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A28167
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A lamentation over England and faithful warning to the inhabitants thereof by William Bingley.
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Bingley, William, 1651-1715.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing B2920; ESTC R25929
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19,983
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29
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Conscience from death and dead works to serve the living God in newness and purity of a Holy Life And now Oh that you all may be willing to take that good Counsel which was given by the Lord to a People of Old when he said by the Mouth of his Prophet Wash you make you clean put away from before me the Evil of your doings cease to do Evil and learn to do Well seek Judgment relieve the Oppressed judge the Fatherless plead for the Widdow Come now let us reason together saith the Lord though your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow though they be red as Crimson they shall be as Wool If you be willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the Land c. Isa 1. 16 17 18 19. These are the precious Promises of God to all who are willing to forsake the Evil of their doings and to turn to him with all their Hearts who desires not the death or destruction of any but rather that they may Repent and live And again the good Counsel and Advice of the holy Apostle ought to be minded and observed by you all which is on this wise Cleanse your Hands ye Sinners purifie your Hearts ye Double-minded be Afflicted and Mourn and Weep Let your Laughter be turned into Mourning and your Joy into Heaviness Humble your selves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up James 4. 8 9 10. And unless you thus humble your selves under the mighty Hand of God and turn to the Lord and forsake your sinful Wayes and evil Courses and wait to know a being washed in the Blood of Jesus Christ which cleanseth from all Sin that is the Fountain of God's free and great Love opened unto all Mankind you can never come to have a place in the Rest which God hath prepared nor in that Kingdom of eternal Glory which remains sure to the Righteous forever Now the Lord knows who searches the Hearts and tryeth the Reigns of all from whose all-seeing Eye nothing can be hid that I labour for and seek nothing more than your turning to the Lord with broken tender and penitent Hearts that you may find Mercy with God to your immortal Souls and that while you have dayes here in this world you may so live in his Fear Wisdom and Counsel as that when-ever your latter end cometh and Death looks you in the Face and summons you before the righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth you may lay down your Heads and go to your Graves in Peace with God and in a full assurance of a Habitation in that Eternal Joy where no Sorrow nor Sighing shall ever come These are the Desires and earnest Breathings of him whose Soul hath often been wounded and his Spirit grieved in the hearing and beholding the Wickedness and Abominations which have abounded and yet do abound amongst many unto this very day and also hath mourned and been bowed before the Lord in the sight and sence of that dreadful Day which will certainly overtake and come upon all those who continue in their Wickedness and Rebellion against God W. B. A VVarning to the Rulers and Magistrates c. ANd now all ye Rulers Magistrates and Men in Authority in ENGLAND and the Dominions thereunto belonging the Lord God of Heaven and Earth in whom Power and Authority remains forever To pull down and set up whomsoever he pleaseth is highly displeased with many of you not exempting the Wicked and Oppressive Rulers through the whole World because you have not feared before his eternal Power and Majesty by whom the Life Breath and Beeing of all Mankind and every living Creature is continued who can take it away and bring the highest and loftiest of Mortal Men to the Dust from whence they come at his Pleasure Neither have you waited to receive Wisdom and Counsel from him the great Counsellour to act and to discharge your selves as you ought to have done in so great Affairs and weighty Concerns as you have undertaken which if you had done ye would have encouraged Virtue and Righteousness in all and punished Vice and Wickedness where-ever it appeared and have been a Terror to Evil-doers and a Praise to them that were found doing Well and so would have eased the Oppressed by breaking the Bonds of Oppression and executed Justice and Equity in the Earth and thereby Truth and Holiness Purity and Righteousness would have been exalted among you and this would have brought Peace and lasting Satisfaction into your own Hearts and Joy and Tranquillity to the Nation in general But have not many of you done and acted to the contrary For instead of punishing Debauchery and Wickedness viz. Swearing Cursing Drunkenness Whoredoms Looseness and Prophanness in others which you ought to have done and to have been good Examples of Purity and Holiness in your Lives and Conversations to all are not many of you your selves living and taking delight and pleasure in the above-mentioned Evils and gross Abominations for which God the righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth who will not be byassed with Rewards will punish with everlasting Pain and eternal Flames if there be a continuing in them And many of you by your bad Lives and Conversations others having taken you for Examples have you not encouraged them in their Wickedness Is not that the cause which maketh Ungodliness abound as it doth among many at this day to the grief and sorrow of many who have truly desired to see the Current of Iniquity stopt And whether have you set up Judgment and Justice as you ought to have done Or executed it upon the Transgressors or eased the Oppressed or broken the Bonds of Oppression and have been a Terror to the Evil-doers and Encouragers of them that do Well But have not many of you punished and oppressed the Innocent and have executed your Cruelty upon them and have let the Transgressors and the Wicked go free And So are not Such found in the Steps of those against whom the Prophet of the Lord cryed out of old Saying Your Hands are defiled with Blood your Fingers with Iniquity your Lips have spoken Lyes your Tongues muttred Perverseness none calleth for Justice nor any pleadeth for Truth They trust in Vanity and speak Lyes They conceive Mischief and bring forth Iniquity Their works are works of Iniquity The act of Violence is in their hands Their feet run to Evil They make haste to shed Innocent Blood Wasting and Destruction are in their Paths The way of Peace they know not and there is no Judgment in their goings They have made them Crooked Paths whosoever goeth therein shall not know Peace and Judgment is turned away backward and Justice standeth a far off for Truth is fallen in the streets and Equity cannot enter yea Truth falleth and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a Prey And the Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no Judgment Isa 59. 3 4 6
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