousness, they will be glad of you, and come and remove all their substance to you, into the Camp, to be preserved and kept alive by that store at health and salvation that is in the presence and goodness of God laid up amongst you and in you.  
Your halting in this point is very dishonourable and unsatisfactory, to write yourselves the servants of the Parliament, and yet to exercise power over them: And it puts you upon gross and unseemly actions: to patch and bodge, to pick out and cull some from the Parliament that go against you, and leave others that are as unfit to govern as they you refuse, only because they vote with you: This hath great appearance of siding and partiality: it were more justifiable fare to dissolve the whole and stand upon your own absolute and supreme power: For while you go as a Snail with that old house upon your heads, you will never make any dispatch in your business, they being in that state in which you own them, an empty vain idol of no use at all, but will be a clog to you perpetually, and make you formal, low, servile, and tedious in all your actions.  
Therefore ascend into that height into which you are called, shake yourselves from your dust of formal relations to other powers that are ground to powder by the justice of God, that you might come forth of them: Lose your necks from your brills, be no longer captives: They have and God hath made you Judges, and given you authority and dominion: The mountain of the LORDS house, shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and nations shall flow unto it.  
It shall appear that you are indeed the supreme power taken up into the throne of God, living in the secret place of the most high. That the most high God rules in you, and gives his highest wisdom and justice to you: And that you have a more exquisite sense of the good and evil of the Nation than any, and more able to judge what is truly for their good, and to resolve those questions and controversies which yet lie in doubt and darkness amongst us.  
And that you are in the power of God mighty to save them when men cannot, being the people of GOD, or qualified with a divine strength: Though the Kingdom be miserably broken, and those that have attempted to heal it through unskilfulness and unmercifulness have more abused the poor people: yet there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. There is balm in Gilead: Though there be none in the ways of men, yet there is amongst the people of God in Israel, that is a prince with God, and prevails over men: Though the Sun be turned into darkness, and the Moon to blond: there is confusion, shame and despair, in and upon the greatest lights of the world: Yet in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call, Joel 2.31, 32, in the LORDS people, a despised remnant is England's salvation.  
Therefore let them know, that though through the flood of wickedness that is broken forth amongst us, religion be laid waste, order and government in Church and Commonwealth be dissolved, and the honour, royalty, greatness, riches, trade of the Nation be visibly lost, yet there is a power with you that can recover all these into light and health again, to the satisfaction of all that desire to see good days: This alcreating, al-restoring power is with us, and will not fail us in our work: Isay. 58.11, 12. The Lord shall guide thee continually, etc. Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not: Thou shalt build the old waste places, thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in: There is a fountain and spring of the spirit of God that shall run over the whole Kingdom, and not fail in any work you are upon, be it never so high, great and honourable, and all that is excellent in the Kingdom, though it be sunk into the foundations, yet you will restore and repair them again.  
Fourthly, I present you to the Kingdom, and so must you present yourselves to them as the fruit of their own womb. The son of God begotten by the Spirit of God, of this Nation, formed and shaped by the divine wisdom out of the bowels of the people: Or that little stone, a precious stone, being irradiated with the holy and divine nature, cut out of the mountain or the Kingdom without hands: There is in you the life and spirit of the Kingdom: the vigour and strength of the Nation: her firstborn you are: the staff and strength of her age, and although of all the children that she hath formerly brought forth by her elections, laws, customs; there is none that can take her by the hand, and guide her out of her distress, yet you will kindly put under your shoulders to carry her in your arms to a place of rest.  
Cast away therefore that vail of a party of any particular interest, and look forth in your own true face a child and heir of the Kingdom, our own flesh and blood, of tender affection to us, and pity of us; we have given you light and being by our purses, prayers, persons, counsels; 'tis our life, religion, estate, cause, blood that runs in your veins, and therefore you own to us yourselves, life, strength, pains, labours, watch, and aught to lay them all out freely for us, purely in love, and repayment of the debt you own to us; And coming upon these terms as the child of our travels, pangs and distresses, the child of our desires and prayers, the issue of many consultations, affections, disbursments, fears, hopes, the first borne of our own Lord and Husband, God, and bearing his own image upon you, holiness, righteousness, goodness; we cannot but with joy embrace you after our sore travels and afflictions; and though many people dying in fear and despair, as Rachel, call you BEN-ONI, The Son of my sorrow, yet your Father who lives will call you BENJAMIN, the Son of my right hand.  
Let the Spirit of the Lord file off your roughness and unevennesse, and blow away that dust that covers your beauty, and we shall see you a stone solid, firm and stable, that cannot be broken by any devices or force; a precious stone, that contains in it all the interests, all that's good or worthy in the Kingdom; That you are as cut out, so laid by the hand and art of God in Zion; a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation, he that believeth maketh not haste; You have been tried and are found precious, and a corner stone in which all our rights are laid, and so squared by God with that exact justice, as to be a rule and square to the whole Kingdom, and a sure foundation of an everlasting peace, such a foundation as hath the whole building in it; and this will make men stay upon you and believe in you, not hastening after any other help or Saviour.  
You are, being form by God, of that true and intrinsecall worth, that you have the prize of the Nation in you, and that in spirit, and so in the purest and best union, which is to us a ground and bottom of true peace: But you neglect this true, substantial union, and are making another, an agreement of the people, which shows a grossness and filthiness of spirit; not able to discern the union of God in you in one heart and mind, and not only amongst yourselves, but of the whole Kingdom in their true and right sense, and therefore are framing a carnal and fleshly one, according to the custom of the Heathen; a work below the Lord, and a, descending into the earth to do that which God hath done already most excellently: You are a living Altar, and a lifting up a tool unto it doth pollute it: The Lord is building a house which is from heaven, and you know the pattern is in the Mount, and is thence brought forth; the stone it made ready, and there must not be beard while 'tis building, neither hammer, axe, or any tool of iron in the house; this sawing and cutting to make an outward; literal agreement, vexes and wounds your spirits, and tends to dis-unite you from the Lord, and from each other: The Lord is with you in union, he is one, and gives you true unity one soul and spirit: Therefore stand up and come forth in that entire form that the Lord hath cast you into, in that image that he stamps upon you; a living stone in all parts, as polished so quickened by the spirit of God.  
Lastly, Let me present you and bring you forth as the Lords host in the great majesty of an Army; in this most excellent form in whom the Lord is as a mighty man of war, clothed with zeal as with a garment; stripped out of ordinary, common and cold forms of government, and making bare his arm in the most terrible and masculine constitution of an Amy; Glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength, red in his apparel, and his garments like him that treadeth in the wine fat; for the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come: A DAY of vengeance, this work must be cut short in Righteousness, quick and speedy, and that too in perfect union with salvation or redemption, which must be long, A YEAR, it must last for ever, The year of my redeemed it come.  
1. In this respect you must appear most absolute in your commands, strong, mighty and indisputable in your authority; such is the government of an Army, and 'tis proper in the work you are in: Dan. 4.35. And he doth according to his will in the Army in heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what dost thou? An Army in heaven, that's your place, standing in God, and inspired by the Spirit of God; one with the heavenly host, majesty or absoluteness, is but due here, and that without danger, when the Wise God guides your resolves; for nothing must come forth but that which hath the face of God upon it, and that in which divine justice and goodness doth appear: Being the Lord doth it, who can say, What d●st thou? This excellency of God and all other glorious perfections are amongst us, and must no longer be buried under humane weakness, and the staggering blindness and uncertainty of the creature.  
2. You must appear in greater terror to evil doers, than any power before you; with your sword whetted, furbushed, bathed in heaven, made bright and glittering with the Spirit of God; That it may awe & dazzle the eyes of the Nation into a fear of transgressing: Former swords have been too dull to cut up iniquity; wickedness hath slighted and scorned them, therefore must you appear in greater severity, every act and word of justice piercing to the heart; searching between the soul and spirit, between the bone and marrow; to kill wickedness in the root of it; to destroy not only the outward acts of injustice and oppression, as contrary to our sensible and outward peace, but their inward strength, as contrary to the glory and goodness of God: Not only strike at humane miscarriages, which are weak, but at those Diabolical wickednesses that are strong, and the Father of these inferior oppressions; which you are able to do, having a sword bathed in heaven, and executting the divine justice; and by doing this you shall secure the things you do, and for ever disable Satan to bring forth any more mischiefs upon us.  
This is that you have harped at, the fulfilling of that promise, Psal. 149.6, amp; c. The high praise of God in their mouth; This is excellent to have God in our mouth, and God in his praise, in his glory; yea, his high praise to speak forth the highest honour of God, his highest, last and utmost holiness and justice. And a two edged sword in their hand, one of flesh, another of spirit: to cut up sinners with the one, and sin itself with the other: The first is common to every Heathen; the second, the peculiar honour of Christ, who hath before used it in his mouth, but now in his hand, hath declared, preached it, will now act it in deeds, and so bring forth the inward sword of the Spirit, and outward of the flesh to be administered together by one hand: And by this shall you not only slay wicked men, but wicked works, or wicked things. To destroy or cut off evil men only is Heathenish, to destroy wicked works only, and not men, is Christian: to cut off both together is the last great and perfect judgement of the world: by this you shall do that which hath been foretell, in Daniel 9.24. To finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to bring in everlasting righteousness: so to break the staff of oppression, that the rod of the wicked should no longer lie upon the lot of the righteous: or to destroy the wickedness out of the earth root and branch, that there may no more come out of their loins: that sin may be barren and childless: this is the secure condition you aim at, and that which is promised, and will be made good to you: To set up such true and bright laws, so holy and incorruptible, in such power and efficacy, as no ungodliness shall be able to pass thorough them, or stand in the sight of them: Such a majesty of the face of God will bring forth itself, as will behold no iniquity: sin shall not abide in men's actions, no nor hearts, nay not in the first father of it, Satan, but in all it shall be utterly destroyed: This is not beyond the power of the Lord of hosts with us, but that which is our portion and prerogative: and must be effected. To set up the new Jerusalem in such brightness and everlasting purity, as no unclean thing shall come into it: nothing defile it.  
As you shall come forth in flames of fire against all the workers of iniquity, so that not one shall escape: so in walls of fire towards all that is good, to defend and save it: We have that one lawgiver that can kill and make alive, that can save as well as destroy: preserve gold as well as consume dross: be a Saviour of life unto life, as well as death unto death: to bring all the good of the earth into the good of heaven, as well as to cast the evil of the world into hell: to lose the holy One out of his bonds, as well as to bind the wicked one in his: 'tis a black and foul work to kill only, and not to restore: but this is our chiefest excellency: to save what is good in all, ●nd to bring it forth in a holy and perfect way: to beget children that shall be princes in all the earth. Or by the Spirit of God to beget Principalities & powers, Kings, Lords, etc. of our own righteous and just nature, and of greater vigour and power of righteousness and wisdom, than ourselves in our own persons: we are able in our God to stamp the divine image upon men, to form them into the likeness of God, to convey our own spirits with our authority, to empower with spirit as well as office, and if we cant do that we can do nothing in truth, nothing in God, nothing different from the most common and ordinary Heathens: and but that which will destroy us as soon as we have made it. If we set up an earthly and fleshly form, it will corrupt and turn enemy to us that exalt it, except we set up God, and set up in all the powder of God, and all in the power of God, or all quickened with the Spirit of God: And being the host of God, and having all fullness of the Spirit, or being attended with all the divine perfections, we can and shall spread forth in the fruits of righteousness: And establish righteousness in persons and things, living righteousness.  
This is your true state, and the first and least of it: and less than this is not your righteousness: I cant speak or think less of you: & he that thinks or speaks less than this or contrary to this, be it Satan in you or others, blasphemes the tabernacle of God, & them that dwell in heaven: This is your own life, and all below it are fancies, dreams and lies: Babylon and confusion keeping & holding Zion from her glory.  
'tis a blessed face of God, and the light of his countenance shining upon you; and I know there is another face which is the same in you that answers to this, and though it hath been veiled awhile, the brightness and power of this will scatter that mist and call forth its own self and likeness in you to embrace this: Righteousness looks down from heaven here upon you: we might question whether it would be received, or no, whether it would not be judged a fancy, a conceit, but that we know also, Truth springs out of the earth, the same spirit hath been acting a long while in you, though under and in the earth buried under flesh, but now will come forth and answer to this, or say, 'tis ●r●th, and make it truth in the performance: You will not say this is righteous in God, he may do all this it is proper for him, but not for us: No, righteousness and peace have kissed each other: you are reconciled to this righteousness, the partition wall is broken down, of two made one new man: and so you cannot but receive and rejoice in it: mercy here meets with truth in your breasts: The heaven's power down righteousness, and the earth opens, and salvation springs forth together. The Lord is come down, yea the heavens, all the host of them, all the stars of righteousness, and the same truth arises out of you and these together, are salvation. God out of you works but in weakness, in trouble: so do you out of God; both together bring forth salvation.  
I shall I know meet with this objection from yourselves and others, that this will be true, but not yet; and that it is fare otherwise with you for the present; 'tis that you expect, but 'tis not yet manifested.  
To this I answer, That this truth is eternal, and there is no moment wherein you can say 'tis not, 'tis he that was, is and is to come: That therefore it is darkness that denies it; or that's a deep pit that says 'tis not here: do not abide in such darkness of hell where eternal truth will not be admitted: That as it always hath been so it now is brought forth borne into the world: the child is born I have been long travelling for him, and now lay him amongst you: it is true it is in the Stable amongst beasts, Swaddled and lying in a Manger, in a very mean and contemptible condition, but I shall own him and nurse him, and so will you I hope, it is your own God and Saviour, though wrapped up in flesh, and in the midst of a beastly crew, yet smiling in your face, offered to you, yea arising up in you; And he whom you have sought for is now come into his Temple; you have long conceived him, and traveled too to bring him forth; and now Behold thy King cometh riding upon an ass; receive him and say, This is the Lord, we have waited for him.  
If you can yet say, these things are brought forth in you, but not in us, we cannot own them in power, you may, we are yet in the flesh; 'tis your light, not ours; we live not in this glory, nor can act in it, we must go our way.  
No, 'tis yours as well as mine, and not mine as distinct from you, but mine in you and with you; for we have but one life, one spirit, and if it break forth first in me, 'tis for your sakes: 'tis not a personal or private spirit, but the Spirit of God and of all the Saints; 'tis the life and soul of the Army, and therefore you cannot be strangers to it; sure so soon as you see it you will say, this is our portion, our rock, our strength.  
But if you are in the flesh, and this glory be not suffered to act in you, What's the reason of it? Who lets? Is it not the man of sin? If it be so, than you confess yourselves guilty of what I have formerly written; for this man of sin is not a limb or member, but a complete man, and so hath all sin in him: where flesh is it is a body of sin, having all iniquity woven together into one vail; pride, hypocrisy, selfseeking, enmity against God, and all in the highest way of sin, whose coming it after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness: 'tis no less than Satan, though with all power and signs of praying, seeking God, justice; and lying wonders, wonderful great things, but lying, because separated from the eternal truth: with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, I know none righteous but God, and all ways beside are to deceive: And if this spirit be in you, it is not idle, it comes forth; this blood runs in the veins of all your actions; the Lord said it of you long ago, Ezech. 21.24. Ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your do your sins do appear— And thou profane, wicked Prince of Israel, whose day is come when iniquity shall have an end: This filth lies not still, but comes forth in all your actions, and fills them with darkness, weakness, confusion, instability: but an end it come of sin, and that wicked Prince is cast out; I am pacified towards you, fury is not in me, I have no more to accuse you of.  
If you now object, as I doubt you will, your being in the flesh, your weakness, inability to manage these high and great ways, the sense of your unworthiness and sinfulness obscuring this glory: Observe this.  
1. You now are the accusers; I have done, I have nothing to say against you; I appeared in fury and jealousy against you, and by that fire have purified you, and burnt up that dross that was in you; it's all cast into the bottom of the sea, I remember it no more; it's under my feet, I am above it; and now I am justifying, and you are accusing yourselves, and this shall be our controversy hereafter, I shall offend you by declaring a Righteousness in you which you you may say is too high, too great, and you be your own condemners; or being reconciled, and establishing a Covenant of peace, you will then be ashamed of all the evil that you have done.  
2. Know your sins lie upon the Lord, they are his, he bears them all; there is none now under iniquity but Christ; you are Righteous, the Lord is your Righteousness; there is a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness to wash in; That fire of jealousy in which the Lord appeared in my last, hath judged and destroyed the wicked one, and now appears your righteousness. That was an arraignment of the filthy Prince, this is a clearing of the holy One, and both in the power and truth of God.  
3. The consideration of your unworthiness, unfitness may be to you sad and troublesome, it is to me glorious; It being the great design of God to visit his people in a low condition, in prison, in Babylon, and to glorify himself and the riches of his power and mercy, to love freely, to cover and take away iniquity, to blot them out as a thick Cloud; God now hath taken your filthy garments from you, and clothed you with beautiful garments, and put a crown upon your heads; He gives you beauty for ashes: You were burnt to ashes by the wrath of God, here's now beauty for you: You are brought forth in your full proportion your original, your feet, your first standing and your head, the glory of the Lord in eternal praise.  
The holy God takes pleasure to raise the highest buildings out of the lowest and poorest beginnings; the more glorious the end, the viler and deeper the foundation; God that raised the first creation out of a Ch●os, and established it upon the waters, will raise the new heavens and new earth out of a weak and confused heap of waters, a poor and despised people; And there where men looked not for him will he appear: Out of Nazareth from whence no good comes; from Egypt, a place of thraldom and captivity; And thou Bethlehem, little among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall he come forth unto me to be Ruler in Israel: This man shall be our peace when the Assyrian is in the land; And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, in the midst of many people, as a Lion among the beasts, Mic. 5. All which shows, that the Lord chooses to manifest himself first in those that are beastly, gentle, ignorant, mean, despised people, and even then when the Assyrian, the man of sin is in the land, in them and upon them.  
The Lord hath been with you informer mercies, and in late sufferings; he appeared amongst you in a spring of blessings, since hath lain down in disgrace; made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, he hath been numbered with transgressors: Your sins have slain your Lord, your glory, and your Lord by death hath borne and slain your sins; you have lain dead, because Christ your life hath been killed your sins; but Christ hath died with you, in you, into you, and Sampson-like, by his death hath killed all his enemies; your transgressions have made his grave, & there buried themselves, and lose their destroying nature in him, hanging upon him; he how offers up his soul a sacrifice for sin, which is an acceptable and pleasant thing to God, who is pleased to see our sins fall by Christ's death; and smells a sweet savour in that death that takes away the misery and grief of his people, and out of which he rises with them to glory and righteousness: Now shall he see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied, and by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; he had not been righteous if he had not died; but dying under our sins, he and we rising together are both righteous: It satisfies the Lord to travail with you, to travail out of your grave, to be in death with you, and thence to ascend to glory; and it matters not if men be unsatisfied.  
Be you unrighteous in yourselves, the Lord coming forth out of this obscurity, and shining upon you, you will say, Surely in the Lord have I righteousness and strength, even to him shall men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed; In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, & shall glory: Confess the Lord amongst you, 'twil justify you and strengthen you; and then they that are incensed against you are incensed against him; uncover his face clearly, and all will be ashamed to oppose their Lord, and so you may go on in righteousness and strength, glorying.  
Your way hath been dark and obscure to yourselves and others; here is light for you, showing you whence you come, and whither you go, Mentioning you from the womb, declaring your generation which hath been cut off, and showing your end, or that Canaan that you are going too; The Lord is here a Sun and shield, no good thing will he withhold; a plain path of justice, mercy and goodness trodden out to you, showing what you must do, whither you must go, and what guide you have to direct you: That you are now the mother and womb of the Kingdom into which all is cast; and the Father of mercies says you are the Father too, and must bring it forth in perfect and eternal righteousness.  
I have no more to say; or rather I will ever say, and say more strongly and plainly what I have here spoken weakly and darkly; Behold the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world; Say you to the Daughter of Zion, Behold thy salvation cometh; behold his reward is with him, and his work is before him; And they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord! And thou shalt be called, sought out a City not forsaken; 'tis your salvation that is come, you shall see evil no more; let all the world know it, let the news of it fill the dark and troubled earth, proclaim it openly, he gives you a reward of all your pains and sufferings, he brings all good with him; you will need no supplies but what he will daily bring forth to you: And his work is before him; 'tis now clear what he will do, reign over the Nations in righteousness; set up an everlasting Kingdom for the Saints that shall never be destroyed: And all must own you and confess you to be the holy people; holiness that hath been the world's scorn, will now be their saviour; that which they have derided shall they now trust in, your justice and faithfulness; you are holy with the holiness of God, or holy as your heavenly Father is holy, to rain down blessings upon the just and unjust, and to let the Sun of favour and salvation to shine generally upon all, upon the evil and the good: God hath sought you out wand'ring in a wilderness, and not knowing whether to go; and manifested but are not forsaken, not left to your own ways, wills or counsels, but taken into nearest union with the power, wisdom and glory of God; though for a little moment he left you, with everlasting kindness hath he gathered you, and will not forsake you any more.  
FINIS.   

The Postscript.  
GOD hath divided the judgements of men in these times, and concerning the Army, at this time very much: giving to several men particular principles, and these with a perverse spirit engaged in enmity one against another: some so fierce against them as they can hear no good of them: some so blinded with selse-love to their party, foolish flatterers can see no ill in them▪ to these half-headed men, poor shreds of Christians, I shall seem to contradict myself in these two pieces I have writ; and it may be offend both: I confess it hath been my portion to have all men offended at me, and can bear it; but I am willing now, if a little reason will satisfy to remove the offence, if not, I must wait.  
When this little book man comes to be opened and interpreted by the large Spirit of God; we shall find its a womb that hath two Nations in it, that it contains in it all the depths of Satan, & all the treasures of wisdom: When God comes to search and judge men, there are Goats and Sheep cursed and blessed in every one; and they are pitifully blinded and narrow spirits that see not all evil, all evil in particular as well as in general, all in highest and intense degrees in themselves: and you must see this or else you cant see the highest and chiefest good in yourselves. The Lord saith to Peter, Math. 16.17. Blessed art thou Bariona, and ver. 23. Get thee behind me Satan: And amongst the Prophets it was very common, as in Ezek. to declare against the wickedness of Israel, as worse than Samaria or Sodom, and immediately to declare them the Lords People, his own flock, in covenant with him, etc. Hosea in the same place says, ye are not my People, and again, ye are the People of the living God: now adulteresses, then married; yet no contradiction: no more than the evening and the morning to be one day; or flesh and spirit to be in one heart, or the man of sin to be in the Temple of God, and to be exalted there above him; or Gods own people in Babylon: This is not strange to me. Nor to declare the evil of the Army, as in the flesh, and much good in the same Army, as they are in God.  
Nor do I count it instability to condemn the wicked one in men, and justify the righteous: When I see Israel in their blood to turn my face from them, and seeing them Israel to turn my face towards them: or to separate the precious from the vile; to handle a two edged sword, to kill and save, or to save with vengeance: let it be counted lightness, I choose to be a fan to separate the chaff from the wheat, and be fire to burn up the dross, and purify the Gold.  
To you that are against the Army, this is no wrong to you, to manifest God here, and in him salvation to all his own and to all that is good: we are broken in pieces miserably, and if the Lord will heal us, let us not stand upon circumstances, whether it be by friend or foe, higher or lower, if it be peace and righteousness. If God appear in a Jew, though we are ten men of several languages, let's all take hold of his skirt, saying, we will go with you, for we have heard God with you. This be assured 'tis God that is here set up a general and universal good, and Saviour, and be not afraid of him, though he comes to you in the appearance of men below or against you.  
To the Army and your party, I say, The love here showed you is true charity: which vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, but beareth all things, etc. This love bumbles you to be under all, and to bear the burdens of all: enlarges you to embrace and comprehend all, strengthens you to save and deliver all: It doth not cover your evil, but remove it that it might be no hindrance to your doing good.  
'tis in my eye and heart to advance th● true and public good, THE LORD, and not any party of men. And in this I shall not fail, for God will be, must be exalted: And therefore I rest,  
W. S.