Edward Burrough

“ Great Trouble is upon thee, and the Men that should Rule thee, and which have pretended to Govern thee, they do not walk in the Way of thy Peace, neither do they bring healing to thee. These things we have considered, and thus we Lament over thee, and over thy present State; Oh Nation! how art thou like an ungirded Vessel, that is ready to fall one piece from another? and how art thou like a Body without a Head, and all thy Joynts out of order? ”

“ Wherefore, O Nation, when wilt thou begin to look to the Lord? when wilt thou begin to set up Him, and not man? when wilt thou mind his Power and Presence in and through men, more then any men themselves? when shall it once be, O ye people of our Nation, that ye will seek after him, to be the principal and chief Power among you? ”

“ Peace, Plenty and Satisfactions, Unity and Concord shall be unto all thy Inhabitants, and the Lord himself shall be thy King, thy Judge and thy Law-giver: he will judge thee with equity, and not with Oppression ”

“ Oh Nation, the men that have sitten on thy Throne, they have left thee groaning under great Oppressions, wounded with the Spirit of Tyranny yet un-cast out, and thy people are yet unhealed, but the breach hath been made wider, even by that Spirit which hath possessed thy Parliaments, thy Protectors, thy Councils, thy Committees, who hath proved Physitians of no value, but have bin the increasers of thy grief, and even because of their iniquities; and the sin of their Ambition and Oppression hath the Lord dealt thus with them, and suffered them to dash one another in pieces ”

“ And we are not for Names, nor Men, nor Titles of Government, nor are we for this Party, nor against the other, because of its Name and Pretence; but we are for Justice and Mercy, and Truth and Peace, and true Freedom, that these may be exalted in our Nation; and that Goodness, Righteousness, Meekness, Temperance, Peace and Unity with God, and one with another, that these things may abound, and be brought forth abundantly: such a Government are we seeking and waiting for, wherein Truth and Righteousness, Mercy and Justice, Unity and Love, and all the Fruits of Holiness may abound ”

“ Behold ye Mountains of the Earth, behold ye Rulers, and ye People, the Lord hath blessed his People, and every Tongue that riseth up in witness against them shall be condemned, and every Weapon that is formed against them shall be broken ”

“ And among what sort of people have not we been hated? And what one of thy Judges & Rulers can clear themselves before the Lord from the guilt of our unjust Sufferings? O Nation, our Portion in thee for these many years hath been thy cruel reproaches; our greatest place of honour in thee hath been under thy cruel Oppressions, and these things, and the guilt thereof will God charge upon thee, and reward thee for, one time or another; yet notwithstanding all this, our present desires for thee are good, and not evil, that thou mayst be saved, and not destroyed ”

“ And as for us, we hereby declare unto thee, We are not thy Enemies, we seek not thy hurt, nor do we desire Vengeance upon our Enemies, we seek not thy Destruction; but we desire thy Repentance, that thou mayst be healed: we have not the spirit of Mischief and Rebellion in our hearts towards thee, neither are we for one Party or another, nor do we side with one sort against another, neither do we joyn our selves to this sort or the other, nor do we war against any carnal Weapons, neither shall we ever provoke the Nation against us, otherwise then by our Righteous and Holy Walking ”

“ All these things have we viewed, and pittied the condition of our Nation, and thus we do declare the very cause of these things that are come to pass in thee in that, oh Nation, thou hast sinned, thou hast sinned, and the cry of thy Iniquities is come up before the Lord, even the sins of thy Rulers and thy People is the Cause of God's Displeasure against thee, and he is provoked through their Transgressions; in thee is found the Blood of the Innocent, in thee is found the Murder of Souls, in thee is found Treachery against God, and Hypocrisie & Dissimulation with God and men ”

“ For, for the establishing of Righteousness in the Earth have we laboured; and it cannot be charged upon us, That we have sided with one or another; for we have beheld all hitherto out of the Right Way, as we have said; but we truly seek the general Good of our Nation: and though we are accounted so and so, yet we have not lost true Reason nor Understanding; but we well know what is wrong, and what would be right, even in way of Government ”

“ And thus is our poor Nation tossed to and fro, through the Ambition of men, who even make a Prey upon the poor peoples Persons and Treasure for their own corrupted Ends; and thy Rulers have not had respect unto the Counsel of the Lord, but seem to refuse the Way of Peace, and even add Fewel to the Fire of God's Wrath, by heaping up one Transgression upon another, and they receive not the Instructions of the Almighty. ”

“ And now whereas many wise men have been advising and consulting the peace of this our Nation, and they have given in their counsel for removing these Troubles, yet Peace and Unity seems to be far away, and though they have sought Peace for this Nation, yet they have not walked in the perfect way thereof; for innocency, truth, and simplicity have bin wanting, which God only will bless, and by flatteries and deceits, and the pollicy and wisdom of this World have they thought to make up thy breach, but it cannot be ”

“ It is true, we are a People gathered of the Lord into one Spirit, and though a People little in Account, and very low in Reputation, and greatly reproached, and even a suffering People by all sorts of men, yet we are a people loved of the Lord, and his Presence is among us, and his Dread filleth our hearts; and though we are accounted as a cast-out people, yet are we dreadful unto the Wicked, and must be their Fear; for we have chosen the Son of God to be our King, and he hath chosen us to be his People ”

“ And though many in our dayes, that have ruled over us, have promised great Things to the Nation, yet we see all hitherto have wanted Power to perform, and have not been blessed with the Presence of the Lord, so as this Nation hath not been healed and redeemed by them; and we are utterly out of all Hopes of this Party or the other party, of this Man or that Man, to bring Salvation unto this Nation, from all its Bonds and Oppressions ”

“ Alas! they do not behave themselves towards the Lord that his Judgments may be turned away, they do not seek him in Truth and Righteousness, they do not turn unto him with all their Hearts, neither do they tremble at his Word; but they the rather reject his Counsel, and despise his Visitation, and they seek themselves, and exalt their own Horn, and love the Honour of this World, and their hearts are hardened, and the great men seem to be utterly insensible of what the Lord is a doing ”

“ And because of this, there is no Establishment in the Earth, but Strife, and Contention, and Heart-burnings in the bowels of the Nation, and great want of True Love, True Unity, and True Peace, and all the contrary doth about among the people; because of which the nation is subject to present Misery, even to Blood-shed and Murders, and liable also to greater judgments, which may also come upon it because of these things ”

“ Though thou hast had Kings over thee, and chosen thee Parliaments, and set up Protectors, and Committees and Councils have been created in thee, to have been as a Defence upon thee, and to have born the Scepter of thy Government ”

“ And forasmuch as it hath pleased the Lord God Almighty, to bring, and suffer things thus to be brought to pass, as if he would make our Nation a Heap, and suffer Destruction upon it; and having suffered the Rulers and Great Men to overcome and break down one another, and to rend and tear one another from off the Throne, pulling down others, and setting up themselves, even through their Ambition and Vain-gory, and for corrupted Ends to themselves, whereby this our Nation is brought into present Confusion ”

“ Oh! let your eye be turned to the Lord alone, that he may deliver you, and bring Salvation and Freedom; and look no more at men, but only as they are in him, guided by his Spirit, & only expect good from men as they are guided by the Lord ”

“ Oh that thou wouldst now look unto the Lord, and seek him in Righteousness, that he may heal thee; for there is none of them all that do pretend to rule thee, that do rightly proceed in the way of thy Deliverance, they do not apply healing Balm unto thy Wound, they rather add unto the cause of thy Sorrow, then remove it from thee; their hearts are not aright before the Lord, and how then should they prosper in their doings. ”

“ Alas, not any of these things are accomplish'd, neither see we a right thing propounded, & rightly prosecuted by any party yet appearing, but the cause hardly yet appears carryed on by any among them, which can be said of it, This is of the Lord, and is perfectly right, and the Lord will prosper it: for the most of the men that have yet appeared on the Throne, they have rejected the Word of the Lord, and his Counsel ”

“ And thus thy Iniquities being removed, the Plague should cease, and the cause of destruction being taken away, no fruit thereof should appear; wherefore let men cease to match Mischief one against another, and to seek vengeance one of another, and let them seek with all speed and sincerity to get victory over their own sins, and vengeance may be taken upon their own transgressions ”