ONE Warning more UNTO ENGLAND Before she give up the Ghost and be Buried in the Pit of Darkness To awaken the Inhabitants thereof out of their deep Sleep to see themselves what Misery is coming upon them through their Degeneration and horrible Ingratitude that the People therein may be left without excuse in the day of the Lord By him that pities thee in this languishing state F. H. London Printed for Thomas Simmons at the sign of the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate 1660. OH England Is thy dry Land all become Sea Is not thy Mountains from whence thou hast look'd for help cast all into the Waters and floats up and down and is driven up and down and carried about with every Tempest insomuch that hardly any dry Land appears anywhere in thee but all like raging Waves and like boisterous Floods which hath no bounds but over-flows all the Banks which fills all with slime and mire and dirt Oh Nation whither art thou posting and after what dost thou so hastily pursue Hast thou chosen Madness for thy Crown and Folly for thy Diadem Hast thou fixed thy eye upon the Land of Darkness that thou so hastily runs Art thou become benummed and altogether past feeling Hath not the Lord intended good unto thee but thou rejects it Did not the Lord break off the bonds from thy neck and take the burdens from off thy shoulders that thou might have been a Free People that thy People might have been a free People that thou might have served the Lord God in truth and Righteousness and might have been established by his Free Spirit that Righteousness might have run down the Land as a stream and Equity as a river that Violence might have been done away and the heavy Yoak removed that so the Nation might have rejoyced in Gods saving health which he was about to shower down as a mighty Rain that the Land might have been refreshed and that the People thereof might have rested under the Almighty shadow of the Lord that every one might have eat the fruit of his labours with joy and have been satisfied therewith and every Precept of man have been taken off the Conscience and that yoak which hath limitted the Lord would the Lord have broken that so his People might have rejoyced in him and in his saving health But Oh Nation how art thou betrayed the treacherous dealers hath dealt treacherously with thee and have robbed thee of thy Glory and of thy Crown and no art thou like to be Crowned with Infamy and Reproach and to be as a hissing-stock as a Proverb and a by-word to all the Nations who will rejoyce in thy Calamity and be glad at thy destruction and because the love and Mercy of God was manifest in thee more then to any Nation of late besides therefore the Nations were angry at thee but now seeing thy base ingratitude and unthankfulness for all the kindness of the Lord unto thee which thou hast wonderfully abused which hath been a cause which hath provoked the Lord against thee because thou hast chosen the way of death rather then life and chosen darkness rather then light and therefore art thou hurled and tossed in all this Sea of Confusion and what will the Nations say who are round about thee Is not this the Nation from whence light did shine forth that 's now filled with darkness Is not this the Nation which was strong and mighty that 's now become feeble Is not this the Nation the fame of whose Righteousness was spread far that 's now filled with Violence and Cruelty Is not this the Nation which made the Nations and Isles about it to tremble whose hands is become so weak that they cannot help themselves Is not this the Nation whose sound and fame for liberty as men in the Nation and as Christians without being imposed upon which the Lord was bringing to a perfect freedom who now are putting the yoak of Bondage upon the Inhabitants necks and laying heavie burdens upon the necks of the Righteous and are imposing things upon the Consciences of his People whom God would have set free Oh this causeth the Name of the Lord which hath appeared in thee to be dishonored and the noble acts which the Lord hath done in thee to be vilified Oh England what shall I compare thee unto thy state is sad Oh what might I do to make thee sensible thereof thou art as a Ship in the midst of the raging Sea whose Mast is lost whose Tacklings is broken and the Men all dead and nothing left but a bare Hull ready to be blown with every gust of Wind upon every Rock and art like wholly to be Split never more to be builded up It may truly be said of thee as it was once of Israel when they had revolted from the Lord God and followed after the imaginations of their own hearts the head is sick and the whole heart is faint and every member which should move in the body is become feeble and benummed thy breach is great who can heal thee or who can bind thee up What is there no Balm in England is there no Physitian there to heal the breaches and wounds of this People What not one wise man among all her Rulers are they all like wild Bulls in a Net fit to be taken and destroyed not one Interpreter amongst all her Prophets which can discover the Disease not one Physition that can apply a healing Medicine to these grievous Wounds What not one leaf of the Tree of life amongst you all by which the Nations are healed not a healing Spirit amongst ten thousands of England Oh sad and deplorable is thy state for all is out of order and it may truly be said of her Rulers of her Priests and her Prophets and of her People as it was said of Israel when they had forsaken the Lord and blindness happened to them through their unbelief A People laden with sin and iniquity they are all gone out of the way there 's not one that doth good no not one a seed of evil-doers a treacherous Generation a false-hearted people who eats up iniquity as men eate bread and drink it up as Oxen Water Oh Nation consider thou art upon thy languishing bed and thy eyes is almost closed and thy ears stoped and thy understanding besotted all thy Vitals is decaying the Characters and Symptoms of death is upon thee the form of thy Countinance is changed the flower of thy Beauty is passing away old Age and decrepedness is coming upon thee all thy Joynts are growing feeble what wilt thou do now in a day of Adversity Whether wilt thou go in the day of Calamity which is approaching the Grave is opened to receive thee and thy Enemies stands ready to bury thee in silence that thee and all thy Glory may be trampled upon and that thy memorial may die and rot and thy Renown be shut up in the pit of Oblivion the Fellers stands ready
to cut thee down as an abominable branch and to cast thee into the fire to consume thee and to make a final end of thee and to destroy all thy pleasant things the Lord is grieved for thee and the Spirits of his People is made sad for they feel the weight of iniquity and the load of transgression which will sink the Nation if it be not turned from but the Lord will ease him of his Enemies and avenge him of his Adversaries and will sweep away the refuge of lyes and the lovers of them into the pit of destruction and the day hastens when they that exalt themselves high even upon pinacles shall be brought low and many hills hath God made one with the plain and many more yet shall be made a plain that the Glory of the Lord and his Interest may be exalted Oh England Consider thy former dayes and call to mind the years past and consider in what state thou wast twenty years ago and what complaints filled every corner of the land by reason of the heavie yoaks which was laid upon the People by reason of many wicked Lawes which was made by men of corrupt minds in the years of the former Kings not only upon the Estates of men but also upon their Persons and Consciences and the Cry of many innocent people was great and reached through the Clouds for Princes and Kings and Nobles was grown to that height in Arrogancy and Pride and Usurpation so that they claimed all Power as to be in themselves and the Courtiers being in the same nature with them and climbing up the stairs of Ambition till they attained to the seat of Violence cried up the King above all Law and whom he would kill might be killed and whom he would save might be saved so that neither Life Person or Estate of any man could be exempted so that by the Oppression of the former Kings and also later even the last was very great and was soar'd up so high without all limit or bounds as though all People in the Nation had been made as for their Vassals and Slaves which thing was very grievous to the Lord and also to the people of the Nation and they came to see that that Power and Authority was but usurped or taken on without any just Title or Right as from God or from the free People of this Nation and likewise what deceit was used in the Execution of all Lawes that if any man was wronged and did Appeal unto any Law for Redress their Remedy proved worse then the Disease so that the Cry of the Oppression on every hand was very great Again What Innovations and Impositions was made upon tender Consciences by those Apostate Bishops which the very Land groaned with the burden thereof who were but a stem sprung from that corrupt Root of Rome and most of their Worship Cannons and Constitutions they had from thence and what intrusion and Popish-stuff was ushered in daily upon the People in this Nation which they groaned under and compelling and forcing about the Superstitious Rites and Ceremonies and foolish Fopperies which they brought in as Religious Matters and what lazy Droans they upheld Reading a piece of the old Masse-Book in English and calling it Divine Service and judged them Hereticks who opposed all this mudy dark stuff which the people was vexed with and their Souls grieved and the Lord grieved and vext insomuch that the Lord heard the Cry of the Oppressed and did appear in his power and strength in many people to bear Witness against the aforesaid Evils which was growing upon the Nation which tended to bondage and thraidom both as concerning mens Persons and Estates and also their Consciences which bondage they were weary of which yoaks the Lord brake and gave a total overthrow both of the one and of the other and many upright in heart did rejoyce and with unwearied pains did Travel thorow a Sea of Troubles not minding the present difficulty but rather eying the end Freedom and Liberty and many pretious men ventered their lives and lost their Blood and consumed their Estates and offered willingly of their Substance in the time of need that they might accomplish the aforesaid end Liberty and Freedom as men according to the equal just Law of God and Freedom as Christians without being imposed upon either by Men or Laws which was a Prize which the Lord did intend should be put into the Nations hand as a recompence for their former Sufferings in which all the upright would have been satisfied and therefore they who have been Obstructors and Hinderers of this thing hath the greater sin and load upon their backs which hath sunk many of them But alas when the Obstructions was taken out of the way and the Common Enemy suppressed with their whole Strength Covetousness did get up and Pride in the hearts of the Rulers and them in Authority in the hearts of the Souldery especially the Officers of the Armie most of which God had raised from a mean Estate to great Dignitie You forgat the Lord and did divide the spoil amongst you and so became full and fat and then kick'd against the Lord and neglected his Service to pursue that which God had put into your hands but getting into Places of Honour became as bad if not worse then many that was cast out before you and then laboured to set up your own Interests and not the Interest of the Nation and to set up a Form of Religion and another deceitful Image and not the Interest of Christ Jesus for he could have no room among you It grievès my heart and vexes the Spirit of the Lord God in me to consider what tenderness and fervency and love there was in former years to the appearance of Gods truth life and light and now it s become the chief Object of your scorn and the whole bent is to turn Christs Interest out of the Nation and to destroy the Sheep of his pasture whom he hath Redeemed with his most pretious Blood to lay your sins before you and your transgressions in your sight that you may see what you have done Oh people of England Was it only a Form of Government or such and such a Government in Name that ye pursued after or was it not the Thing it self Freedom it self Liberty it self Righteousness itself that the heavie Yoak might be done away which as to any of the last I do not say but they might have done it if they had stood in Gods fear and in his Counsel for it is not this or that Title or Form of Government which is only Essential to the well-being of a People or a Nation you have had tryal of many Names and what do you enjoy yet that which you look'd for Oh nay you are defrauded you are cheated you are robbed and spoiled of that which the Lord God did intend you by treacherous and false-hearted men whose words hath been smoother then
Oyl and their hearts full of rottenness and through fair pretences of Liberty and Freedom and Sanctity and Holiness People have been led up and down like Horses and tossed up and down like a Tenis-ball Or was it a Form of Religion which might be set up by this or that Party that tender People did seek after so as to be bound to this or that Form by an outward Law by compelling and forcing Was it not Reformation according to the Scriptures which was spoken of and intended by the upright-hearted and behold how have we been Cheated here Was this the Liberty of Conscience that was pursued after to set up Popish Tithes which no true Christian can Pay for Conscience sake Or to set up a Company of Men to be Teachers to learn seven Years the Art of Speaking to borrow their words from Homer or Aristotle and Heathen Authors or to rake up a company of Errors decreed at Cha'cedon Neece Latren or Trent for Articles of Faith or to get words from Astrologers and Southsayers and mingle this with the Scripture and call them The Gospel and to have set Wages by a Law given unto them and to have Traditions of Men brought in for the Ordinances of God such as the Baptizing of Infants which Glaudius Espencius a Popish Bishop confessed that this was to be believed by Tradition for it could not be proved by Scripture that such a Company I say as these should be forced upon the Nation as Godly Ministers and their invented Worship to be acknowledged as Divine and to maintain the old Masse-Houses and Pay Clerks Wages which the Scriptures makes no mention of and all this must go in the Nane of Pure Reformation according to Scripture to gather Money from house to house to buy bread wine then a Priest to patter a few words over it then say its Consecrated and call it a Sacrament and that Priests should have Money for Marrying of People and for Baptizing of Infants or for Burials or to pay for the Ground in which the Dead is buried this was reprehended and Condemned by the Council of Trent in the height of Popery in the year 1547. and many such bad Impositions is daily holden up and they that holds them up must be accounted as Godly Ministers and many more things of this Nature are continued which is so far against the Consciences of many whom God hath enlightened so that they are a great offence Oh this is quite contrary to that which was intended and that which is the worst of all many of these things are forc'd upon the People by a Law And now Oh Heads of the Nation how do you think to be believed or who can trust you any more Obligations Covenants Oaths and Promises all broken and falsified and as soon as the Common Enemy was subdued and brought under when you had time to have prosecuted the aforesaid things Declared for purchased at a dear rate through much expence and bloodshed and suffering you let most of all their corrupt Laws stand many of which is good for nothing but fire and it became as hard if not harder to obtain any Right by Appealing to the Law or Judges thereof then it was before and the vast Lands and Revenues of your Enemies you divided amongst you and sold it at inconsiderable Values and giving great and large sums to a company of Dreamers and blind Watchmen and so wasted that which might have well maintained an Army in the Nation for many years as though the work and the lives of many pretious men and the shedding of the blood of thousands had been only to purchase Wages for the greedy Priests and Hirelings who can never have enough and so all the pretious Treasure which became a booty and a prey for you is exhausted and gone and greater Pressures upon people then was before and now the Nation more in poverty and need then ever and the people more in thral'd in bondage then ever And Queen Maries Act for guarding Jesuites and the Masse stands yet in your Law Books as though it were a heavenly Oracle and yet you cry out of Popery and so when your hearts was not right with the Lord he set you one against another and you came to be divided amongst your selves and set up and pull down and Ordain and Repeal and so brittle and changable that none did lean upon you but he was hurt by you and yet every Party crying like Absolom Oh that I were a Judge in the Gate how righteously would I do And so every Party have stoln away the hearts of people after them for a while and at last betrayed them and thus every one hath been seeking his own Interest and not the Lords till the Lord hath left you and the line of Confusion is stretched forth over you and you bring forth the stones of Emptiness And every Party when he is got up into the Seat of Government seeks Vengeance on him that hath Opposed him and blowes the sparks which sets all of a flame and only for Self and Honour and Exaltation and Interest and thus have you led People up and down like Animals till they are weary and saith It was better with us in Egypt though in hard servitude then to have Yoaks multiplied upon us and cannot see when they will cease Oh how unstable are you in your minds and runs like a swift stream till you be lost and know not how to return And Flattery and Deceit that must go under the name of Civility and one while calling this his Highness and the other his Excellency and the next Month proclaim him Tyrant and Traytor And so if the wills of a Party be but crossed or opposed though honoured a Week afore for good Service and Applauded and in a moment then proclaim him Traytor and so betrayes one another and are treacherous one to another and in rage would eat up one another Are you like to help the Nation and Decree one Week and throw down next Week and so runs to and fro like drunken men and how are you like to do any thing that 's good The Lord hath tryed most sorts of men especially the great Ones and the Heads of the People and they are become just all dross and little or no Vertue is found in them at all and so is the Nation like to be established in Freedom while Policy Craft and Treachery and Wrath are the chiefest Instruments in the Work but the day of many is past wherein they might have done good to the Nation and to the people of the Lord therein but their Sun is gone down and their day is done and night come upon them And Oh People Will nothing satisfie you but Egypt again that you run so fast that way that you have forgotten all Gods wondrous Works in this Land Will nothing but the Iron Furnice satisfie you and the heavie yoak of Bondage which in former years you
Carnal Commandment of man you have been the Chief Incendiaries of much of these Comotions Stirs Uproars and Broils War and Strife how have you twined and turned and wheeled about like Weather-Cocks and flattered every Horn of the Beast which exalted it self though but for a little season and like as your Fore-fathers did in former years so have you done in the later years flattered and set up every thing and Image which though there was nothing in it at all no life nor breath you have cried it up for the higher Power while it stood and would work your drudgery and satisfie your Interest and if it went not on as you would have it then you have cried it down them that you counted the higher Power and have said It hath been by Gods appointment the next Week Usurpers and Traytors and countinancers of Error and Blasphemy and hath kindled a fire among People set them up in a rage one against another and when your Deceit was like to go down then cried Religion was despised and the Gospel was like to fall and to be extinguished Come let us Reason together a little Is Reading Old Writers whom you call Heathen seven years and other later Popish Writers and Aristotles Philosophy any part of the Gospel and to frame up a Speech about Religion out of your old Comentaries which have been made in the night of Ignorance and to mix Scripture with them is this the Gospel and to get a Patent from a Protector a Parliament or a Committee to Preach at such a place is this like Gospel may be a Great Seal at it and then stay whether the People would have you or no and force Maintenance from them and plead your Letters Patent for your lawful Call like an Indulgence from the Pope and to claim all the tithes of a Parish and all Oblations Obventions Mortuaries Is this like the Gospel or like the best Reformed Churches which you talk on in that you call your Covenant and to set up the old Mass-houses baptized Bells Hour-glasses Clerks to say Amen Church-wardens is this like the Reformed Churches and to gather Money from House to House to buy Bread and Wine and then mutâ—er a few words over it and give it to People on the mid-day like a Dinner and call this the Lords Supper or a Sacrament and to Baptize Infants and get Money for Registering a Name and call this an Ordinance of God is this like the Reformed Churches in the Primitive times and to take Money for Marrying of People is this Gospel like to Preach over the dead and observe other Cerimonies like the Popes Exequies is this like the best reformed Churches Nay which of all the reformed Churches so called who are broken off from Popery in something have not denyed Tithes Is there any Ministers among all the Protestants in Europe but they have wholly relinquished Tithes as to be no Gospel maintenance as Germany the Easteren Countries France Geneva Switserland and many others yet these treacherous Priests of England boast of the Purity of Doctrine Worship and Discipline beyond all and these must go under the name of Godly learned Ministry if this be godly what is ungodly If this be learned what is ignorance and to stay at a Village 20. or 30. years if there be gain enough if this be laboriousnesse what is idleness and what havock and spoil have you made within this 20. years in this Land more then the corrupted Bishops did before Oh what havock have you made and spoyl of mens Estates in this Nation within these few years which was called years of liberty if the Chronicles were searched amongst all the Protestants in Europe the like paralel could not be found neither hath there been the like wickednes acted many dyed in Prison for denying your insatiable desires and because you demand things contrary to the best reformed Churches which you say you press after you must deny all the things before mentioned before any judicious man will believe and therefore it is in vain for you to cover your selves with a cloak of hypocrisie for God hath opened an eye in thousands that you will never be able to blind though you stir up smoak and dirt and dust and fogs and mists of ignorance that darkens the Air yet they will see through it and by the breath of his mouth in whom they have believed it will all be scattered but however it is just with the Lord to let loose upon your backs the old Prelates and Bishops to be tormenters of you and make you drudges and slaves as you were formerly and it is just with the Lord to let the Dragons power over you all again and to bring a scourge upon you and the people who have hearkened to your lies deceipt that the helper and they that are holpen may fall together that the blind they that have chosen the blind for a leader may both fall into the Ditch together into the Pit that they may never rise again Yet know this Oh Nation and the Inhabitants therein there is a People in thee which is pretious and so accounted of the Lord that hath not joyned to your back-sliding but have kept their Integrity and their first Love neither have they joyned to your Brittlnesse and Instability neither have they sought themselves but the good of the Nation and all the People therein and though they have had many provocations as from the Cruel and mercilesse Cruelty of self-seeking men yet they have born and suffered knowing vengeance belongs unto the Lord who in his day will recompence fury upon his Adversaries and scatters them as the Wind scatters Clouds and so are in peace and quietness under the shadow of him who hath brought them forth with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm notwithstanding all Opposition which hath been very great even by all Parties and Interests hitherto and little or no regard hath been had to this People but they have been as for a prey and for a spoyl unto all and unreasonable men have plowed long furrows upon their backs and they have had no helper in the Earth But on the contrary every one hath lent his hand to bow them down and tread upon them as Ashes under the soals of their feet and yet no evil to lay to their Charge but false surmises and receiving the false Representations of Corrupt men whose hearts have gain said any appearance of good that ever appeared if it crossed their ignorant corrupt mind What hath this People come to harm thee Oh Nation that thou makest them thy Butt to shoot at and they are become the Object of your scorn and dirision What have they Plotted or Contrived Rebellion Have they gone out upon their Enemies and sought Vengeance against them as every Party hath done else besides except it s become a crime to speak the Truth bear witness against the Hypocrisie and Deceit of treacherous men and to lay their iniquities before them that they may see and be ashamed and turn from their evil which hath provoked the Lord to Anger and because of their rejection of Gods Counsel they cannot be Established And for the sake of this Remnant he will confound and overthrow on the right hand and on the left all that rise up against them though they should never open their mouths as to plead their Innocency yet the Lord will and condemne them that rise up against them and plead the Cry of the Oppressed that Cry unto him day and night which the Lord hath heard and considered and is come down and hath begun his Work though man doth not see it and hath poured forth a Spirit of Confusion upon them who hath ill-will to the Lambs of Christs Fold and who shall act any thing further as to think to root out the heritage of God their Counsel shall be turned back-ward and their Enterprize Cursed For God he hath determined to lay the rop-stone with shouting and that which he is building he will finish and of a truth this is the Family which he hath Chosen which his love is unto and his power amongst and their Adversaries will God rebuke for their sake Therefore Oh Nation Consider and take this One Warning more that thou proceed not further to thy hurt and repent when it is too late THE END