TO THE council OF OFFICERS OF THE army, AND THE Heads of the Nation; And for the INFERIOR OFFICERS and SOULDIERS to red.  
O friends, do not Rule with your own Reason! And O friends, when will you be stayed in the truth?( on that foundation[ in the truth] which cannot be shaken:) And when will you come into that which cannot be shaken, and come out of that which can bee shaken, and throw that down? O when will you look after the truth, and in it be stayed! that you may seek after the good of all men, and deny yourselves, and with the truth, every man deny himself, that in that which denieth self( the power of God you may live; in which you may know his Kingdom that hath no end, in which is peace; and no strife, but unity. O when will you throw out all those that have been said like hogs and swine amongst you, and the feeders of them which are become( like the dross) great Mountains, and others in the mean time ready to starve! O when will equity be found amongst you, that you may have peace, and it may be among you to answer the just principle of God in every one! When must the prisoners go forth, and have justice done them! O when will your persecution and oppression cease in these Nations! until then, you shall not have peace from the Lord, until the persecutors and oppressors sword be put up, which is turned against the just, which now is turned amongst the Heads of the Nation, and the just sword,( the power of God) which doth secretly work to do his service, to bring forth righteousness,& that must be brought forth, before righteousness be established in the Nations, to destroy all hypocrites and hypocrisy, flatterers and dissemblers, and daubers with untempered mortar, that the innocency and wisdom of God may rule. O purge out, purge out all the filth, all the filth from among yourselves, and out of yourselves! for truth over all will reign, that live not in it.  
And( O friends!) the power of God you have abused, which had you lived in, you and the Nations had all been quiet therein, and all the oppressed had had liberty; and the Lord had been the joy of every ones heart; and the spoil of the enemies not have taken up the possession of the heart, as it hath; so that the Lord hath had no place, nor his people; but the just have been trodden under-foot, and made a prey of on every hand, who have been put out of the Army and public Services, and the public Enemy hath had their revenge of many of them, which once they were over. Now had you been faithful in the power of the Lord which once stirred, this Nation needed not have been afraid of any Nation upon the earth; but your dread would have sounded over) the world: but when you lost the power of God, and turned against that with which you had brushed at the out-side of things then you turned against and put them in prison that struck at the root, by which Nations about you are lifted up, and stand at your doors. That which must break down and keep down, must be the power of the Lord, which if you had abided in, there had been another work in other Nations before now; then you should neither have feared Holland, nor France, nor Spain, nor Italy; but have trampled under deceit, and made it to bow:( But all these things are seen over, by them who are come to the election before the world began.)  
And had you been faithful to the power of the Lord God which first carried you on, you had gone into the midst of Spain, into their Land, to require the blood of the Innocent that there had been  shed, and commanded them to have offered up their Inquisition to you, and gone over them as the wind, and knocked at Rome's gates before now, and trampled Deceit and Tyrants under, and demanded the Pope himself, and have commanded him to have offered up all his Torture-houses, and his Wracks, and Inquisition,( which you should have found as black as hell) and broken up the bar and gates where all the just blood hath been  shed, which should have been required: And this you should have required, and this you should have seen done in the power, when you had been the dread of all Nations, you had been a dread to them, and should have set up a Standard at Rome: And then you should have sent for the Turk's Idol, the Mahomet, and plucked up Idolatry, and cried up Christ the onely King and Lord; and then people would have said, You had g●●e on in the cause of God and his truth, without any end to yourselves, but the good of all people, for the releasement of all people out of thraldom, bondage and captivity; and by that you should have had a name, being in the power of the Lord which is wonderful and dreadful; then there would have been little need to have looked for gold or silver: But when you lost the power, then came the innocent to be cast into prison here.[ Consider that above twenty hundred have been persecuted and imprisoned within these few yeers for conscience sake towards the Lord:] And so if you had gone to have made Inquisition for blood, and to demand all the Inquisitions abroad in the whole christendom, whereby the blood of the innocent had been  shed, then all the people in the whole christendom that had feared the Lord God, would have said with one consent, These are the men that are gone out for Gods cause, that set open the prison-doors, that will let none be persecuted for Religion that profess God and Christ, and then you would not have imprisoned at home; But now you have prisons to break down at home, where lies about two hundred prisoners now in prisons and dungeons, in nasty and dark holes, and hath lain in fetters and torturings only for the Word of God's sake. And the new Inquisition set up in New-England, burning in the hand, and cutting off ears, and the greatest crime as yet heard of, is speaking Thou to a particular, and not putting off the hat, and because they are such as work out their salvation with ●●ar and trembling, and tremble at Gods Word. And so now before you go to work abroad in other Nations, and the Lord prosper you there, you must come to the just in yourselves, and the power of the Lord God there, to set open the prison-doors, that all the just and the oppressed may go forth there,( and break down the unjust) which have been imprisoned since the power was left among you, and many excommunicated within these Dominions, and not suffered to buy nor sell, that Families are almost ruined, and many have almost all their whole estates, horses, and oxen taken away by the priests, for not giving them tithes; and many have been kept in prison till death, by them that ●re called Priests, for whom they do no work. Therefore if the power of the Lord God be minded, and you rise up in that, and all those things be thrown down at home, that are destructive to the very being of creatures,( such who are called Ministers of Christ that will imprison to death those whom they do no work for; and if they say they are no Ministers of Christ, but call them Priests, they say they scandalise them, and yet their own Law calls them Priests, Vicars, and Clerks. So now you have the truth to set free at home, before you go to do it abroad; for above twenty of the innocent lambs and harmless, have been persecuted, and their blood  shed in the ●treets and highways, and imprisoned till death in this Nation within these few yeers, and godly and peaceable Meetings have been broken up by men with Bills, Staves and Pistols, and their blood lies upon this Nation, and God hath required it, and will require it of their Heads, who might have stopped this martrydome a great while ago, which was in their power, and did it not; forbonds,& prisons,& fetters,& houses of correction and dangeons, do yet attend the lambs and babes of Christ in every part of the Nation, who have been tried this seven or eight yeers, whose blood hath been  shed,& they beat, and cruelly bruised, and tortured,& martyred,& whipped as Vagrants, their flesh martyred& tortured till it hath been ragged again, and yet this hath not assuaged the Adversary. But the Lord is risen, who will pled the cause of the Innocent, not by sword nor by spear, but by his power, in which he will overturn the world,& all the powers of the earth,& all sword-men that be not in his power: Therefore tremble and fear before the great God of jacob, of heaven& earth, in whose hands is all breath, who is the God of the spirits of all flesh, whose trumpet is sounding an Alarum in all the earth, that the inhabitants of the earth shal tremble,& all hills& mountains shall reel like cottagehouses. God is risen in his power,& happy is he that goes on in his arm, and makes his right hand their strength, for there's the safety, and that doth the valiant things;& this arm is above the arm of flesh. Now if simplicity& innocency were minded in every ones heart to do simplicity& innocency, to do such a thing, then you would have peace in the Nations amongst you,& you would be a dread to all the contrary; for you acting in the true simplicity, innocency,& wisdom of God that is from above, that is gentle, pure, peaceable,& easy to be entreated, by which all things were created, with this wisdom to come to order all things to the glory of God under your hands& dominions: and thus you acting in the light, you will be a terror to all the contrary, that they will be afraid of you to come before you to bring their deeds to the light. God will overturn,& overturn,( mark) before righteousness be brought forth, that is that which lasteth for ever: And there is not one upon the earth that comes to the law of God that is perfect, and endures for ever,( which lets him see the first transgression,& goes over all transgressors but he must first come to that which he hath transgressed in himself, the noble principle of life in himself, which answers the higher power to which the soul must be subject; and tha● strikes off all mens inventions,& acts& laws, which comes to the law of God which is just& equal, that answers to that of God in every man, whereby the law of life comes to be known that makes free from the law of sin& death; and no man upon the earth can know the Scriptures of truth, given forth from the Spirit of Truth, learned of God the Father of Spirits, but they must first come to the Spirit of God& the truth in the inward parts in their own particulars, before people come to have fellowship with God& with the scriptures, which were given forth from the spirit of God. There is no one upon the earth comes to worship God in spirit& in truth, but they must all be brought to the truth in the inward parts in their own particulars,& they must be in the spirit, if they be the worshippers of God the Father of Spirits; and this is more then all the talkers of Scriptures given forth from the Spirit of God; for there would not be a persecutor in all Christendom, if they were worshippers of God in the spirit and in the truth, ●ich the Devil( that Lord-persecutor) abode not in.  
Who obeys Christ, loves his enemies, and is in him, the truth, who saves mens lives; but who is out of truth, a worshipper, will kill& compel, and persecute to death, to worship; and if any thing be revealed to another that sits by, he will persecute it, and tell them that revelation is ceas't: But who be in the truth, and worship in spirit,( that reveals) they quench it not; The spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets.  
Many Justices of Peace( faithful to the Lord God, to serve him in their generations, to keep peace, to do the thing that is just, and to keep down the unruly and rude) you have put out, whereby you have been the cause of letting all the bruits upon them, that matters not Religion nor Law, that these Nations have been in many places as though there were neither Law, Government, Teachers nor Ministers, as though they never had God nor Scriptures taught among them: And many valiant Captains, Souldiers, and Officers, have been put out of the Army( by Sea and Land) of whom it hath been said among you, That they had rather have had one of them, then seven men, and could have turned one of them to seven men; who because of their faithfulness to the Lord God, being faithful towards him, it may be for saying Thou to a particular, and for wearing their hats, have been turned out from amongst you, whereby the rude hath fallen upon them, and they have been counted as a thing of nought, and trampled upon as if they were not men f●t to live upon the earth, whom the Lord hath preserved, and heard their prayers, into whose ears they are come, by whose power and arm they have been upholden.  
Oh the blood that hath been  shed in this Nation for Trurh's sake! Oh what knockings down in Markets, in Steeplehouses, and going to Meetings! Oh what imprisoning, and whipping, and persecuting for wearing their hats, and saying thou to a particular, and sending up and down with Passes as Vagrants,( men worth three or fourscore pounds a year) whereas it is known throughout ●… he Nation, there is not a beggar among our friends, called Quakers: Surely ●… f these men( that do persecute and whip men of three or fourscore pounds a year as Vagrants) had not quiter lost their sincerity and true reason, and feel●… ng, they would have looked up and down their Alleys and Steeplehousedoors and Streets, and Towns, and have seen thousands of poor begging peo●… le, crying up and down for bread: And if they had looked up and down in Taverns and Ale-Houses, there they might have seen such as live in pleasures ●… nd drinkings, and would not have caused them to be whipped as Vagrants, who ●… n the fear of the Lord reproved these things in their streets. Now let all so●… er men judge whether the just doth not bleed here over these things in grief ●… f heart: Oh what shameless things have been acted, which are even past modesty! Oh what nasty Holes, and Dungeons, and Houses of Correction, ●… nd Straw, for Truth's sake are people cast into! And oh what cruel actions 〈◇〉 the gaolers have been acted towards them, and tolerating the prisoners to ●… our dung and ●iss upon their meat! Oh within these few yeers how many ●… have been thus under cruel sufferings in these nasty Holes, under cruel gaolers, and cruel Persecutors, kept in their prisons till they have end●d their lives Oh what cruel havoc and spoiling of the goods of people,( for truths sake) hath been in this Nation by them that call themselves Preache●s of the Gospel, and Christians, and must not be called Priests! Oh what cruel havoc hath been made upon the people for the word of God's sake, who were met in his fear, breaking up their Meetings, taking away their Horses, which is even hard to be uttered,& multitude of sufferings that can almost hardly be numbered, though it hath been said that such as fear God might meet together,& should not be molested; yet as long as sober Justices are put out, and crooked& perverse kept in, whose wils have been their Law, what else can be expected? oh what breaking of Windows,& unthatching of Houses,& men coming in disguised( with Swords and pistols) into Meetings, binding some hand& foot carrying them into the fields, leaving them there all night in the Winter-season! Oh what havoc hath been made of the people of God, that they have come and road in, and trampled among them with their Horses, and have plucked him up by the hair of the head, that was on his knees praying to the Lord; whereby the persecution in this Nation hath given an ill favour unto the Nations hereabout, and it rings abroad in the world, that when friends are moved of the Lord God to go into other Nations to declare the truth of God and his Word, they cast it upon them, and imprison many, and say they will serve them, and do to them as their own Nation does. Oh! How are men fallen from that which they were at first, when thousands of us went in the front of you, and were with you in the greatest heat, who loo●ed not for the spoil, but the good of the nations, and now thus should be served by those that are set down in the possession of the spoil of our enemies, that they should requited us so in the end! Oh! the Lords truth, the Lords power, and the Lords arm is more dear to us then all, who have not sate down in the spoi●… of our Enemies, who are come to the Lord who hath given us victory, an●… hath brought us to the light that takes away the occasion and root of the war●… whereby we know the election before the world began; for when the Jews lived in the Law of God, their sword was turned against the Heathen without and they were the dread of all nations; but when they transgresse●… the Law of God, and kept onely the form of words, and transgressed against the just in themselves, then they turned against the Prophets, and smote them, imprisoned and killed them, and turned against Christ himself. So a●… this imprisoning, persecution, inquisition, killing, wracking, and torturnin●… people to death, hath been set up by a power, and must be thrown down h●… another power, which is the power of God, which destroys the other powe●… which is contrary to it.  
Oh! what a seriousness was in people at the beginning of the wars? yea both in small and great: But oh, how hath the spoil of the enemies,( an●… such as have sate down in it, choked it, and turned against all seriousnes●… they themselves having lost it, and so become fatted with the spoil of th●… Houses of the Enemy; for when you sate down in the Enemies spoil, you lo, the power and the dread of Nations; and the Enemies about you in other nations, looked upon you, and the amazement and terror which before you were to them, was lost, when you went from the power of the Lord, and sought yourselves: Oh what a sincerity was there once in the nation. What a dirty, nasty thing it would have been to have heard talk of a House of Lords among them! oh how is the sincerity choked, smothered& quenched by the fatness of the earth, whereby they have forgotten the Lord,& his arm& power that once carried them on! Oh how are they fallen out of that Power out of that Arm! Oh how will you rise again! Oh what abundance have you yet to throw off, which is set up since the day that sincerity was lost! Oh how have men been without feeling( since the day of their adversity in the time of their fullness! Oh how hath lightness and joy sprung up, eating and drinking, making merry, and rising up to play! Oh how is the state of Christianity gone, and the since●e life that once approached, and the pure feeling and taste, how is that l●●t, whereby the just, and the innocent, and the harmless Lambs of Christ, lie langui●●ing, weak and sick in prisons and not visited? and such as do visit them, come to be imprisoned by such as are lifting themselves up. Oh how have you left all the sincere men of the Nation, which stood with you in the day of sinc●●●ty, and made up a Mountain, and set up yourselves, whereby sin●erity hath b●en lost and forgotten! Oh! but how is the day of shaking now come upon all that be gone out of the Power and Arm of the Lord, and l●●t their sinc●●●●ty! Now is the day come, now is the Arm stretched out, now is the day appeared that shall try all things, and bring all actions of men to light, and none shall escape it. for the Arm, and Power, and Sword of the Lord is stret●hed abroad, which will execute its work, and do its service; and now shall be known the tottering of Hills, and removing of Mountains, and nothing shall escape the hand, arm, and power of the Lord▪ and nothing shal live but in ri●●teousness. Oh! how are men given up to speak fair words, 〈◇〉; fruits ●●●ak no deeds! Oh! how full are men of fair speeches,& smooth 〈◇〉, but not performed, their practices declare it, whereby now that is risen in the Nation, and stirred, that it will not be words will serve the turn, it will not be words, but the life and fruits, and the power that leads people to so say, and s●●o, therein people do as much as they speak, and so come to know the Law of liberty, and are the wise men that lose not the sincerity: Oh how have men been deceived by talkers and talks, by fair speeches, pretences, and flatteries, until it hath grown to be a custom to speak fair words, whereby deceit is grown to such a height, that men have been afraid of one another, to do justice, and own the innocent; but the general universal spirit in mankind hath been imprisoned, that men have not stood every out on their own legs in the power of God, and so through flattery, and fair speeches, and feigned words, have deceived, and clogged, and brought one another into thraldom, that when justice should have been done, they have been so afraid of one another, that they could not act it, yet full of good words and fair speeches; the just ●yess 〈…〉 in themselves, and they cause it to be imprisoned in the general, and 〈…〉 it which will not let loose, nor set free, and it is impossible it should until it be freed within: The just that lies in prison, and is imprisone●… by the unjust, it never look● for any thing that that should do, until the ju●… b● broken out of prison in their own selves, that doth impris●● and c●●le to be m●●●●●●ed, and suffers the just to be in prison in the outwar●: The ●i ●● n r●… b● 〈…〉 every one's own particular, before he visits the just 〈◇〉 is i●pri●… 〈…〉 ●t; the power of God must break the prison-door● open with●n, be 〈…〉 set the prison open without; and that is the Arm, the Hand, the Tow●… 〈…〉 not with mens words) which we have unity withall, who are co●e t●… th●●●●dom that stands in power, of whic●●●●●re is no end, w●ere li●● is i●… the end of the Law and the Prophets. Christ and know his reign, and s●n●… in that, in which there is peace, the Seed, Christ, which destroyeth the Levil●… the author of wars, strifes, and confusions, and which seed destroy● his we●k and death, where he hath his Authority; and which Seed, Christ, reconcilet●… to God, all things in Heaven, and all things in Earth, through which we come to have unity with God.  
And you Souldiers, do violence to no man accuse no man falsely, which i●… you do( violence to any man, or accuse any man falsely) you go from the ju●… Principle of God in you, and upon you will God bring his justice, and 〈…〉 you will the Truth reign: To you this is the word of the Lord God; for no●… doing violence to any man, nor accusing any man falsely, that differ, you from violent doers, and false accusers, whereby your sword is turned against violent doers, and false accusers, and a terror to the evil doer; and to them that d●… well, the sword is a praise, and such bear not the sword in vain, nor are lik●… the blind persecutors, that turn the sword backward;( for persecution was a●…wayes blind) but they( on the contrary) that bore the sword not in vain, wer●… a terror to the evil doer, and a praise to those that do well; These were n●… blind men, nor are not, but these are the men that can see, amongst whom th●… Lords presence, power, life, counsel, and dignity is; and so now you ha●… time, prise it.  
And if ever you Souldiers and true Officers come again into the po●er●… God which hath been lost, never set up your standard until you come to Rom●… and it be a top of Rome, then there let your standard stand, and look at th●… power of the Lord God, and never heed gold nor silver, for the power of th●… Lord will give you enough.  
And if you let the Priests come among you, to counsel you, they will cov●… you with darkness, and contention, and slavery, and bury the witness of Go●… in you; and by harkening to them, you will do it in yourselves, that yo●… cannot do justice to others; therefore what you do, do it without them, a●… take counsel of God,( for what they counsel, they will do for their own end but the Lord will preserve his from such who have been the beginning of a●… blood, wars; and persecution since the dayes of the Apostles; for the power 〈◇〉 God which the Apostles were in, is now manifest, by which all such are co●…prehended, and all that which is got up since their dayes.  
From a Lover of peace, and all soul, w●…stands in the Election before the world began, F. G.  
THE END.