of hearkening thereunto you have evilly intreated them with Whipping Stocking Stoning spoiling of their Goods to the Ruining of many Families Imprisoning some to Death and Banishing others with many other gross and horrid Abuses wherewith you have entreated the Servants of the Lord for no other Cause than for the exercise of their Consciences towards God and reproving you for your Sins and crying to you for Amendment of Life which bespeaks you to be a People that hate Righteousness and love Iniquity chusing your own Vanities and slighting the Tender Mercies of the Lord God treasuring up to your selves Wrath against the Day of Wrath and so are bringing swift Destruction and Misery upon your selves Oh! My Soul mourns in the sight and sence of that dreadful Day which is coming upon you for your Transgressions and Rebellion against the living God and for your thus abusing and shamefully entreating them who have been sent unto you by the Lord who sought nothing but the good and everlasting Peace of your immortal Souls But none of these things have prevailed upon many of thy Inhabitants O England to soften your hard Hearts and to tender them before the Lord. For instead of ceasing from your Sins and Abominations which abound amongst many of you by true Repentance and Amendment of your Lives and Conversations and turning to the Lord who hath cryed to you many a time saying Turn you turn you why will you dye as he did to Israel of old but you have stopped your Ears as they did who were compared to the deaf Adder that would not hear the Voice of the Charmer charming never so wisely and so continuing still in your Abominations which the Lord would have gathered you from had you obey'd his Voice manifold Sins and Wickedness encrease amongst you as Swearing Cursing Damning Revelling Drunkenness Whoredoms and Murders with many other gross and shameful Impieties yea almost all manner of Wickedness Rebellion and Treachery both against God and Man abounds amongst many of you the Inhabitants of England for which God will bring Judgment Sorrow upon you yea such Sorrow as shall never have an end except you speedily Repent And those that can act these horrid Wickednesses and crying Sins which indeed make the Land Mourn without fear or shame as if they did not consider that there is a God who will punish for them are they not most esteemed and set up amongst many of you now a days and so that is seen to increase amongst many of you the Inhabitants of ENGLAND to the grief and sorrow of the hearts of many which the Prophet saw and concerning which he cryed out of old saying The Proud are counted Happy yea they that work Wickedness are even set up and they that tempt God are even delivered Mal. 3. 15. But let all such know who are guilty of these Evils your everlasting Thraldom and eternal Misery is coming on and will overtake you if ye speedily Repent not out of which you shall never be delivered And such as cannot run with the Multitude into those Evils and Abominations which provoke the Lord God of Heaven and Earth to Anger but live in the fear of God and a Life becoming Christianity as knowing they must give an Account and so must all the Sons and Daughters of men to God the Judge of all both quick and dead and must receive a Reward at his hand according to their Doings whether they be good or evil and so cannot rush into Iniquity with them as the Horse rusheth into Battel are become a Prey to the Ungodly and as objects of Scorn and Derision on whom the Wicked and the Ungodly execute their Cruelty and grievous Oppression yea Godliness and Piety is so little regarded amongst many who profess Christianity that a sober Life and a godly Conversation is become a Derision its Crime enough now a days among many for a man to have a civil Carriage and a sober Behaviour and to walk as one who fears the Lord to be scoffed at and vilified with reproachful Names as he passeth through Town or City So that Wickedness and Debauchery Looseness and Prophanness is encouraged and abounds Virtue and Sobriety are discouraged and decryed among many of you the Inhabitants of ENGLAND For we see many of you are living and spending your days here in this World in those things which are so contrary to Christianity Purity and Holiness without which none shall see the Lord as if there were no such thing to be known or minded by you And all those holy Admonitions in the Scriptures of Truth and the threatnings of Punishment and eternal Sorrow to the Wicked and Ungodly which the Scriptures are full of if timely Repentance be not known are slighted and disregarded by you as if they should never be fulfilled nor executed upon you And these are the Practices that have been and yet are found amongst you encouraged and upheld by you to this day against an innocent and harmless People whom God Almighty hath gathered and chosen out of the World the Ways and Abominations thereof to be a peculiar People to himself zealous of good Works who have always sought the good and peace of the Nation and the abounding of Justice and Equity therein and have often entreated the Lord and supplicated God on your behalf That he would not break in upon you the Inhabitants of ENGLAND by his fierce Wrath and sore Displeasure lest he should consume you all at once for your Sins and Transgressions against him who hath tendred Salvation but you refused it And many have laboured faithfully among you to turn you from Darkness to the Light of Christ which now shines blessed be the Lord forever and from Satans Power by which you have been and yet are captivated and prevailed upon to work Iniquity with greediness to the Power of God which would have Redeemed out of that Slavery and Captivity into the glorious Liberty and Freedom of the Sons of God had there been Obedience and Subjection yielded to it But this also hath been slighted and set at nought by many of you And those who have thus laboured and travelled among you for your good you have rewarded with Stocking Stoning and Imprisonments with many other gross and horrid Abuses as Jerusalem did of Old them that were sent to her And instead of turning to Christ the true Light that enlightens every man that cometh into the World John 19. You have made a scorn and a derision of it and have loved Darkness rather than the Light which manifests to you the Wickedness of your Evil Hearts and the Abominations that have lodged there because there Deeds are Evil John 3. 19 20. And so have hated the blessed Light that doth reprove for Sin loving your Sins for which you have been reproved better than the Light who hath reproved you And so have manifested your selves to be such as the Apostle spoke of Lovers of your own Pleasures Proud Blasphemers
A Lamentation OVER ENGLAND AND Faithful Warning To the Inhabitants thereof By William Bingley Amos 8. 10. And I will turn your Feasts into Mourning and all your Songs into Lamentation I will bring up Sack-cloth upon all Loyns and Baldness upon every Head and I will make it as the Mourning of an only Son and the end thereof as a Bitter Day Jer. 6. 10. To whom shall I speak and give Warning that they may hear Behold their Ear is Vncircumcised and they cannot hearken behold the Word of the Lord is unto them a Reproach they have no delight in it c. LONDON Printed and Sold by Andrew Sowle at the Sign of the Crooked-Billet in Holloway-Lane in Shoreditch 1682. FIrst A Lamentation over England and the Dominions thereunto belonging with a faithful Warning to the Inhabitants thereof to cease from the evil of their Doings and to turn unto the Lord by speedy Repentance that so they may escape the dreadful Judgments of Almighty God which are threatned and ready to be executed upon them because of the Crying Sins that do abound in Nations Secondly A Warning to the Rulers and Magistrates in particular to leave off persecuting and afflicting the Innocent and to amend their Lives and Conversations and set up Justice and execute true Judgment among the People lest God plead with them in his Anger and consume them in his sore Displeasure Thirdly An Expostulation with the Clergy of the aforesaid Dominions whereby they are discovered not to be in the Steps Lives and Practices of the Prophets of God true Ministers of Christ but of the false Prophets and of Antichrist Fourthly A Warning to those among them whose Day of Mercy is not over to Repent of these their Wicked and Antichristian Practices whereby they deceive the People or else the Lord will make them a Hissing and a Reproach to the Nations and their Memorial a Stink to Generations to come c. A Lamentation over England and the Dominions thereunto belonging OH England England the Land of my Nativity for whom my Soul hath often mourned and at this time mourns before the Lord and my Spirit is grieved within me to behold so much Wickedness Vngodliness Oppression and Abomination as at this day abounds in thee A Nation to whom God Almighty hath signally appeared and been at work in by his mighty Arm and divine Power and the proffers of Love and Mercy from the God of Mercies have been to thee and the Lord hath long waited to be gracious and merciful to thee and hath extended one Visitation after another unto thee and hath many a time sought thy Inhabitants in tender yearning Bowels of Love But notwithstanding all these Mercies and tender Dealings of the Lord with you the Inhabitants of England how have you continued in your Sins and Transgressions against the Lord that hath thus sought your return to him that he might have mercy on you And when Intreatings and yearning Bowels would not draw nor prevail upon you to restrain you from your evil courses and to bring you to Amendment of Life he hath threatned Judgment and also many times executed it upon thy Inhabitants O England and hath shewed his Displeasure against you many a time But neither Mercy nor Judgment Smiles nor Threats have taken place among many of thy Rebellious and Gain-saying Inhabitants For though the Lord hath often intreated and his Arm of everlasting Mercies have been stretched out to you as it was to Israel of Old and as they rebelled against the Lord who would have gathered them even so have you refused to hearken to him and to Forsake the Evil of your Wayes and to turn to the Lord God who would have saved you from the Wrath and fierce Vengeance that is coming upon the Rebellious And though he hath pleaded with you in Judgment and hath manifested his Displeasure and Wrath in the midst of thy Inhabitants though alwayes mixed with Mercy and shewed them that he can do whatsoever he will For who can withstand him in his great Power seeing the Nations are but as the drop of a Bucket before him and as the small Dust in the Ballance for he hath overturned on one Hand and overturned on the other Hand in the sight of many of you who are yet alive and hath brought down the Mighty from their Seats who exalted themselves against the Lord and against the Innocent and hath exalted them of low degree and when they did not answer the End for which the Lord God appeared on their behalf but rebelled against the living God who had scattered their Enemies before them the Hand of the Lord also turned against them and confounded them and broke and scattered them and hath blown them away with the Breath of his Mouth as the Chaff of the Summer-threshing-Floor And yet all these Revolutions and Overturnings which the Lord hath brought to pass in the sight of many of you the Inhabitants of England and his pleadings with you in Judgment time after time with Sword with Pestilence and Fire and many other dreadful Judgments which have been both threatned and executed in a dreadful manner yet have not many of thy Inhabitants bowed themselves to the Lord who hath thus appeared nor feared before this dreadful God who will be revealed in flames of Fire taking Vengeance on the Rebellious and Gain-sayers of the Gospel of his Son but have grieved and provoked him by your Wickedness and Ungodliness from day to day And when the Lord hath sent his Servants and Messengers to you who have faithfully reproved Sin in the Gate and where-ever it appeared and have cryed unto you To break off from your Sins and Transgressions by true Repentance and Godly Sorrow for your Sins and to Amend your Lives and Conversations and to turn to God with all your Hearts and to put away the Evil of your doings from before the Eyes of the Lord and to cease to do Evil and learn to do Well that so the Lord according to his Promise might have blotted out your Sins and remembred your Transgressions no more that Rest and Peace with the everlasting God might have been known to your immortal Souls forever and ever But all these Labours of Love and yearning Bowels with which you have been sought both by the Lord and also by his Servants who have risen early and travelled with their Lives in their Hands have earnestly desired your turning to the Lord have been slighted and set at nought by you Neither have you turned from the Evil of your wayes at all but like Jerusalem of Old whom the Lord would have gathered have rejected the Reproofs of the Spirit and Grace of God in your selves and are doing Despight to the Spirit of Grace by which you should have been both sanctified and also sealed to the Day of Redemption and also rejecting the Instructions Reproofs and Warnings which by the faithful Servants of the Lord have been sounded in your Ears Instead
disobedient to Parents Vnthankful Vnholy without natural Affection Truce-breakers false Accusers Incontient Fierce Despisers of those that are good Treacherous Heady High-minded lovers of Pleasure more than lovers of God c. 2 Tim. 3. 2 3 4. And in these Evils above-mentioned you are satisfying your own Hearts Lusts living in all manner of Voluptuousness Pride vain Glory and forgetfulness of God and so are guilty of those Sins which Israel of Old were guilty of who sate down in forgetfulness of God to Eat and to Drink and rose up to Play Exod. 32. 6. And this is the State of too many of you the Inhabitants of England both Priests and People for which the Wrath of Almighty God is kindled against you and his sore Displeasure is nigh to break forth upon you in which he will trample you under his Feet and appoint you your portion in the Lake of Perdition forever if you Repent not and that speedily Oh England England How many Warnings have thy Inhabitants had And how long hath the Lord strove with you both by his Servants and also by the many signal Tokens that have appeared of his displeasure amongst you Yet none of those things have prevailed upon you to turn from the Evil of your wayes but you have hardened your Hearts and stiffened your Necks in your Wickedness and Rebellion against God though he has long waited to be gracious to you for which God will bring everlasting Misery and Sorrow upon you if ye continue in these Evils which have abounded and yet abound among you For although the Apostle saith expresly Know you not that the Vnrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Drunkards nor Revilers c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. And notwithstanding these Testimonies which are certainly true and will be fulfilled upon all the Ungodly How many are living in these very Evils as Whoredoms Drunkenness Revilings with many other crying Sins which are expresly forbidden yet you continue in them as if all those Judgments and Torments threatned in the Scriptures of Truth against the Wicked were but meer Fictions And so you go on in your Wickedness and Ungodliness as if there were neither Punishment nor Torment to the Wicked and as if there were neither God nor Devil Heaven nor Hell But let all such know that the dreadful God of Heaven and Earth that rained Fire and Brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah of Old that punished the Wicked in every Age who hath promised and will perform it though the Wicked joyn Hand in Hand they shall not go unpunished but he will render the Recompence and Reward of your own doings into your Bosoms and if you do not turn to him while he strives with you ye shall feel the weight of his avenging Hand and Iron Rod with which he will dash the Rebellious Nations to pieces like a Potters Vessel And now my Soul desires that you may turn from your Evil Courses and no longer continue in your Exaltedness of mind and heart and in your Wickedness and Ungodliness lest you be brought down and turned into Hell with all Nations that forget God Psal 9. 17. to be tormented with the Devil and his Angels forever and evermore For the Lord hath often waited to be gracious unto you and hath born with you though you have greatly provoked him yet his Patience has lasted long and he hath held forth a Hand of love to many who have taken no notice of it But now his Patience is almost worn out and his long suffering well nigh come to an End yea I am afraid it s come to an end already to many of you the Inhabitants of England and his Indignation is kindled and burns hot against you who have refused to hearken to him who hath called you time after time and is nigh to break forth like a devouring Fire and before him the Wicked shall be as Hay and as Stubble whom God will consume and will leave them neither Root nor Branch For behold the Cry of your Iniquities hath reached unto Heaven and your Sins have come up before the Lord and into remembrance with our God and the Day wherein he will ease him of his Adversaries and avenge him of his Enemies maketh haste wherein he will pour out his Wrath Indignation and Judgment upon you the Inhabitants of England that continue in your Gain-saying and Rebellion against God without any mixture of Mercy Oh! you my native Country Men and People of England in general for whom a travail is upon my Spirit at present and hath been many a time that you might be prevailed upon whose Day of Mercy is not yet ended and over whom the shadow of Death and the Night is not yet wholly spread to consider your latter end before it be too late and to turn from your Sins and Transgressions your Haughtiness Pride and vain Glory and your abusing your selves with those things which God hath extended as Mercies unto you viz. your wasting abusing and spending the good Creatures of God to satisfie your Lusts which hath highly displeased the Lord and provoked him to Anger And that you may all come to learn that blessed Lesson which the holy men of Old learned who were taught by the Grace and Spirit of God a measure whereof is given to every man to profit withal 1 Cor. 12. 7. which was That denying Vngodliness and worldly Lusts they might live Soberly Righteously and Godlily in the present evil World Tit. 2. 11 12. Which all that ever come to inherit Rest and Peace with God and to have a habitation in his holy Kingdom of everlasting Joy must be found living in and to cry to God in a sence of your Miserable state and Deplorable Condition while the Ear of his tender Mercy is open to hear you lest such a Day come upon and overtake you as was threatned to a People of Old wherein you may Cry and the Lord will not hear you because you have not hearkened to him when he called you may Call and he will not Answer but will laugh at your Calamity and mock when your Fear cometh But that this Day may never overtake you to whom the Visitation of God is yet continued is the hearty Desire and Prayer of my Soul to God for you Therefore turn to God with all your Hearts while his Arms of tender Mercy are open to receive you and triffle not away your precious time that yet remains lest by so doing you bring the sentence of an eternal Exclusion upon your selves from God and the joy of his Kingdom forever and ever And Oh that a true Desire were begotten in all your Hearts and Minds to come to that blessed Fountain of God's free Love which he hath opened for all who are willing to come to it the Virtue whereof purgeth the Souls of all that wash in it from Sin and Uncleanness and so sprinkles the