expected They overcharging me with that I had not disposed of my house nor put in order the least thing In few words the tormenting pain of my soul did so increase that I fell to roar like a Lion clamouring with a great voice said On your knees and cry unto the Lord that he succour me By and by my anguished Soul felt some ease and so I lay there like an outwearied wrestler as wet as swimming in the water until the fifth hour after noon The next morning I found my self much better nevertheless feeling throughout all the veins and bones of my right hand and side of the whole body sensible smarts untill the fifth day then being asleep an ancient Man came to me by me never seen before nor known and spake to me very comfortably Thy Dolours Anguish and tormenting Pains within and without signifie the Dolours of the People of God that are now at hand Be thou not astonished at the representation of such within thee by the Lord of Heaven who now shall assault and invade the whole World because of the sins of men and of their intolerable Pride and Forgetfulness of God for their sins have transcended the Clouds and cry for revenge And the Lord looking down sees but very few that repent therefore such Plagues are a coming upon them that they will clamour like as thou hast clamoured And thou hast well done that thou hast not yeelded unto such Temptations Give the Glory and Praise to God To all Christians I therefore do appeal having felt in me such unspeakable pain praying them all with what humbleness soever I can And again I intreat you yea I intreat you a third time by the Lord God by our precious Redemption by the Bloodshed of Jesus Christ and by the Gifts of the holy Ghost that every day we are partakers of and by that out-poured Love crying in our hearts with unspeakable sighs Abba Father and by the Mercifulness given to you from the Lord and by your Conjugal-Love betwixt Man and Wife and by the Fatherly Love betwixt Father Mother and Children and by all those Benefits given unto you and yours every day for your Livelihood for the Conservation of your Cities and Countries ye are Inhabitants of to the end to serve the Lord the Inhabitant of Heaven I beseech you once more to the uttermost Repent and be converted to the Lord at this very instant lest it may be too late after those evils are already come Prevent those evils I request you that are a rouling towards you lest a late dislike or regret I see at a distance come suddenly upon you because ye have hearkened unto the Voice of the hellish Dragon and his Officers O England remember how thou art distracted within thy self more inclined to thy uttermost Destruction rather than Conservation Therefore I the most little worm of all beseech you first the Western King that he desist to hear the Voice of the said Dragon and his Officers let him rather hear the Voice of God let him desist from Provision of War to destroy Cities and Peoples and Commonwealths and to shed that Christian blood which hath been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ In case he will do so and let the War alone it shall be fulfilled that which I have written and still write That the Lord Jesus will enlarge him great Victories which he shall obtain and see very shortly Also in like manner I entreat and obtest by the Lord God all wise Counsellors and those of Love-burning-Lamps of the People of God even as being the Pillars and Workmen of God's House to consider of what evil must follow in case no body takes care to quench this horrid by it self unquenchable Fire And how it cannot be extinguished except by the mercifulness of God that can be obtained when we turn to serious Repentance and growing together again in mutual Charity Is it not the Devil's work who by us in Germany hath kindled a Fire whereunto we have brought the Wood and poured upon it the Oyl of our Sins Let it then be your Example and make haste to prevent your Evil by Repentance O ye Wise and Discreet Ones weigh diligently how this Fire by us hath been kindled by those Black Four-cornereds who seeing they must fall here endeavour to prepare themselves a Retreat and Refuge in some other place as prudent sons of the world viz. in the Western parts by God's permission for they say Neither shall we be there very safe Yet what shall we do We will put into Confusion and Disorder the Nations and make them bustle one against another to overthrow and destroy themselves mutually that after they have rooted out themselves we may oversow all with our seed O strange how great is the craftiness how great is the grudg-bearing malignity of that Dragon and how great is our blindness that we have not taken heed how that by his contrivances so many Pillars of the Church have been overthrown so many prudent Judges dejected and turned out and there is no end of turning out still For just now they endeavour to bring to pass that you Statesmen Merchants Tradesmen and the poor plain Country-folk betwixt your selves and with your neighbours that bring you sustenance and whatsoever is needful and necessary for your use and imployment might fall out with one another into a mutual slaughter and overthrow to waste and ruine your own Land and Country But this is not all They work also that the Kings of the Neighbourhood might joyn battel especially those towards the North whither that black Smoke went carrying along with him fire-sparks of a new Inflamation Ah! beware O ye chief Powers and Commanders ye Kings and Princes Think what will remain after the Fire is gone but Ashes and Dust Ah! will ye not check that rising Fire thus exceeding great that it is like to chase all throughout whole Europe and to inflame every-where By the Mercifulness of God once more I beseech you and by the safety both of you and yours be moved with Compassion towards your little Children that cannot as yet discern between their right hand and their left that at the least they might be saved Look how that boyling Sea of the Wicked One's belching out dirt and mire doth feel its undoing by the approaching Anger of God and the Dragon sees that his time will be short Remember the words of Christ our Lord that when Nation shall arise against Nation and Kingdom against Kingdom then Doomsday draws near and what at that time we are commanded to do viz. that we shall lift up our heads to look upon the Work of God Look there how those Black Four-cornered run up and down for their Conscience is awakened like as a waving Sea Let them have no place by you nor their persons and their suggestions neither In case ye will not hear this Counsel then Anguish and Dolours will oppress you after which time of repentance nor
presently it waxed day This makes me to conceive a good hope that God after a sharp chastisement will shorten the time and make out of the first and second hour but one All the day before I was very much troubled as not knowing how it was with me as if some evil would befal me Yet I did recommend my self to the Lord and fell asleep from the eighth hour until the tenth from thence I counted all the hours following even as being not asleep but awake feeling all my senses as lively as any man out of sleep can do seeing and hearing all And therefore I arose walk'd up and down in the Chamber and cryed thus shrilly that my folk did hear me yet not knowing what it signified So then this my Dream in case it was a Dream continued from the eighth to the second hour As concerning that Eclipse of the Sun in the year 1654. Aug. 12 and its natural constitution or reason I confess my self to be ignorant therein not knowing any thing of it But the man said expresly The tenth hour was past already and the eleventh was approaching Yet these two last should pass away quickly that so the Sun of Righteousness may receive again his shining The Lord God Almighty help to it for his Mercy-sake And this is now that remarkable Vision which I according to Commandment forthwith have written down and send unto thee dear Friend of God to the end that thou mayest make it known and not to hide it from any that fear the Lord to stir up if it might still be any that would awaken out of the sleep of sin lest the fault fall upon us He that will receive our Admonition let him receive it he that will despise it let him despise it viz. them that are wise and just by themselves The 116th VISION June 20. 1664. As concerning that Fiery Rod together with the twofold Collateral Fire I saw that it moved from the East through the South into the West from whence did arise an exceeding thick smoak rouling as it were into the North whence arose an exceeding great Commotion of the Nations They fell so fiercely incensed one against another that it was a terror to look upon them they dealt not one with another like Christians but like as wild barbarous Nations bended upon mutual destruction yet I knew not what Nations they were because they were not named and by their speech or language I could not discern them This onely I assuredly know and write that the said Fire did stay in the West and still it was exceeding dark every where which made the Fire grow hotter and hotter even as if the whole World should be inflamed Nevertheless men were asleep very deeply and no body any more was to awake them and although some did awake as it were and looked upon that fire in the West yet they took no notice of it because they all had drunk of the Cup of Malignity Enviousness Fury and Blood-thirstiness whereof they were made so drunk that there was no possibility in what Clamour sound of Trumphets and noise of Drums soever that could make them awake to consider the issue of all such doings in case no body would give over and leave off Persecution and dispatching of others After I heard Lamentations of such as were grieved for that they had drunken out of the Cup of the Esauvitish Dragon whereof the Land was thus desolated the King thrust out the People destroyed the Lords and Pillars of the Land fallen down the Pious â—â—achers killed or banished the Children scattered throughout the streets there they lay and none was that did help it never such a VVar hath been like unto this in the West O would to God the King might be awake and take Counsel to prevent this uttermost destroying Burning and Inflamation Above that I have seen one of the Northern Kings especially the King in Denmark standing in the Flame as it were scorched who will be thrust also cut of his Kingdome and his Cities with the key of the Sea the Sound fall into the power of the VVestern Part unless he look to iâ— because that black Smoak will spread forth its sparks of Fire in the North too but the North VVind will soon scatter them that â—â—y may be quenched for the Esauvitish contrivances will 〈◊〉 shortly be manifested therefore let them well look about and not permit that the Southern and VVestern oppress their Neighbours betwixt the VVest and North for when the Hollanders though they have bound themselves a rod upon their back should be oppressed then the Northern also will have business enough VVould to God that I might be found a Liar in foretelling these Plagues to the World which the Lord of Heaven hath been pleased to manifest not only by the Scriptures and so many Prophets raised up and other Pious men but also by me poor little one yea by so many Signes in the Skie Earth Sea given forth to forewarn us Although I was constrained thereto yet I believe and am resolved to dye upon it that God speaketh truth and is faithful to what he promiseth and a Revenger of wickedness yea because he is merciful also his Mercy slows from him before the execution The like is to be seen in Lot and Jonah But this it is there be many that having stiff necks and uncircumcised hearts will rather hear and follow the counsel of the Devil or Devilish counsels than the Counsel of God and no other counsel there is left then to cast our selves in the bottomless pit of the Mercy of God for to escape the Flame of the Anger of God who even now goeth about to consume the world with Sword and Pestilence The 117th VISION June 26. 64. After I had passed three dayes with Prayers and Sighs unto God in consideration of the approaching of so great an Anger Beseeching him he would turn from his Anger and grant his People before the worlds end a friendly Peace I fell of a sudden in a heavy disease of the body but in far greater anguish of my soul insomuch that I was crying aloud Will the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more Hath God forgotten to be gratious Hath he in anger shut up his tender Mercies and the inward distresses of my soul was so exceeding horrid that there was left no comfort in the least And this lasted a whole day insomuch that I knew not on what side to turn me being as a man left destitute of all kind of Patience Then the Devil came too and tempted me endeavouring to quench that small confidence also that I might have left in me towards God My Mother my Wife my Children they all stood round about me astonished and weeping no counsel nor consolation they could give me and I looking upon them was therewith the more afflicted seeing I must be gone and leave them in beggarliness for there was nothing but very Death to be
Patience nor hope of the Grace of God you shall have any more but a burning fire of the Anger of God that ye now refuse to avoid shall consume you But O that I could perswade you to prevent it nay I sigh that the Mercifulness of God may prevent you Amen For as concerning me I had no rest within me until I had written this lest the fault fall upon my back like as upon Jonah unwilling to be obedient unto God Stedfastly I pray that unto thee O Gods People might be given the Grace of Repentance to prevent the Anger of God by returning to a true Regret and mutual Love Alas more Signs and Prodigies shall very shortly shew unto you God's Anger that is kindling the World with all kind of Plagues To you that have begun to prevent the said Anger of God Be constant in your purpose Faithful is the Lord who hath promised Heaven and Earth will pass away sooner than his VVord And although that Fire flameth already over you and Anguishes and Dolours have surrounded you at this very time yet now turn out from that malignant Dragon the LORD is by the way to succour you And I testifie that notice hath been given unto you that the LORD hath already let in a stormy Wind into the Red Esauvitish Sea insomuch that now they are disquiet in their Conscience and see that their abiding here will not be very long more and the time is at hand that all who know them or see them shall either betray or kill them However alas the Chief Powers have been warned enough that the Sword hath not been given unto them to kill but to defend God's People Yet they alwayes have shewed themselves to be dumb and deaf Now the Evil comes that is appointed for them they endeavour to escape and prevent it and will by force put the cause of it upon those of ours most subtilly according to the Dragon's instinct and inspiration All Wars are of the Devil's counsel and blown up by those Esauvitish crafts yea this Turkish War too and so that same now shall begin in the West to shed blood and waste the Land Take for instance Hungaria where they have begun a Reformation with force whatsoever might become of it and they matter not if the Kingdom should become Tributary to the Turk let them but obtain what they aim at viz. the Destruction of the Religion But alas ye are afar off the Lord from Heaven will never permit you to root out his People rather will he stir up a wild Nation that shall waste all with Sword and Fire Tell the King in ENGLAND how wisely the HOLLANDERS have begun to act their Cause against him having deliberated about compassing their Design to fall down at the Feet of the LORD ALMIGHTY and to put their hope in the Center of his Mercifulness rather than in their Strength Therefore however they are to be chastized like as true Sons of David yet they shall not scape Scot. free that multiply their Scourges against the Chastened of the Lord. Moreover let him weigh diligently the Englander that he is not in vain joyned in Alliance with Portugal but to help him as being brought under by force Yet in time to come a glorious Realm to recover and settle their antient Liberties like as also in other Realms But would to God that the Realms of Hungaria and Polonia had accepted of the Peace proffered unto them by the Turks they would not have been cast into the fire they burn in now But so it happeneth where Pride bears the Rule and fulness of bread that from thence ariseth great sins and devilish contrivances with persecutions Therefore it must be accomplished With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again Those wild Nations must make a Hurliburly to take punishment of such as would not acknowledge the day of their Visitation The Ruine and Desolation of the Land is and will come They would abolish the Word of God but they shall be abolished themselves yea even now it is upon them Isa 49 v. 11 to 18. THE END