Selected quad for the lemma: city_n
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A54114
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A call to Christendom in an earnest expostulation with her to prepare for the great and notable day of the Lord, that is at the door / by William Penn.
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Penn, William, 1644-1718.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing P1261; ESTC R31759
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17,069
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48
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World nor according to the Inventions and Traditions of Men Neither do they Conform themselves to the Customs and Fashions of this World nor will they bow to the Glory of this World or the God of it But having seen him whom they have pierced with their vain Conversation in Times past they mourn and are in great bitterness because they have done despite to his holy Spirit of Grace that strove so long with them for their Redemption And being called by his Spiritual Call in their Hearts to come out of Babylon the great City of Will-worship Confusion and Darkness that is in the Earth do chearfully resign up all to follow him in the narrow Way of Self-denial as his holy Disciples did of Old And such have learned by good Experience that Without Christ they can do nothing Though in these days scarcely any thing is done with him or by him For he is resisted in his Spiritual Appearance in the Consciences of those that make a Profession of him with their Mouths and therefore he doth not many mighty Works in them Yea he is smitten spit upon Crown'd with Thorns Pierc'd and Crucified of all false Christians through their Rebellion and Wickedness O Wo from the Great and Just God that made Heaven and Earth upon all People that work Iniquity and forget God! Wo to you Kings and Princes that have Crucified the Lord of Life and Glory yea you have Crucified him in your selves and helpt to Crucifie him in others He lyeth slain at this day in your Streets For you have not Ruled for God as you ought to have done but for your selves to please your own Lusts and have not sought the Glory of the Lord nor the Prosperity of his Work in the Earth so much as the Greatness of your own Names and to enlarge your worldly Dominions often Oppressing the Poor and Persecuting Consciencious Dissenters but suffering almost all manner of Vice and Vanity to go unpunisht How doth the Lust of the Eye the Lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life reign in your Territories Are not your Courts the very Schools of Vanity and Nurseries of worldly Lusts and Pleasures which War against the Soul and lead to Eternal Destruction O! you have much to answer for before the great God at the Day of his Terrible Tribunal who have Power in your Hands to chase away Wickedness and to reform the World It is written A King upon his Throne of Judgment scattereth all evil with his Eye O! that the Kings and Princes of the World knew this Throne of true Judgment That they had this Godlike Majesty that they would purge their Lands of Evil-Doers that they and their People might escape the Wrath and Vengeance of God that is ready to be poured forth upon them And Wo to you Nobles of the Earth that spend your Estates in Pleasures and your Days in Vanity that like those of old Drink Wine in Bowles and stretch your selves upon Couches of Ivory That invent Musical Instruments for your Mirth but remember not the Afflictions of Joseph neither consider of your latter End What Pride Lust and Excess lye at your Door What Spoil and Waste do you make in the World You live as if you should never die caring only what you should eat what you should drink and what you should put on how you should trim perfume and beautifie your poor Mortal selves and at which Plays and Sports you should divert and spend away that troublesome and melancholy thing called Time as you esteem it instead of Redeeming the Time because the days are evil and preparing for the Eternal Judgment Is this the way to Glory Did Jesus give you this Example O! He is Crucified by these things This is far from the true Nobility and Christian Honour that cometh from above Wo to you Judges of the Earth who pervert Judgment for a Reward that Oppress the Poor and despise the Cause of the Needy who regard the Mighty and the Rich in Judgment and delay Justice for the Fear or Favour of Man That subject the Laws to your Wills and Righteous Rules to your Passions and Interest Repent and be just for God the Just God the great Judge of Heaven and Earth shall Judge you all according to your Works And dreadful shall that Day of his Reckoning and Tribunal be to all the Workers of Iniquity But especially to Vnjust and Corrupt Judges And Wo to you Lawyers that refuse no Cause for Money but will plead even against Law Truth and Justice for Advantage teaching your Tongues to Advocate for a Lye and your Mouths for Gain to plead the Cause of Vnrighteousness raising unreasonable Wealth unto your selves by the Folly Ignorance and Contention of the People O the Equivocation Deceit Falshood and Iniquity that is in your Profession in which you let your Consciences out to hire at every Summons for all sorts of Causes Insomuch that 't is the Money and not the Cause that prevaileth And the worst Cause most commonly is most desired because the Client doubtful of his Success is usually the most Liberal to you This also is for Judgment And Wo to you Merchants and Traders that have not the Lord's Fear before your Eyes whose God is Gold and Gain that neither Buy nor Sell with regard to his just Principle in your Consciences that use vain and deceitful Words and that are not come to the just Measure and the righteous Ballance but use Frauds for Advantage That neither Eye the Lord's Providence by Sea nor his care by Land but Day and Night cast about how to raise to your selves a great Name and Estate to exalt your Nests and rank your Families among the Rich and the Noble of the Earth The Lord will also plead with you Repent and Fear before God Wo to you Farmers and Countrymen that reward the Lord evil for good who giveth you Increase of all things in their proper Seasons yet you discern not his Hand you regard not his Care you live without God in the World Yet no Life is fuller of the Lord's Providence who preserveth and prospereth your Flocks who increaseth your Wine your Corn and your Grass instead of remembring his Goodness with Reverence and in your Harvests praising him with Fear you Sacrifice to your Lusts and rejoice only in your Fulness making Merry at your Harvests without the Fear of God or looking to him that giveth you to Increase Repent and Fear before the God of the whole Earth But above all others Wo to you Scribes Pharisees and Hypocrites you Priests and Pastors who have taken a Charge that God never gave you who run and he never sent you who say Thus saith the Lord and he never spoke to you or by you That steal the Words of the Prophets and Apostles and with them make Merchandize to the People not knowing the pure Word of God in your Hearts to be as an Hammer a Fire a Sword to destroy Sin and to
lest you partake 〈◊〉 of the Plagues that God hath prepared for Babylon she that calleth her self the Lamb's Bride and is an Harlot committing Fornication throughout all Nations and Sects that is those that by a lying Spirit have had their Hearts seduced from God and his holy Fear yet in Words profess'd to be his People who call themselves Jews but are not Christians and are not but of the Synagogue of Satan being Strangers to the Circumcision in Spirit and the Baptism that is with Fire and with the Holy Ghost With Fire to consume the fleshly Nature and with the Holy Ghost to beget the heavenly Nature in Man O the Downfal of this great City and the Desolation of this false Church through all the Sects in Christendom is come and coming yea in one day shall it be accomplisht even in the day of the Appearance of Christ who is the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven who by the Brightness of his Coming and by the Breath of his Mouth in the Hearts of Nations shall reveal and destroy this great Antichrist this Man of Sin in Man that sitteth in the Place of God yea exalted above all that is called God requiring Conformity to all his Inventions and Injunctions upon pain of Life Liberty and Estate Nor are any suffered to Buy or Sell in this great City but such as will receive his Mark. Wo to you all in the Name of the Lord that call God your Father and are not Born of him that name his Name and hate to be Reformed That call Jesus Lord and not by the Holy Ghost who take his pure Name into your Mouths and depart not from Iniquity I say to you on God's behalf as God said to the Jews of old your Prayers your Sacrifices and your solemn Assemblies c. in an unconverted state are Abomination to the Lord. No matter for your Names your Pretences your Creeds if you live without God in the World that is without his holy Awe in your Hearts without a Divine Sense of his Presence in your Souls and know not that Godly Sorrow that worketh unfeigned Repentance the only way to Eternal Life Your Worship God loatheth A Dog's neck Swines-blood yea to Bless an Idol or kill a Man is altogether as acceptable with the Lord. O! God is wroth with the feigned Worships as well as common Ungodliness of the World Come to Christ's Spirit be led of it and do not your own Wills but the Will of Christ Jesus and then you shall know the true Worship For the true Ministry and Worship of God stand not in the Will Wisdom or Appointment of Men nor can they be performed by unregenerated Men but in the leadings of his Eternal Spirit by whom all the faithful offer up themselves an acceptable Sacrifice to God not to live unto themselves but to him that hath purchased them 'T is true Christ Jesus died for the ungodly but not that they should continue ungodly but take up his daily Cross and follow him Christ saith Peter hath offered up himself once for all leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps as he was in this World so we should be saith John not conformable to the Rudiments Fashions and Customs of this World that pass away but transformed and renew'd in our minds by the Grace that he hath given us which Grace bringeth Salvation to all that obey it teaching such to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godlikely in this present evil World Because without Holiness none shall ever see the Lord That is God's Decree Wherefore be you not deceived O you Formal and Titular Christians God will not be mocked Such as you sow such shall you reap at the Hand of the Lord Yea for every idle word shall you give an Accompt in the Day of Judgment Think not with your selves you have Christ to your Saviour and you are reconciled to God through Christ and that God looketh not upon you as you are in your selves but as in Christ whilst you walk not after the Spirit but after the Flesh for the Wages of Sin is Death but the Gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord To whom Not to them that despise his Light in their Hearts that grieve his Spirit and by a worldly Conversation go on to Crucifie him and who follow not Jesus in the way of Tribulation and Regeneration God is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity and he looketh upon Men and Women to be what they really are and not what they imagine themselves to be Behold he cometh and his Reward is with him and he will reward all according to their Works Sinners while such can no more come into Christ than into God for God is in Christ and Christ is in God Christ is holy harmless pure and undefiled and separate from Sinners And if ever you would have God look upon you to be in Christ you must come into Christ And you can never come into Christ the new and heavenly Man that is undefiled and separated from Sinners till you come out of Sin and the Author of it the Devil the old Man of Sin and leave your wicked Deeds of darkness Therefore be ye separate from every evil Way Christ the Immaculate Lamb of God came not only to save Men from Wrath but from Sin which is the cause of Wrath. Behold the Lamb of God saith John which taketh away the sin of the World Not their Sin that will not believe in him but the Sins of those that are weary and heavy laden that wait hunger thirst and cry for his Salvation whom God hath given for a light to lighten the Gentiles and for his Salvation to the ends of the Earth O you that are called by his Sacred Name Repent Repent Prepare Prepare to meet the Lord who is coming in the way of his Judgments to visit the Inhabitants of the Earth and put away the evil of your doings and turn to him that he may receive you But Wo in the Name of the Lord to all that Rebel against the Light of Christ Jesus who serve another Master and follow another Captain and obey the Prince of the Power of the Air who reigneth in the Hearts of the Children of Disobedience Yea Wo unto all who are covered with a Covering and not of my Spirit that take counsel and not of me saith the Lord Who gather sticks and kindle a Fire of their own and compass themselves about in the Sparks which they have kindled for this shall they have at my Hand They shall lye down in Sorrow Wo from God to all the Will-worshippers who Worship but not in the Spirit and in the Truth their Worship is not available He that Worships God aright is turned to the Spirit and is taught and led by the Spirit And such as have received the Spirit of Christ are not led by their own Spirits nor by the Spirit of this