Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A60454
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The vision of Humphrey Smith, which he saw concerning London, in the fifth month, in the year 1660 being not long after her King came to her.
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Smith, Humphrey, d. 1663.
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1660
(1660)
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Wing S4084; ESTC R15012
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6,244
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8
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not to establish thy self by blood nor to be setled by way of revenge for though some men may have done some things unjust against some of you and others so that God may justly by you scourge them sore for it yet wherein you do it in the way of revenge or to avenge your own cause or to set up your selves in self ends like them before you therein God will also find out a scourge for you And this I have seen that the Great men of the earth stand in slippery places and their great strength before the Lord is as smoak before the wind My counsell is therefore That thou fear the Lord and turn from the way that thou art in and let thy Judges know that the Lord will judge them and let thy Rulers understand that the Lord will rule over their strength and wisdom and let thy Teachers perceive that God is come to teach his own children And let the Kings heart be upright before the Lord in this the day of his tryall and time of visitation from God the shortnesse or length thereof being â—id from him over whom God ruleth as it pleaseth him who is cutting his work short in righteousnesse Therefore let all thy inhabitants O thou great City from the highest to the lowest take good heed unto their waies and the intents which are in them for the Lord seeth the secrets of all your hearts H. S. ANd that thou mayest not altogether diâ—esteem of this visâ—on concerning thee and that thy wise men may not esteem it as a thing of nought which is published for thy good and brought forth for thy warning and declared to set before thee thy state at hand that thou mightest be warned before-hand and come to find something in thy self whereby thou might stand in the day of triall and endure in the hour of trouble or otherwise Gods servants might seale up the visions and revelations of God in the book of secrets and treasure them up in the enlightned chambers of the heart where God is revealing his secrets to those that fear him Therefore shall I write what hath been formerly shewed most whereof being come to passe and the rest hasteneth In my former vision in the dayes of the former Rulers I saw on a hill many trees together standing which were both great and tall but they were very old and of a long standing and many of their lofty boughs were broken and battered and many hanged downward which pressed down the trees and they were old withering and decaying and had not grown along time were but as a wonder to the beholders though they had been of great account and the chief trees among or over the rest and it was so that I beheld them much even with admiration to see such trees in such a state which was more to this purpose than is here exprest and I beheld untill all these trees were rooted up out of the earth and so overturned every one and their dead bodies lay in a confused manner and were fallen one upon another and the ground upon which they stood was broken up and then there was some room and liberty and light came in and I walked and looked every way both upon the light and the great desolation of these great ones The interpretation whereof may be read by such as can but see And though this great overturning befell those great tall and strong trees and that light came into that ground over which those fruitlesse trees stood yet I beheld round about and near unto it much briars brambles and thorns in abundance which covered the earth and it was such rubbish that it was never like to be fit for any thing but to have a fire kindled among it And it was so thick and so strong that there was no passing in nor through it but onely where the narrow way was and there also those briars would catch on every side And he that passed through must stoop very low And what those briars and thorns were let those brambles read who covereâ— the earth with their multitudes in raging swearing cursing shouting roaring and drinking the health as they call it of their King at his coming And near unto the place of the destruction of those great trees was there a Child in great desolation in a close place where it had been a long time and was not like yet to be released but remained in want and misery which mine eye pitied and in irons and my heart was sadned for it and the more because none came to visit it nor succour it for it was in a desolate place and unseemly and few had regard unto it and yet there were some hopes it might be delivered And this was a true resemblance of the state of the seed of God in all the world And in plainnesse concerning Oliver Cromwell and his son Richard late called Protectors the vision from God was shewed to me before the downfall of either of them thus And I beheld a great and mighty tree much bigger then ever I saw before and appearing without sap or vertue in it or leaf bough or branch upon it much lesse fruit and the top of it was broad being all big much like unto the top of Pauls steeple in London and close by this great old tree grew up another tree as out of his root and belonged to him but not both in one body though very near together and stood both upon one foundation and this was as a little stripling tree which also was without leaves or branches or any thing to bear fruit so that I admired to see it so with the young tree for I looked for branches or leaves but there were none And whilst I was beholding of them a man being sent came in much haste with an axe in his hand to cut down the great mighty old tree which seemed strange to me that one man should adventure upon so great a work to cut down such a tree as that for the lower part of the tree was exceeding big and almost as broad upon the earth as half the heighth so that I thought he had need of three more to help him and that one man could scarce cut him down with one axe if he stood hewing all his life time But I much more admired to see the confidence of the man that came with speed with his axe who made no stop at all because of the greatnesse of him nor any thing else but as soon as ever he could get to him smote with the edge of his axe and stroke between the ground and the tree so that I soon perceived he intended to separate between the tree and the ground on which he stood and the man in the might of his strength stroke but three blows in all but he separated the tree from the earth on which he stood and immediately the tree fell with a mighty overthrow and the foundation of the tree was altogether rotten and not one root at all but where the root should be was rottenness and the earth shook at his fall and many Great men stood amazed and fear seized on many because of the great sudden fall thereof And as this great tree fell I saw under the foundation of the young Tall Tree that stood near the other and it was much like to fall presently after and was almost down on the one hand and then almost down on the other and yet it recovered and stood up for a time having no root but rottenness And the great tree fell from him on the one side and the earth parted from him on two sides more so that onely upon one side in four or less the earth cleaved to him and he being slender and tall without root was not like long thus to stand neither did Richard And I likewise beheld many more smaller trees and the man with his axe in his hand cut them all down at the butt somewhat above the ground and so left the stumps in the earth and therefore it might be possible for them to grow up again As some did come up again who were put down but fell the second time through disobedience And after all this I beheld also many more trees in abundance yea more numerous then the other coming up out of the earth and covering the face thereof and growing up apace which were not yet ready to be cut down and I saw the man with the axe in his hand standing still for a time having cut down all the other untill those should be ready to be cut down and he waited till the time came and was in a readinesse with his axe in his hand ready to strike when those abundance of trees should come up to their growth which hastened And let those who are now come up read this and let the whole Câ—ty of London tâ—ke heed as I said before and repent with speed and turn to the Lord whose servant I am called Humphrey Smith POSTSCRIPT WHen those people to whom God gave his Ordinances and his Statutes had long resisted and grieved his Spirit in them who said I am Goâ— and not man the Holy One in the midst of thee and had also refused pâ—am Instructions then the Lord sent them the Prophet Isaiah who said With stammering tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people And for a Sign was he sent to walk naked among them And the Prophet Ezekiel was sent with that which they might esteem dark Visions and foolish Signes which were many and hard sayings And Jeremiah he lamented over them And all the Lords Prophets proclaimed against their Priests and leaders of them which caused them to erre and yet would they not be warned nor their Priests leave preaching Peace unto them nor they leave following their Priests untill they had crucified the Just and denied him that is the Light who saveth his People from their sins and Jerusalem became a heap and a desolation and an astonishment and so both Priests and Peoplâ— went into destruction and captivity together And thy sins O â—ondon may be equalized with hers and are as many and as grievous and that thou mayest a little the better understand my Vision concerning thee therefore have I written these later things that concerned others which if thou understand not that which concerns thee is more mysterious THE END LONDON Printed for Thomas Simmons at the sign of the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate 1660.