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 Committed 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 Commandement 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 will 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 Prerogateve 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 Iudgement is to come upon thee O Land and that many in thee shall fall and be taken away in the Judgement 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 and 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 and saved from his Wrath what ever may be done to any of their Bodies but his fierce Wrath and 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 and 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 Saints 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 pass the thing that is in his heart And you who now think to set up and establish your Idolatry and to live in Pzophaness 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 frustrate 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 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 the 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 saltes 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 Judgements 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 Masse in English and the foolish needless Garments
ENGLANDS SAD Estate 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 Judgements of the Lord are coming upon them and the Land WHEREIN Is also contained some PROPHECIES and EXHORTATIONS By George Fox the Younger London Printed for Robert Wilson at the Black-Spread-Eagle and Windmil in Martins le Grand 1661. ENGLANDS Sad Estate and Condition LAMENTED c. 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 and 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 bad 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 wayes 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 Transgressions 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 himself a Prey to this Generation of Evil doers whose hearts are set upon their Luâ—ts Idolatry and grievous Abominations and the Lord hath beheld it and it pleaseth him because there is no true Judgement 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 Juâ—t 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 Captains of Thousands Hundreds and Fifties O how oft hath he Overturned thy Governments and Changed thy Governors 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 and that cursed Self-intereâ—t 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 Tiranny 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 Prieâ—ts 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-batters Gamsters 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 Abetters 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 O! 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 Judgement 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 Howl 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 Scatâ—eâ— I 'le Scatter I 'le Split Divide and Separate I 'le Break and Dash to Peices and none shall be able to Gather Bind up or Joyn together For mine Anger is kindled and my Jealouse 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 finned out the day of your Visitation To you I now speak You that seel 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 smiâ—e 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 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 On 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 thy Inhabitants Time after Time But notwithstanding their Doctrine Lives and Conversations have manifested their Innocency and Vprightness of Hearâ— 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 Severall of them have Sealed their Testimony for the Lord with their Blood which cryeth for Vengeance in the Ears of the
of the Priests and such like Popish stuff that these things are Idolatry Folly and Vanity and butia mocking of God and yet some of these People will run after this Vain Worship for self-ends stavish-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 Abomination 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 there 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 until 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 divideth 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 never be 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 Oh! 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 Holiness 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 Meekness Contentedness 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 Forms 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 EMMANUEL 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 bear 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 alone in your Beds or where-ever you are if you will receive Him who giveth you Life and Breath whose gentle Reproofs 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 ye 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 and 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 Judgement and to Endure the Tryal and that you may be Hid from the Wrath of the Lamb which is night 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 and 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 always 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 fullfilled Printed the 13. of the Second Moneth THE END