the Fatts to overflow and she is come up into remembrance before the Lord the Just God who will Plague her and all her Merchants and Inhabitants according to their Abominations whereby they have grievously provoked Him Therefore come out of her whilst Mercy and Time is offered lest you perish with her in her Judgments which the Lord is Strongly and Swiftly bringing upon her Oh England England A day of Sorrow and Calamity is comeing upon many of thy Inhabitants I have long been sensible of it even a day of such Breaking Confusion and Judgement as hath not been for a long space For thy People have wearied out the Lord with their iniquities and grieved his holy Spirit with their abominations days without number Oh England England The Lord hath a precious and Holy Seed in thee Yea He hath a Remnant which he hath raised by his Power to for himself which are exceeding precious in his sight and these a great part of thine Inhabitants have Shamefully entreated and grievously oppressed and persecuted And they have patiently born the same and have laboured in the Life of Innocency and Spirit of Emanuel to Inform thy Rulers and People in the Things that are Just and True and have shewn them the Wayes which have and do Displease the Lord and have Exhorted and Warned the Inhabitants Time after Time But notwithstanding their Doctrine Lives and Conversations have manifested their Innocency and Vprightness of Heart before God and Man yet have many of thy Rulers Priests and People Oppressed them more and more Some Spoiling their Goods others Imprisoning their Bodies in filthy Holes and Dungeons till Several of them have Sealed their Testimony for the Lord with their Blood which cryeth for Vengeance in the Ears of the Almighty and the Lord hath heard the Cry thereof and hath looked down and beheld the Actings of the Sons of men and he is near to Visit Yea the Lord hath beheld and doth behold the Snares that have been and are laid for the Innocent who have no other Helper but him alone and therefore they have Commited their Cause unto him who shall bring it to pass Yea he hath taken Notice how several of thy Rulers have combin'd together and endeavoured to Force his Babes to Violate his Royal Law and to Break his Command who saith Swear not at all to Uphold and Obey theirs which is Contrary to his Yea He hath taken notice of the Cruel Sufferings and great Temptations of his People who many of them are yet Imprisoned and both their Bodies and Estates threatned to be destroyed by some evil Men if they will not break the Royal Law and Commandment of Christ which he hath placed in their hearts to Obey Do. Oh! The Lord hath seen the Partiality and evil Intents of several of the Judges and Rulers of this Land who have had Power to let the Innocent go free and yet keep many of his Ministers and Servants many of which have outward Estates Prisoners in many places although they have no more against them than against those whom they have turned forth which is nothing else but for their Obeying the Command of Christ in them who this day saith unto his People Swear not at all as he said to his Disciples formerly and for meeting together and Speaking and Praying in his Name for the Edifying Comforting and Building up one another in their most holy Faith The Lord hath also taken notice that when some of the Rulers might Relieve the Innocent and let the Oppressed go free they will not and then to cover themselves they wil say They cannot act contrary to the Law But when a Ruler will act that which he hath no Law for he can then plead a Prerogative Royal for that and thus are the innocent Lambs of Christ made a Prey upon Oh! the Oppressions of his People and others are great this day in thee O Land and the Crying of the Fatherless the Widows and the Needy is come up before the Lord God of Compassion who will thorowly plead the Cause of his People and the Poor and Needy of the Land Oh England England I have oft heard and treasured up what the Lord hath said in me concerning thy Inhabitants but now must I declare it in the Appointed Season Thus hath the Lord spoken in me for a long time concerning thy Inhabitants saying The People are too many the People are too many I will thin them I will thin them Mark that is He will make them fewer for they cumber the Ground And the spirit of the Lord hath oft signified unto me for a long time That an Over-flowing Scourge yea even an exceeding great and terrible Iudgment is to come upon thee O Land and that many in thee shall fall and be taken away in the Judgment and the Spirit of the Lord signifieth unto me that the time draweth nigh and that the Decree of the Lord is so firm that though some of the Lords Children Prophets could appear so as to stand in the Gap yet should not that alter his Decree only in the Righteousness of the Lamb they shall be hid saved from his Wrath what ever may be done to any of their Bodies but his fierce Wrath Indignation shall be poured forth upon the Ungodly and a great Desolation and Destruction shall there be for he will overturn and overturn till he hath dis-throned thrown down the Man of Sin exalted established the Kingdom of his dear Son over all the Kingdoms of the world and the Kingdom and Dominion and the Greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven shall be given to the Holy People the Sints of the Most High whose Kingdom is an Everlasting Kingdom and all Dominions shall serve and obey him who is King of Saints Behold ye Despisers and Wonder This is the Work which the Lord will accomplish by his own Power though you will in no wise believe it but you shall feel even both Hypocrites and Prophane that the Lord is able to bring to passe the thing that is in his heart And you who now think to set up and establish your Idolatry and to live in Prophaness without control and you who appear so hot against some of these things and labour to stop and pull them down mark that you might set up and establish your own Hypocritical Will-Worship in another dark dead Form I will frustrare you both saith the Lord God and you shall grind and waste one against another as the upper and nether Milstone And I will pluck out from you and preserve a holy Seed beyond expectation and I will be avenged on you for that which you have already bruised or shall yet bruise mark And I will hurry and hurl you round with a mighty Stream for the Waters shall roar and swell And after I have executed my vengeance upon the Rebellious and Treacherous Dealers I will then bring forth the Remnant of my Holy Seed
God by them that are yet unborn and will bless God for this day and so these seven faithful Lambs are gone by the permission of God into exile and have for truths sake parted with Wives Children and Estates to fulfill the Holy will of God who is blessed for ever Not many dayes after the embarquing of these faithful Brethren the Lord shewed another notable example by cuting off that grand Instrument Iudge Hyde by sudden death who the Lord knoweth wrought much yea very much of our detriment both in our imprisonments our tryals and in expediating our Banishment But he is gone to his place and the fruits of the deeds in his life is his food to eternity and so I shall not particularize his several carriages to us in our imprisonments and tryals but leave it to others to read over the lines of his life which is written with a point of an Adamant And about that time the Lord began to pour out his plagues in some of the out parts of the City and then Weekly-bills began to declare the Judgements of a just God and in a manner as in his fear I may speak it as they began to banish in small numbers first 3. then 7. and afterwards greater numbers as may by and by be declared even so hath the Judgments of God traced that malicious spirit first in small numbers and so with greater as any that will make the observation upon the weekly-bills of Mortality may find it so just and righteous O dreadful God are thy judgments who hast judged thus And not many weeks passed but another experiment must be made by sending away for Banishment now eight malice encreasing one in number the Names of these faithful innocent Lambs are Rob. Allin Tho. Kent John Raunce Tho. Hodg Tho. Robins John Johnson Tho. Parker Rich. Poulton all which were on the 26. of the 3d. month 1665. by those emesaries of Newgate forced out of Prison and carried to the old place Black-fryars Stairs and there was a Barge prepared for them into which they were pulled and so from thence to Gravesend were carried where they were by violence put aboard in order to banishment and after some dayes lying in the River they were cleared at the Blockhouse which would not be done till the Shipmaster made appear to the Searchers that he had the Quakers aboard and so in the will of God have these all born a â—â—â—thful testimony unto Gods holy truth and have set their seales unto it by giving up freely both Wives Children and their all and rather then transgress the way of God have chosen to receive their lots with their Brethren into what place soever the Lord shall permit them to be cast and have committed the truth of their cause unto a just God who is now come to plead their innocency with their and his adversaries and he will render vengeance upon the heads of them and will smite hip and thigh the whole host of the Vncircumcised and they shall know by his Judgments he is God and not another and though these simple sheep when before your Courts of judgment so called might not have liberty to plead the truth of their cause unto you but with ironical scoffing jeering and taunting language have dispenced your wills unto them which is reckoned by you good law but the righteous Judge hath looked down and beheld all these things and when any one have but spoken a sentence of Scripture in defence of their just cause you have retorted unto them these unsavory ungodly unchristianlike sayings hold your canting sirrah hold your canting sirrah I even I have been both eye and ear witness of these things even to the grief of my very soul that ever men that should sit in Court to execute the Lawes of this Nation should drop such expressions from their mouths and in publique But what shall I say in an acceptable time is the Lord arisen to plead with the men of this Generation when I have heard such language given by old grey hair'd men that hath sate there to judge I have said in my heart where are we arrived in this day what the Scriptures of truth called canting a language learned under Hedges by Rogues and Vagabonds ah woe is me is this the reverence you have to the holy record of Scripture to call it canting and in your Courts of Judicature ah miserable men what an example is this to them that comes to hear your wisdoms and may not young men by your examples turn meer heathen and atheists but the Lord will awaken you yea he will awaken you to the confession of him and likewise that Records of truth spoken forth through his Servants by the Spirit of God in their day and Generation who received such measure from the Judges and Rulers then in being as we now do from you in this Nation But now I return unto my Relation to observe the dealings with my Brethren and Sisters in the pestiferous Jakes and Prison of Newgate well though notwithstanding the fury of the Lord smoaks in this City and his wrath is come up to the number Thousands and he is cuting off in all parts and his Judgments have even circumâ—fered and beleagured it and seeing it is the will of the Lord it shall be so what saith the envious spirit I will double and treble the number of those that are under my hand and will drive them into exile and in order thereunto a Shipmaster a fit servile for such an employment is found who as it is said of him will banish his neerest Relations for moneys and a contract is drove with him for no less then 60. innocent men and women or thereabouts to receive them into his Ship to dispose of them whetherto he is bound and there to leave them to starve and perish O mercyless Rulers is this your Retaliation for the return out of your distress the Lord if it be his will shew you more mercy then you shew unto his people and a day is ordered for the dispatching of this poor flock away out of their Country and so as aforesaid in a morning with very short warning was these friends about some 56. or 58. by the old serviles of Newgate taken forth and carried down to the same place by 10.8 and sometimes more in a company through the streets some drove and some led to the Waterside untill they had got the number spoken into the Barge prepared for them and so away they were rowed down to a place called Bugbeys Hole beyond Greenwich where the Ship rode and when they came unto the Ship these Instruments of Newgate did not find all things so ready to their hands nor they in the Ship so willing as themselves were to do their masters drudgery the Seamen being some of them more considerate refused to lay hands on them except they were willing and these poor sheep declared their unwillingness to yield any active complyance unto them so a
great busle and hurly burly was made and many words used magistrate like by some of the Emissaries there yet for all that cared not the Seamen so there was a cry to hand out the Tekel to hoist them up and answer was made as I heard that if they were Merchants Goods they would do so Answer was given again they were the Kings Goods But in the end the Newgate servants was faine to fall to work and with much ado they got four of this number aboard and then being tyred the rest were let alone and after sometime was returned to Newgate again where they for sometime was kept Prisoners This was done the 20. day of the 5th Month call'd July 1665. yet notwithstanding all this and the return of these innocent persons to their old Habitation in which many of our dear Friends have lost their lives through the mercies of the Rulers of this Generation which are altogether cruelties and these things related are tokens and marks of them easie to be read of all that fear the Lord and have any bowells of tenderness in them and when they were there safe they were untill the envious spirit got another opportunity which with some small industry was purchased and now seeing the Emissaries of Newgate could not effect their work recourse was had unto the Military power and so a company of Redcoats must execute this barbarity I have known a day when your very selves O Rulers have cryed out upon Redcoat law but that is forgot with you now it seems you think fit it should be ministred unto us God Omnipotent judge between us and you in this matter and so things being thus ordered and the Lord permitting them so to be a day was appointed which was on the 4th day of the 6th month called August 1665. O malice thou Monster will nothing satisfie but the slaughter of the Soul through betraying the life of God by bowing and falling down to thee or the death of the body Lord thy will be done and to do thy will are we freely given up either to live or to die so thou be'st honoured Holy Father thy name magnified and thy truth exalted above all deceipt hypocrisie and all manner of prophaneness And in the morning early great was the preparation and all or most that belonged to Newgate that could either lay hand of arme or leg was summoned to help to get this poor flock a Shipboard and to their work they went and as usually they did so now some they led some they drove in numbers according as the drivers thought best for their ease and thus they got them to the Waterside and into the Barge and this in the face of the City in whose streets the bills of Mortality were the day before handed that signified the cuting off by death 3014. and so as they have encreased the numbers for Banishment the Lord hath increased his Plagues amongst them and this O thou sinful City thou wilt both observe and consider in time and those faithful souls were from thence rowed again to the same Ship to Bugby's-Hole as aforesaid and many Friends did accompany them to the Shipside in other Boats and after the Barge a couple of men belonging to Newgate follows in Boats having Souldiers with them which I suppose they purchased at the Tower to perpetrate that wicked work in hand our Boats lying near the Ship an out-cry was made by one of them get you further from the Ship or else we will sink you but Friends regarded not what they said but lay stil keeping as ne'r the ship as they could So these two Newgate Champions entring the Ship with their armed Men commanded by a Sarjeant or Coporal or some such fellow it matters not what his demenour shewed himself to be a Bruit and having made way in the Ship the Seamen were called but few or none would lay hand on them only two or three Vassals that were hired to help for that piece of service did shew themselves as they were so they placed themselves for the conveniency of their work then the Souldiers descended into the Barge and began to lay hold on Friends and draged them forward and some they kickt and punch'd and heaved up many by Legs and Arms and some they drew up with Ropes fastened about their middles like pieces of Timber and so tumbled them into the Ship and thus in an hours time or thereabout they had finished their work they served Men and Women all alike either lifted them up by violence or hoisted them up by tekell and those two above mentioned standing in the wast of the Ship gave directions and orders and well pleased they were in that dismal sight to see Men drawn up like Cattle and scoffingly they were observed to say hand out the tackle to draw up the Kings goods and take in the Kings goods and this was their game and pastime they made over the bodies of these Servants of the Lord the sight of which caused exceeding grief in Friends who were Spectators of this Tragedy lying by the Ship side O wofull wretches that sport your selves in such Inhumanities as was there exercised for you two above all the rest of Newgate Instruments you should not have sported your selves in that manner for it s known to you that when profession in the Congregated way was in fashion you were for none of this work and when one of you was a Disciple of Parson Griffith then none of this but the Hypocrite God will judge and recompence with his just Plagues as well as the prophane and thus was this great piece of wicked work finished by the Instruments abovesaid and so are these Servants of the most High exposed to cruel Banishment having left behind them a good report for their faithfulness to the Lord and a good favour is their Testimony for God's Truth unto all that have any sence of him in them The Names of those Friends last Banished both Men and Women being in number 55. are VIZ Men Friends Peter Pennington Henry Tayler Thomas Hubbert Roger Roberts Edmund Berkley William Mathews Digory Marshall Vincent Gerrard John Noble Nathaniel Harding William Parker Thomas Rose Lawrence Aplin Francis Tersey Thomas Cox Manasses Howard John Chaplin John Clause William Newman Robert Pate Lawrence Fullove James Pierce William Tillet Christopher Dickeson John Fox Thomas Stoaks Thomas Clark Bartholomew Hall Richard Thomson James Kirton Edward Walker John Gabb John Horsey Matthew Jackson Edward Lee. Arthur Baker William Roberts Women Friends Deborah Harding Anne Priest Elizabeth Ivers Anne Horniblow Rose Atkins Elizabeth Fisher Anne Mercer Jane Powell Mary Middleton Rachel Jackson Christian Ford. Elizabeth Pike Elizabeth Harding Rebecka Trump Anne Royley Dorothy Hall Patience Willson Margaret Jackson Banish'd in all 72. remains in Prison sentenced for Banishment about 72. And these are part of those inhumane usuages which the people of the Lord who are by violence drove out of their native Country into exile have
sustained and received from the hands of their Rulers and those instruments that are imployed in the execution of their Law last made for that purpose being the progress of thirteen months or upward in the execution of it and it is little taken notice of by our Persecutors how many Widdows and fatherless Children they have made by this their cruel work in this time But now the Lord is retaliating into their bosomes and is measureing unto you as you have measured unto us and many widdows and fatherless will he make for our sakes yea for our sakes therefore be not deceived our innocency is assuredly come before the Lord and our cryes are heard and he is recompencing of your works into your hands that you have wrought these many years and what will you say it is the great God that pleads with you O London London thou maist remember a few years since thou was sporting thy self and making merry thy Inhabitants was even distracted with vain joy Remember thy wasting of Gods good Creatures upon thy lust and drunkenness thy Bonfires thy Rosteing of good meat in the street and basting it with kenel dirt and water the worst morsel of which thousands and ten thousands would be glad of and many for want of these things perish now and remember thy vain shews erected in the high places of thee when no less then about 600. of the servants of the Lord were in prison in and about thee looking through the Grates of thy Prisons and even panting for very air In that very day the servants of the Lord did bear that burthen of all your ungodliness under which many walked up and down more like to shadowes then men even to see what would become of your wayes in which you were posting and gadding like wild Cattle what think you was God served therein or the Devil By this time many thousands in thee are sensible of the provocations wherewith you provoked the Lord in that day but in all those actions the mighty God beheld you and also his servants who had done no injury to any of you at all notwithstanding that all must be cooped up in your Prisons till you had offered your wicked heathenish sacrifice unto your lusts in that day you were told by many of the day that hath now overtaken thee O London and thou did'st not believe it but however now thou both seest it and feelest it to be true and now instead of healths which thou vainly drunk to men in thy Bowles and Cups thou hast sickness from the hand of the Almighty and instead of thy mad joy thou hast handed to thee a cup of deep sorrow and them thou dâ—ified O City in that day and for whom these things were wrought hath now left thee in the very middest of thy misery And now consider O London is it not better to trust the Lord than man whose breath is in his Nostrils some put their trust in Princes some in Horses but it is good to trust the Lord and had'st thou considered this in thy former day well had it been with thee and as for those that did help to promp on thy ungodlyness in that day those they were that by their Oaths execrations and all abominable wretched practises in whoring and drunkenness and what not in their Feathers and strange fashions have these relinquished thee also it had been well thou hadst never known them but however this memorial they have left behind them even their shameful spewings yea their shameful spewings in every corner of thy Streets And for all this the servants of the Lord undergoes more cruelties from Thee and thy Rulers then ever what do ye account we were born and brought forth as Men and Women to be destroyed was this the end the Lord gave us life for think yee and do you think it is our portion to spend our dayes in your Prisons what because the thing hath been continued and is common therefore you look upon it it is but right it should so be and so from the Womb unto the Tomb this is our portion from your hands And thus we have been all along and are made the very Prey of a company of Rapine fowle and Fleshcrowes who teareth our flesh from our bones and drinks our bloods in your stinking Jakes and Prisons But dear God it is for thy dear truths sake that we undergo these things from the Men of this Generation O glorifie glorifie thy self holy Father in all these things that have been suffered to befall thy Saints and servants in this age we know holy God it is because they know not thee they do these things unto thine for did they know thee they would fear thee and if they did fear thee then they would love thee and if they did love thee then would they love thine Righteous God because they know not thee therefore they know not us for thou hast made known thy self in us and so come we to bear thy Heavenly Image O magnifie thy name great God and let all confess unto thee unto thy mercies unto thy Judgments unto thy Righteousness unto thy forbearance and mighty patience unto thy loving kindness unto thy truth for thou art God most mighty even God of Heaven and Earth and there is none besides thee in Earth or Heaven the Gods of the Earth are not able to stand in thy judgment O powerful God make thy power more and more known amongst the Sons and Daughters of Men that they may learn thy fear that Atheism and unbelief may be rooted up in this Nation and that plant of ungodliness O Lord pluck up by thy mighty power that it be no more and for thine holy God who for thy truth sake are drove into exile let thy sweet peace which is a portion beyond utterance answer all the wants they may in their body sustain and increase thy love in them so will they love one another and Righteous God be with all thine whom thou hast gathered into thee either in bonds or at liberty for all thine are one flesh and one bone in faithfulness let all persevere thy great name magnifie O God exalt thy truth above all National inventions which they frame and constitute unto thee O spiritual God for worship thou art a Spirit therefore by art thou art not worshipped and though men chuseth it and orderest it for thee it is because they know thee not and imagines thee to be like themselves Arts and inventions may please Men but thou art not pleased with them thou chusest thy worship thy self thou seekest thy Worshippers holy God out of all visible things is thy Worship in the invisible thou art both known and seen and all that comes to know thee and to see thee must come into the invisible and when they come there then shall we be known of them as we are known of thee and then no more Persecution but Love which is thy begotten which is thy express Image
O mighty God honour thy Self Glorify thy Self Magnifie thy Self and advance and exalt thy deer Truth over all O thou art worthy of all praise from thee in thine Blessed to Eternity POSTSCRIPT NOtwithstanding the sore Calamity that is by the hand of a most righteous God inflicted upon this City and that the last weeks Bill declared 3014. yet for all this and in this time they seized our Meeting in Joneses at the Peele and took away the most of Men friends amounting to the number of about 25. and carried them to be examined before George Monck called Duke of Albema le who after one nights been there their names being taken but not being brought before him was disposed of to Prison some to the Gate-house and some to Newgate where they remain Prisoners for the testimony of Gods holy Truth and though they had sent fifty five of the Servants of the Lord into cruel exile last week as it were to make an experiment of these actions and as I have heard it reported that some should say that if the Quakers were sent out of the Land it would be the onely expedient of stopping the Plague but behold what an effect it hath wrought and how the Lord hath dealt in this cause that this week since this hath been done 1016. is increased in the Judgement in this Bill for no less then 4030. is cut off which this Weeks Bill declares and so such Diviners if it were so spoken by them are falce and lyars for they see a contrary effect and those that causeth these our cruel and unjust sufferings may well observe the hand of a retaliating God upon you and except they intend to take vengeance upon the most High I am yet to learn their intentions in this matter O poor Mortals that thus striveth against the God of Heaven what shall I say a Lamentation a Lamentation yea a bitter Lamentation is to be taken up for you ENGLAND'S sad Estate and Condition lamented in this just Complaint taken up against the greatest part of her Inhabitants Because of their great Abominations and Treacherous Dealings both with God and Man For which cause the Terrible and Righteous Judgments of the Lord are coming upon them and the Land Wherein is also contained some PROPHESIES and EXHORTATIONS OH ENGLAND England The Abominations of the greatest part of thy Inhabitants who can declare them They have reached Heaven so as they are come up before the Lord the Jealous God and Wo unto that part of thy Inhabitants who have sinned out the Day of their Visitation and have wholly slighted the Day of God's patience and long Forbearance and would have none of his Reproof but have altogether rejected the same and have made a mock at Sin have sported themselves with their own Deceivings and Lusts and have gone a Whoring from under the God of their Lives Wherefore thus saith the Lord the onely God I will make such become a Hissing and Reproach and my Anger they shall not be able to Escape because of their provoking Abominations and Treacherous Dealings both with Me and Man Oh England England How have and yet do a great part of thy Inhabitants Rush into Idolatry and all manner of Profaness and grievous Abominations even as the Horse and Mighty Rush into the Battel How do they drink in Iniquity even as the Ox or Parched Ground drinketh in Water Oh! What manner of Lamentation shall I make for thee my Native Countrey Or What manner of Complaint may I take up against a great part of thine Inhabitants who have long Sought and yet seek thy Ruine and Destruction Verily their Actions have Declared them to be like the Inhabitants of Sodom Yea their sins have rendred them to be as â—â—d as those of Gomorrah O they have Vexed the Righteous Soul Yea and they have Grieved the Spirit of the Lord from Day to Day with their Vnjust Conversations They have multiplied their Transgressions and heaped up their Iniquities till they are become as the Sand on the Sea-shore without Number Oh! The Lord hath long striven with them yea He hath also long born their Iniquities He would have gathered them to himself out of their Abominations Yea he would oft have healed them but they would not but they have stiffned their Necks and hardned their Hearts against the Lord and his Counsel day after day and have chosen their own way and works even to their own hurt and would by no means be reclaimed for when the Lord hath reproved them by the Light of his Son in their own consciences and set their sins in order before their eyes they have stopped their Eares and closed their Eyes and willfully Rebelled against the Power of God and trampled upon his Witness the Light in them as a thing of nought counting it not worth the taking Notice of And when the Lord hath raised up Prophets Children and Servants and sent them out Commanding them to lift up their Voyces like Trumpets to shew the People their Transgression and to Preach Repentance and Amendment of Life Yea to warn and exhort them to turn from their Sins to God and to lay before them their great abominations and to Prophesie what should come upon them if they would not turn from the evil of their Doings Oh! how have a great part of thy Inhabitants Scorned and Derided these Yea how have many of thine Inhabitants Beaten Whipt Stock't Stoned and Imprisoned some of these till Death for bearing their Testimony for the Lord against a Crooked and Perverse Generation who hate such as speak uprightly and abhor such as reprove Sin in the Gate that so it is even thus come to pass in thee O England That he that departeth from Iniquity maketh himsef a Prey to this Generation of Evil doers whose hearts are set upon their Lusts Idolatry and grievous Abominations and the Lord hath beheld it and it pleaseth him because there is no true Judgment for these evil doers are all gone out of the way yea there is none of them that regard to do the thing that 's Just and Good any further than it may be advantagious to their own Corrupt Designes Oh England England How oft hath the Lord God smote thy Rulers and Mighty and Proud Men how oft hath he laid their Honour in the Dust Yea How oft hath he Overturned and Confounded thy Mighty Men even thy Men of War with thy Princes Nobles and Captaines of Thousands Hundreds and Fifties Oh how oft hath he Overturned thy Governments and Changed thy Governours But how few of them have so regarded the Out-goings of the Lord in all these things as they ought to have done And how few of them have rightly Weighed and Considered the Causes for which the Lord hath brought or suffered so many Changes in the Land Or have those who saw the causes that provoked the Lord of hosts thus to Act laboured so to remove them as they ought to do or might have done Nay
Assuredly they have not for the Lusts of this World and the Pride of Life hath blinded the minds of most and such who have seen what their duty was the honour of this World that cursed self-interest hath stopped and hindred most of them from doing those things which they saw they ought and which they had opportunity also to have done Oh! How have the new Governors in almost every Change of late cryed out of the Tirany and great Oppression of those whom they did succeed and how have most of them Vowed unto God Declared to and Promised the People That they would Remove the Burdens and Oppressions that the foregoing Rulers had laid and continued upon them But alas very few of them have regarded their Vowes Declarations and Promises either to God or Man but in Treachery and Deceit have they gone on Serving themselves and their own Lusts and not the Lord nor their Generation faithfully For although many of them have been very large in promises and good words whereby they have long sought to deceive the hearts of the People yet it is but very Little that hath been done for their true Liberty because that wicked Spirit which seeketh to make it self great by the ruine of others hath Ruled and doth yet Rule in the hearts of many Rulers and this is of the Devourer and Destroyer who cannot forgive Enemies but Crys out of Rebellion and Treason labouring to exasperate the Spirits of Others that so occasions may be gotten if possible against them thereby to bring them under and keep them in Bondage Oh England England Such is thy sad Estate and Condition that severall of thy Rulers are and have been as roaring Lyons even greedy to Devoure And many of thy Teachers have been and yet are like Troops of Robbers Robbing and Spoiling of many of thine Inhabitants Oh! How have most of thy Priests Temporized and Daubed with every Power as they have come up in the many Changes How have they encreased Envy Wars and Destructions amongst thy Rulers and People How have they one time Cryed up and Prayed for the same Thing which at another time they have Cryed down and Prayed against Oh! Who shall ever believe them Their god is their belly and who is it that many of them would not Joyn unto if thereby they might be upheld in Pride Idleness and Fulness How oft would they Change again and again And what Idolatry is there that many of them would not Run into for their Bellies sake Ah poor Nation Are they not yet striving to kindle a Flame within thy Bowels Hath not the Lord divided them and are they not labouring with all their might to Divide and Rend thy Inhabitants yet more and more Yea surely and it is Just with the Lord to suffer it to be so because of the greatness of their Abominations which are daily encreased Ah poor Land How art thou overspread with Wasters and spoilers who like Caterpillars devour thy Pleasant Fruit. Oh! the Whoredoms and Idolatries that are daily committed and acted in thee Who can Declare them Oh! thy Chief City thy Chief City that bloody City Can its Abominations be Parallel'd in the Earth Surely it hath Exceeded Sodom in Wickedness The Lord is very Angry with a great part of its Inhabitants and his Vengeance is nigh to come upon them Wo unto you Whoremongers Drunkards Gluttons Swearers Cursers Blasphemers Cheaters and Idolaters Wo unto you Proud Wanton and Prophane Vain Persons Wo unto you Mountebanks Stage-Players Bear-baiters Gamesters and all manner of Abominable Workers and you that Build up Towers Scaffolds and Vain Heathenish Representations and such like and make and garnish Images to draw peoples minds after Idolatry and for your Cursed Gain and Lusts in pretence of Honouring your King Oh! How are people drawn into Gazing and Wondring after these Abominations It grieveth the Righteous Soul to behold such great Wickedness Oh! You Wicked and Abominable Workers and Devourers of the Creation The Lord God will meet with you in a time when ye are little aware of Him He 'l Stain your Pride Vain Glory and Idolatry and give you your Portion amongst Devourers except you speedily Repent and your Abettors Strengthners and Helpers forward of such Ungodliness that do it knowingly and Delighters therein The Lord will not acquit you He 'l smite you for these things and that right soon Oh! Ye Idolatrous people Do you think that the Lord God of Pitty and Patience suffered your King to Hide himself from his Enemies in an Oake for that end that ye might Devour his Creatures in makeing an Idol of it Is this the use you make of that which you say was Gods Mercy towards you Is not this the way to turn those things that might have been Mercies to you into Plagues and Judgments Oh! How do you daily provoke the Lord against Your selves and your King Oh! You wicked Workers How dare you make Representations of Destruction and Ruine How dare you make a Sport of such things Verily your provocations are great wherewith you provoke the Just God And it will be Just with him to bring Ruine Desolation and Destruction upon you and your City Verily great is the Judgment that is nigh you and your sins draw it on you apace Do you think that the Lord cast out Back-sliders Hypocrites and Vnfaithful men to set up and establish Idolaters and open Prophane persons Nay surely Therefore Tremble ye Wicked Workers and Howle ye Prophane Idolaters for the Mighty and Terrible day of the Lord is near to break out upon you Thus saith the Lord God I 'le Scatter I 'le Scatter I 'le Split Divide and Separate I 'le Break and Dash to Pieces and none shall be able to Gather Bind up or Joyn together For mine Anger is kindled and my Jealousie shall burn till I have devoured mine Enemies saith the Lord. Therefore ye people of England that yet live in wickedness who have not wholly sinned out the day of your Visitation To you I now speak you that feel the Lord yet striving with you O Return return speedily unto the Manifestation of his Spirit whereby he strives with you to shew you your Abominations and to draw and lead you out of the same O be not still Stiff-necked but hearken to the Word of the Lord which sheweth you the thoughts and Intents of your Hearts and hearken and be obedient to the Call thereof that so by its power you may Hasten out of Babylon both Young and Old Rich and Poor High and Low Noble or Ignoble Professor or Profane who yet are there For the Lords Controversie is great with Babylon her Merchants and Inhabitants and he will not much longer spare but he will suddenly smite and none shall be able to hinder his stroak Yea yea he will wound and none shall be able to heal For the measure of her Iniquities Idolatries and Whoredoms are nigh full and the Wine of her Fornications hath caused
which shall be preserved from their Fury and they shall spread over all in my Life Power Knowledge and Wisdom wherein they shall stand in Dominion Yea and they shall rule the Earth in Mercy Justice and true Judgement and they shall forgive and love their Enemies as they do at this day and do the thing that is just and good unto all without respect of persons yea they shall seek the good of the whole Creation in 〈◊〉 true love and self-denial for the Spirit of Love Meekness Healing and Restoring shall mightily fill their tender Bowels and my Blessings shall fill their Dwelling-place and the Earth for their sakes these things will I accomplish by my own Power and in my own time saith the Lord God But although these things touching the holy Remnant shall certainly be fulfilled in their Season Yet before they be fully accomplished great will be the Tryals of many of the Righteous and there will be great Judgments executed in thee O Land by Him who oft-times maketh a fruitful Land barren because of the wickedness of them that dwell therein and Just will it be with Him to deal so with thee because of the great wickedness of the greatest part of thy Inhabitants who are departed and separated from the Spirit of Mercy Love Compassion and Healing and are labouring to Devour Oppress and Destroy one another and the whole Creation Oh England England There is also a People in thee who are come to see the Great Idolatry and Superstition which many are now striving to revive and set up in thee yea there is a People in thee which see and believe that the Worship which is now a setting up with the Vain Musick Altars Mass in English and the foolish needless Garments of the Priests and such like Popish stuff that these things are Idolatry Folly and Vanity and but a mocking of God and yet some of these People will run after this Vain Worship for self-ends slavish fear and to keep themselves in esteem with or amongst those who plead for it And others there are in thee who instead of being sorrowful for such Abominations and Superstition or reproving the Practicers thereof in the solid seasoned savoury Life and holy Dread of the Lord God they write and speak scoffingly of those things even to the stirring up one of another into vain Laughter and so make a sport of others Idolatry and this grieveth the Spirit of the Lord also and doth not convince but exasperate and harden those that are zealous for their blind Worship and Superstition There are also a great number of brittle fiery rash unsatisfied people in thee O Land who are as unstable as Water and these rebelling against the Light not knowing the way of it because they abide not in the path thereof they are restless rouling and raging oft-times like the Sea One time they will have a Parliament and cry out They shall govern and heal them and when they have gotten them in a short time they grow weary of them And then another time they will cry out for a King and say He shall heal them and make up their Breaches But these people are not long of one mind for they are much like the Athenians who spent their time in little else but either to tell or to hear of some New thing These People also are like mighty Tydes in thy Chanels O England which one while run with Violence driving all unsetled light unfixed things one way and shortly after run with as much violence the contrary way Therefore in a miserable condition are those Rulers whose strength is in such a People And untill Rulers come to be setled and fixed in Him who is the Rock of Ages and singly to rule in and for Him whom the Winds and the Seas obey who maketh the Waters to stand on heaps and divided them hither and thither and altereth the natural course of Tydes as he pleaseth as he hath done thine of late to shew thee the Figure of the People they can neâ—e safe neither will the People be still'd long together but there will be Swellings Ragings Overflowings sore Breakin gs and Ruines Oh! that the foregoing Rulers would have been perswaded to have Received Him for their Teacher who Ruleth in the Kingdoms of Men then should they not onely have seen what the Lord cast out others before them for but they should have been taught how to have denied all those things which the Lord was angry with others for and they should have received Power to have abstained from the same but they would not hear and obey the Lord nor his Prophets and therefore were they cast out also And therefore O! that the Rulers that now are would be perswaded whilst they have their Day by the Lord and his Servants to receive the Lord Jesus Christ to be their King and Teacher and then they should not onely see for what cause the Lord cast them out and others in their Age but they should be taught to deny and forsake all those things which God was angry with them and others for and they should receive Power to do those things which they and others before them left undone But alas How few are there that will Hear Regard and Obey the Prince of Life and his Followers and therefore is Desolation coming as a mighty Flood which none shall be able to stop Now all People in what Sect or Opinion soever in whom there are any true Breathings and Desires after the Lord and the way of his Holines Fear not neither be dismaid because of the Rage that you may yet see the Waters of the Land in and because of the Confusion and Cruelty of the People But stand still in that Life which begetteth Breathings and Thirstings in you after the Lord that you may come to see and feel his Salvation and that you may be gathered into that Patience Meekedness Contendedness Rest Peace and Satisfaction which many of the dear Lambs and Children of my Father are gathered into wherein they lye down and none can make them afraid though their Bodies and Estates be oppressed and abused Oh! Stick not Stick not in your Formes without Power neither Flee the Cross any longer but wait in the True Simplicity to feel God's hand of Tender Love which he reacheth forth to and manifesteth in you to lead and guide your minds into his Pure Worship which is in the Spirit and in the Truth Oh People This is the Worship that he will set up He will be LORD and LAW-GIVER in the Consciences of his People and those that will not be content that EMMANVEL should Reign over them he will slay them with the Sword of the Spirit The Words of his Mouth Oh! Hearken hearken a little and stand still that you may hear the voice of the true Shepherd in your own Hearts who calleth for Truth in the Inward Parts and he will discover what lodgeth Within and He will shew you the
Way wherein you should walk and he will let you see what the Cross is unto and He will teach you when you are nlone in your Beds or where-ever you are if you will receive Him who gives you Life and Breath whose gentle Reproofes and Instructions are the Way of Life Therefore you in whom the Breathings and Desires after the Lord are Consult not with Flesh and Blood neither reason against the Cross but submit to every Appearance of Gods Power in you which appeareth to Crucifie the Fleshly Birth and Nature which hath stood and doth stand in Rebellion and Enmity against the Pure and Precious Life and Requirings of the Lamb of God that so that Mind which is at Enmity against God and that Nature in you which is disobedient to his Commands in Spirit may come to be Crucified that so there may be a Change inwardly felt and witnessed by the working of the mighty Power of Christ in your Inward parts and then the Desires and Breathings which are Begotten in you after Righteousness they will be strengthened and the Teachings of the Almighty will be Truly known and you believing in the Power you will receive Power to obey and Practise whatsoever the Lord shall make known unto you by his Spirit to be his Will and Requirings Oh People Let the Dread of the Lord Seize upon your Spirits in this the Day of his Power wherein he is Trying Sifting and winnowing the Nations and wait to feel that Life arise within you which beareth Testimony against all evil within and without that so yee may become more and more acquainted with the Teachings Drawings and Leadings thereof that thereby you may be drawn and led out of those things which have kept your Souls in the Death and hindred you from enjoying the Pure Peace of God And this know and consider that all that come to witness their Souls raised out of Death and brought to enjoy the Peace of God they must Believe in the Life of the Quickning Spirit which is the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven who for Sin Condemneth Sin in the Flesh and appeareth in the Inward Parts of man to work out sin and transgression which hath Separated from God and so to make clean the heart and inside of male and female Oh People This is the Work of Christ the Son of God even to make manifest and destroy the works of the Devil and so to reconcile man unto God by the Virtue of his own Life which he gave a Ransome for many and blessed are all those that believe in the Life of the Son of God and feel know it manifested in their mortal flesh for they shall witness the Power of it to make all things new and so their Souls will come up in the hand of God and his Peace will be Received and Enjoyed Oh people Wait to know and feel this Work of Christ within you that so you may be made able to stand in the Judgment and to Endure the Tryal and that you may be Hid from the Wrath of the Lamb which is nigh to come upon the Rebellious Oh! Consider this Those that are his Followers they come throw many tribulations and their overcoming their Enemies is by his Blood not by a talk of it but by the Virtue and power of it sprinkled in their Hearts which washeth and maketh them White Clean and without Fault before God Oh People my Bowels yearn my Bowels yearn towards you whose Desires in any measure are after the Lord O that you would now Return with all your hearts unto Him and obey the Voice of his Power in you then should you be made able to stand and endure the fiery Trial which is come and coming Oh! the Day hastens wherein all Profession that is not grounded in the Life and Power of the Lord Jesus Christ whatever the shew of it be it will be so shaken that an utter Blasting and withering shall come upon it and for that cause the Lord doth and will yet suffer great Trials to come both upon the Professors and Possessors of his Name that so his Children the Possessors may be manifested unto all and discerned from all that are but Professors though never so fair and seemingly Covered For all Coverings but what is of the Power and Spirit it self shall be too Narrow and all that are not Covered with the Spirit and Power of Emmanuel their Shame and Nakedness shall appear more and more This is the Testimony which the Spirit Word of Truth giveth therefore He that hath an ear to hear let him hear before the day of his Visitation be wholly past and the things belonging to his Peace be hid from his Eyes For yet a little while and the Voice shall be He that is filthy let him be filthy still For the Spirit of the Lord shall not alwayes strive with flesh but his Plagues and Indignation shall be poured out upon such as will not be gathered in the Day of his Patience long Forbearance and Free-love and He or She that Loveth Father Mother Husband Wife Children House or Land Liberty Honour or any Thing more than the Life of the Lamb shall be counted not worthy of him and plainly manifested so to be Read this who can and he that can receive it let him For the Time draweth nigh that these Sayings must be fulfilled George Fox the Younger Printed the 13. of the Second Moneth The End To the King And both Houses of PARLIAMENT Thus saith the Lord MEddle not with my People because of their Conscience to me and banish them not out of the Nation because of their Conscience For if you do I will send my Plagues upon you and you shall know that I am the Lord. Written in obedience to the Lord By his Servant Geo. Bishope Bristol the 25th of the 9th Month 1664.