BY the call of your Letter, of the fifteenth of November last, We Noblemen, Gentlemen, Justices and Freeholders of the Shre of Fife and Kinrosse, having met, and taking into our serious consideration the tenour and import thereof, both as to the grounds of your present undertaking, and the expressions of your favour & tendernesse towards the Peace, Safe­ty and Help of this (even burdened and) afflicted Nation. We hold it a duty incumbent upon us, humbly to represent your Lordship with this return. In the first place, we conceive our selves bound to pay our thankfull acknowledg­ments of those many and great obligements you have put upon us; for the regard you have expressed of those crushing pressures which we have so long and visibly laboured under; and your care and readinesse to interpose to ease the languishing (and now utterly expiring) condition of this poor Countrey, which cryeth out for relief. Next, as we look upon it as a token for good, that the mercifull God who can plead the cause of the oppressed, hath stirred your Lordship in this day of desperate extremity, to stand in the breach, to avert that impendent ruine of all that is precious, by asserting the Liberty and being of Parlia­ments, according to our ancient Constitutions, and a Godly Ministry, wherein our freedome & Rights (Religious and Civil) are bound up joyntly with the Interest of England and Ireland; So we judge it to be the duty of all, as they are true-hearted Patriots and Christians, and hear a due sense of their concernments in the weal or woe of publick Transactions, to own the Prosecution of those mentioned Ends, as the only effectual Expedient, distinctly considerable beyond any other, for the lightning of the Evils we now feel, & prevention of tho [...]e we fear, by [...]ling the Government and Authourity, which may rule in the hearts of men by Love and Righteousnesse, and not Tyrannize over their Persons and Estates by Force and Power. For our parts, we have been spectators with sad bleeding hearts of the grievous breaches, which by the Revolutions of late yeares have been made upon these Nations: And among all the pretenders to our Cause, we have found no healing Medicines, nor can we expect that our suffering wounds can be healed, and wasting divisions closed by an Unparlia­mentary unchoe way. The Gospell and the Interest of Jesus Christ should be (and we hope shall be) dearer to us than our lives, which we are sure cannot be preserved and maintained without a Godly and learned Ministry; our other concernments we must w [...]ve in these places, (The great preserver of men, who loveth and delighteth in righteous things, is the LORD alone, upon whom we do fix our eyes) but according to what cometh within the compasse of humane consideration, and the knowledge we might have acquired by dear-bought experience, when these personal and publick Interests, solemnly owned, may be best secured; So we do most unanimously bear our Testimony to the Equity and Justice of these Grounds you have professed; That we know, we can willingly own no safer nor better means for restoring and preserving of all our dearest concernments, than by a Parliament, sitting in safety and honour, without any force or interruption, and capacitated for application of such comprehensive Remedies, as may reach the universall publick Maladies, and Distempers, and Persons, and proc [...]re the private benefit of signal men, and severall parties, how considerable soever, onely so far as they advance the generall Interest and publick good of the Commonwealth. When we reflect upon the uncertain, torn, disjoynted and tottering condition we are cast into by an Arbitrary Government, and the distracting Terrours, dismal Confusions, necessitated Rui [...]es desolating Exactions, which sad experience doth prove to be the usual attendants of a Sword-Power; so that when it takes the Helm, then neither is, nor can be, the lest hope of settled assurance of Life, Estate, Property, or any matter or thing whatsoever, but all must be contented in a reeling fluctuating estate, which at the long-run may prove destructive, even to those who promise to themselves greatest immunity; therefore if we shall expresse the belief and p [...]eservation of our hearts and souls, we must professe undoubtedly that we see not how this Island can have Remedy, Cure, and Deliverance, and Settlement to the satisfaction and content of sober men, till Parlia­ments be restored to their honour, freedome and safety, and we cannot be answerable to those Dictates, which Reason, Interest, and Duty and Engagements promp unto us, if we do not unanimously concurre and lay our selves forth in our stations for promoting and ad­vancing this fi [...]m and sure setling way of a lasting Peace and Happinesse; in pursuance whereof, we do purpose and resolve by the help of God to preserve the peace and safety of this Countrey as we can, to give all countenance and encouragement to the godly Ministry, and faithfull in the Land, and so to dispose of our selves as we may attend your Lordships dir [...]ctions, and yield all due respects to your Com­mands from time to time, making our supplication, that the Supream D [...]sposer of all things, and the great GOD of Peace may put into the hearts of those who are now upon the Stage of Action, to improve their utmost interest & power for the preventing the effusion of bloud, and incline them to pursue the just waies of peace and firm Settlement so much desired and longed for, whic may be obtained with safety e­nough on all sides, and indempnity to all persons; the speedier and chearfull accomplishment whereof, we do verily believe is in the hearts & thirstings of all good people, save such who mind fears, jealousies, prejudices and advantages, more then the Common-good and Publick-safety, and care not though all pe [...]ish and sink, so they may but keep themselves aloft, and swimming. We beg your Lord­ships pardon, that we have taken the liberty thus to express our Sense, Fears Desires and Purposes, relating to the Affairs now in hand, and shall adde no more, but that the only wise good GOD (if he hath yet such a Mercy for us they make you a renowned Instrument for restoring three populous Nations after a long tedious storm, to that calm and felicity of Peacen a Settlement, to be transmitted and derived to our Posterities, that your fame and just praise for so noble and glorious Atchievement may sound far and near, and never endingly con­tinue.

I Received your Letter, and return you thanks for the large testimony of your Fidelity to the Commonwealth, and your good Af­fections to that Good Cause, in which we are now engaged; And do hereby assure you, that it shall be amongst the chiefest of my Cares, to preserve you in peace and prosperity, and to defend and and protect you from all dangers especially such as you may incurre, by this your honest and chearfull expression of your well-wishes towards us: And to that end, I do Impower and Authorize the No­blemen, Gentlemen and Justices of Peace of your Counties, or any nine of them, with the Advice and consent of the Governour of the next adjacent Garrison, to put in execution such Orders and Commands as I shall have occasion to give, for securing the Peace of the Countrey; provided, the Noblemen, Gentlemen, and Justices be such as have subscribed to live peaceably, and to act nothing prejudicial to the Commonwealth of England; and that none of them be Papists: and I do allow, that such Noblemen and Gentlemen as have sub­scribed the Letter as aforesaid, shall have liberty (with Passes from me) to wear their Arms, and four Servants to be likewise ar­med, for the attendance of each Nobleman, and two for each Gentleman: and as you know of any other thing wherein I may be ser­viceable to you, I shall desire you to propound, with assurance of the utmost endeavours and furtherance of