for what are all Nations Mountains or Hills before the Lord that rise up against him and if Bryars and Thorns set themselves against the Lord will he not break through them consume them together who by his Omnipotent Power planteth and plucketh up Kingdoms and the Governments of this World as he pleaseth pulling down one and setting up another that People may know and consider that the Most high rules in and over the Kingdoms of men and he giveth them to whomsoever he pleaseth and is not accountable unto any man for what he doth in the Kingdoms of this World in laying waste the greatest Mountain or Hill that riseth up in opposition to the Honour and Glory of God or the Exaltation of his Name in the Earth for all such the Judgments of the Lord will pursue he will abase and pour Contempt upon them although never so high and lifted up with earthly honour pleasure of this world We have seen already in this Age how God hath laid that Honour Pomp and Glory in the dust that Kings and Princes injoyed for a time and their Pride and Glory with the pride and glory of many others of lower degree stained by the Judgment God hath brought upon them O sinful People but how are they forgotten by you and out of date with you as much as an old Almanack the last great Plague in London and many other places in England whereof died so many Thousands in a short time with that dreadful destruction by that great Fire that came in London which destroyed so many Houses and stately Buildings consumed to Ashes or laid on heaps and many Country-Towns also have felt the dreadful effects by Fire to their great astonishment and loss Who hath taken warning by these heavy severe Judgments so as to Repent of their Wickedness or turn to God Where was your Weeping and bitter Lamentation for the evil you had done For hath not Pride Drunkenness Swearing Whoring Revelling Prophaneness all manner of hellish Words and debauched Practices abounded and much increased since the before-mentioned Calamities laid so heavy upon the City of London and other places in England who have not taken warning thereby to break from their Sins by timely Repentance and shewing mercy to the poor Ought you not to have loved God and your Neighbour without Dissimulation And ought not every one to do to another as they would be done unto And have not many of you rather lost that little of Christianity which you sometime seemed to have then known any increase thereof or been gainers in it What Self-love Self-seeking Self-confidence Self-exaltation and saving that Life you have had in Death hath appeared in you What have you laid down or left that is evil which you formerly lived and walked in 'T is plain and evident that you are under the government of the Power and Prince of Darkness who still remain in your ungodly delights wayes wicked practices You wicked and ungodly Men and Women both old and young what loss what lamentable disappointment are you come to as to God his Kingdom or the World to come to obtain a little ease in the Flesh with the pleasures of Sin in this World which you can enjoy but a little while or season Consider Christ Jesus who denyed and abased himself and would have no self-pitty mentioned to him when speaking of his Sufferings and Death he said Whosoever will save his Life shall lose it but whosoever shall lay down his Life for my sake the same shall find it But you have been wanton upon the Earth delighting your selves in the sinful pleasures of this world many of you have declared your Sin as Sodom and the Land mourns because of Oaths with other abominable and crying Sins for the Iniquity of your Covetousness God is wroth his Wrath is kindled like Fire which none can quench against an Adulterous Generation a Seed of Evil-doers lying Children and corrupters of the Earth Destruction and Death is in their hands but the way of Peace they know not neither really desire to know it a People that seek not after God but rather say in their Hearts to him Depart from us we desire not the Knowledge of thy Wayes and too many are become so Athestical that in effect they say What is the Almighty to us that we should keep his Statutes or walk mournfully before him And how hath the Proud been called happy the Wicked set up and they that tempt God been delivered the Prophets prophesie falsly the Priests bear Rule by their Means and such as are blindly led by them even to love to have it so But what will ye do in the end thereof your Sorrow will be great that you will lay down your Heads in both the blind Leaders and such as are led by them into the Ditch their fall will be great together great Woes and bitter Lamentation will be the portion of such who remain always in that sad state of blindness and darkness whether they be high or low rich or poor for the Eyes of the Lord are upon all the sinful Kingdoms to punish and destroy many People with great Punishments and sore Destruction because ye have so long hardened your Hearts against the Lord ye have set at naught his Counsel and would have none of his Reproof you have despised Knowledge and would not chuse the fear of the Lord therefore great Calamity severe Judgments hasten will come upon them that do not Repent the Spirit of the Lord will not strive much longer with many People in this and other Nations but God will laugh at their Calamity and mock when their Fear cometh And I fear many are given up to hardness of Heart and others appear as if their Consciences were seared as with a hot Iron passed all spiritual sence and feeling wholly captivated and irrecoverably insnared in the broad way that leadeth to destruction no Hand of God neither in Mercy or Judgment will reach them to work them into any remorse sorrow of Heart or Contrition and by such as hath an Eye opened to see such are seen to grow worse and worse and further and further off from Repentance or Amendment of Life May it not be said of many of you both Professors and Prophane That the best of you are but as a Bryar and the most upright but as a Thorne Hedge and great shall be your perplexity and Wo to all deceitful Workers of Iniquity Dissemblers and Hypocrites that would eat up God's People as they eat Bread your expectation shall be cut off your wicked Imaginations and Contrivances against the Just to slay him will God frustrate and confound yet more and more How many wicked Men and Women of late have whetted their Teeth and opened their Mouths to eat up God's chosen Flock and Heritage and devour them through Lyes Calumnies and false Reports speaking all manner of Evil against such as neither thought said or did any harm
then Wars and Fightings would cease with Carnal Weapons then Kings and Princes and their Subjects would learn to be quiet peaceable and love one another indeed and in truth which would make Nations happy and flourishing Kingdoms and they would learn War no more but beat their Swords into Plow-shares and their Spears into pruning Hooks and Peoples Fleshly Lusts would dye which doth so often and so much prompt Peoples and Nations to Wars and Fightings but Christ's Doctrine and Example all People ought to mind and follow who command his Followers to love their Enemies as well as to love another and to do good to them that did hate them and to pray for such as dispitfully used and persecuted them and in so doings we manifest our selves to be the Children of our heavenly Father who causeth the Sun to shine and the Rain to fall both upon the Just and Vnjust and all People ought to cease from Anger and forsake Wrath not to fret themselves in any wise to do evil for Evil-doers-shall be cut off and who are of Caln's blood y race that slew his Brother Abel because Abel's Offering was accepted but Cain and his Offering was rejected and Sin lay at his Door and he was a Wicked One and they all are Wicked Ones who are in his wicked envions Nature which leads them to Hurt Kill and Destroy one another about Faith and Religlon now in the Gospel Day and Dispesation and Cain's envious Nature must be slain and dye in Man and Woman which hath caused so many Wars and so much Fighting in the World before Peoples and Nations come to a lasting Peace with God or one another for if People would truly Love God and one another as they ought and hearken to the Lords Voice then all would come to know great Peace with God and Concord and Agreement in that which is good which indeed is amiable and becometh Christian socioties for its want of love to God and Peoples not loving one another without Dissimulation out of a Fure Heart that there is so much envy and hatred amongst Men one towards another and so the envious one kindleth Passions stireth up Amimosities and Heats into a great Flame in Men and Women one against another to do Violence unto and destroy one another in self-love self-honour and about the Sinful Pleasures and Profits of this World with Fleshly Lusts that Wars against the Soul which all ought to abstain from high and low rich and poor and it s no marvil if People in that state ask but cannot obtain what they ask of God for they Kill and desire to have that they may spend it upon their Lusts which wars against their Souls and these Battlements ought to be taken away for they are not the Lord's but of the Divil's raising and building up in Man and Woman for the hurt of the Creature to do violence to and Kill one another but the War and Battlements of the Lord are against the works of the Devil that he hath wrought in the Creature and to save Mens lives not to destroy them So the Lord's War and Weapons that are Spiritual and mighty through God strikes at the power and spirit of the Enemy which captivates the Creature in that which is evil the power of the Enemy leadeth People captive into Sin and Evil but the Lord's Spirit and Power leadeth the Creature out of Sin and Evil and to free the Creature totally from it the spirit and power of the Enemy leads People to contend wrestle sight with Flesh and Blood Kill one another but the Spirit and Power of the Lord God Almighty leadeth the Saints to War and wrestle with Spiritual Wickedness in high Places and with the Rulers of Darkness not to harm or Kill Men but to love one another and forgive them that Traspass against us as we would be forgiven of God our Trespass against him but how can such expect the Lord should forgive them their Trespasses and Offences against him that are for revenging Trespasses which they have commited one against another also continuing in and revenging their Trespasses against the Lord and yet abink that he will Pardon and forgive them their Trapasses before they truly Repent or leave off so doing and so great Multituds are kept in miserable Blindness imagining the Pardon of Sin by Christ Jesus his Death and Merrits whilst in as much love to Sin and in the practise thereof as ever they were such do but deceive themselves being erred and gone astray from the way of Life and Salvation remain ignorant of that precious Redemption that Christ Jesus purchased with his own Blood from the bondage of Sin and Corruption for that was the great and Glorious end of his offering up himself a Sacrafice for Sin not that Men and Women should alwayes abide or keep in the practice of it but to be delivered from the practice of Sin and the Guilt and Condemnation removed and taken away that sinning against God bringeth upon the Transgressors of his holy commands that saith Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve And such as Worship and serve another God than the Eternal God who made Heaven and Earth and the Fountains of great Deeps they Worship their own Imaginations in their dark Conceits and foolish Imaginations and with such Services and Worships the Lord is grieved and in vain do People draw near or come before him with such Worships and Service that yet many Socioties and false Gatherings in vain content themselves with being erred and strayed from that Spirit and Power of God where in all might come aright to serve and worship the only wise and true God no more to serve the Devil or Sln but to come to Serve God in newness of Life and living Soberly Righteously and Purely unto him his Honour and Praises the resudue of time yet to spend and abide in this present World which cannot be known but through a daily crossing thy own Will and vile Affections O vain Man and Woman come to deny thy self thy sensual desires and thy ungodly deeds take up a cross unto all that which is evil in which thou hast taken great pleasure and delight thou most renounce it part with and deny thy self of it to be a Desciple of Christ Jesus to be taught of him and follow him who will never lead thee into any Errour but out of all Sin and Errour and out of every by-path or crooked way that thou hast troden or walked in the Nations of the Earth are angry be cause God's glorious day is come which discovereth and layeth upon their hidden Works of Darkness and Dishonesty will come out and by the Light of Christ be manifest even that which long hath been hid and covered with thick Darkness and the Light God will cause to shine out of obscurity and his Day will break and the Shadows of the Night will vanish away as the heavenly Rayes of God's
limmit and turn them as it pleaseth him therefore all ought to look unto him and be instructed by him in order to Eternal Life Happiness and Salvation and to be delivered by him from outward Judgments and Wrath to come from the Almighty God and all ought to dread and fear his holy Name to believe really and trust therein for his Name he will exalt and cause every Knee to Bow and Tongue to Confess to it O all People upon the Face of the Earth stand in awe and sin not commune with your own Hearts and be still be still and know that the Eternal God who is God from everlasting to everlasting will exercise great severity and plead with the Wicked in his Wrath and Indignation when his Goodness Mercy and Forbearance is sleighted and abused by renewing Transgression upon Transgression and adding Sin to Sin that hath brought upon many People and Nations God's fierce Wrath to the depopulating many fair flourishing Cities Countries where Pride Debauchery and Hellish Cruelty aboundeth to bring down their Pride and vain Glory and to shake the Foundations of the Earth and the Heavens also to make way for that which cannot be shaken which shall remain notwithstanding any attempts which are or may be made to overthrow and rout it out of any Kingdom or Nation by any Prince or People whatsoever which will be but an Addition to the manifold Sins and Trespasses that God will bring his Judgments upon Nations and sorely punish People for if they do not repent whilst 't is called to day Terror upon Terror Loss upon Loss Perplexity upon Perplexity Trouble upon Trouble will come upon People in all Nations when God shall plead with them in the way of his Judgments by the Sword by the Famine and Pestilence but the Wicked then want that supporting Hand of the Lord whereby he supports bears up and strengthens his People that fear him that however it be such are at rest and peace with God Now the Wicked who work wickedness and are cruel Enemies against God and his People he will ease him of his Enemies and avenge him of his Adversaries tho' never so strongly consident in an Arm of Flesh or Carnal Weapons prepared for Battel for that strength is little to the Lord 's great Power and strength and surely it will be but a vain thing in any King or Prince on Earth to withstand the Lord's Almighty Power What are the Armies on Earth to they Armies in Heaven What is any Camp on Earth to the Camp of â—he Lord of Hosts who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords And hath not the Lord Legions of Angels at his command to do his Pleasure What Earthly force or strength can incounter them or cause them to desert the doing of the Will of God which he gives them in charge to perform saithfully And when any Angel hath a Vial of God's Wrath to be poured forth who can stay or hinder it from taking its Effect Then We to the wicked and ungodly Men and Women and Wo to all Ealfe-Hearted Treacherous-Deaiers Dissemblers Temporizers Truce-Breakers Ealse-Aecusers and Despisers of them who are good who refuse the Appearance of the Lord and shall so continue in obstinate Rebellion against God and hating to be reformed from that which at last brings ruin and great desolation in the World And now many Houses will be left dsolate without Inhabitant in all Nations where there is or may be a Seat of War and the Sword Famine and Pestilence will be seen in many Countries more or less and sweep away many People out of this present World Husbands from Wives and Wives from Husbands Parents from Children and Children from Parents many Women will be made Widows and Children Fatherless because of the crying Sins and horrible Abominations in most Nations of the Earth committed against him that gave them their being will desolation come how many make a God of their Bellies glory in their shame and mind Earthly things and what end can such who remain so but expect destruction All you that have peirced do peirce the Lord by your wicked works prepare prepare to meet him look upon him whom you have peirced and mourn over him let your Feasting be turned into Fasting and Mourning and your Laughter into Heaviness and bitter Lamentation give not rest to your Eyes nor slumber to your Eye lids till you find out a sure and safe Habitation and resting place in Christ Jesus forsake all your pleasures in Sin and seriously consider that they are but for a season your Digniy Glory Honour and Pleasures of this World are not lasting nor its Riches durable and they fly away they will shortly leave you and you the world you must dye and go hence and after Death come to Judgment Therefore People of all ranks and degres in this World take heed of rushing into Evil as you have done in times past but without delay learn to do well learn Righteousness whilst God's Judgments are in the Earth that if possible you may yet escape those heavy Judgments and Plagues which will come upon the Wicked and Ungodly who then are found ungodly they will reap the Fruit of their own doings But if the Spirit of Grace still strive with thee Man and Woman their is left some hope of Salvation and so be awakned to stand up from the dead and thy mind turned to God from Darkness and the Devil's Temptations and Snares where they are prepared and the Enemy layeth his Snares secretly in the dark Night he catcheth and holdeth fast multitudes of all Nations captive Mind the Light of Christ the Light of Life by which you may all come to see your way out of this Captivity and obtain the freedom and liberty out of this bondage and slavery to Sin and Satan and by Christ Jesus know absolute and real Redemption through his Blood shed as a Sacrifice for your Sins and that it effectually redeems you from the power of Hell and Death that you may not dye in your Sins but live to God hating of Sin and Evil all your dayes The appearance of God in the Spirit wait for the knowledge of that will truly convince you all of your Sins of your Righteousness and of Judgment of Sin because you do not really believe in the Son of God although you profess him long have talked of him also heard of him by the hearing of the Ear yet despising and wondering at his appearance as not worthy to be minded or regarded by you therefore how many are found rejecting that appearance of God in the Spirit that secretly smites checks and convinceth them of their Sins which Spirit also convinceth the World of Righteousness being wrong A Righteousness of your own you have gone about to establish and would establish which God will convince you of and lead you out of by his own Spirit and that will acquaint you with God's Righteousness that which is really of him