Selected quad for the lemma: world_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A28167
|
A lamentation over England and faithful warning to the inhabitants thereof by William Bingley.
|
Bingley, William, 1651-1715.
|
1682
(1682)
|
Wing B2920; ESTC R25929
|
19,983
|
29
|
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
fed your selves with the Fat and clothed your selves with the Wool and have preyed upon the People and by your Oppression and Cruelty have scattered the Flock instead of gathering them or turning them to God who is become the Shepherd and Teacher of his People himself according to his Promise of old That he would gather his Sheep from the Mouthes of those Shepherds that made a Prey upon them Which Promise many have witnessed to be fulfilled in this our day blessed be his Name forever And are you not biting with your Teeth like the false Prophets of old and crying Peace to them that put into your Mouthes though never so Unchristian-like in their Conversations But they that cannot for Conscience-sake put into your Mouthes to maintain your Pride High-mindedness and Oppression have you not and yet are preparing War against them Let the great Spoil and Havock you have made of many sober and conscientious Peoples Goods bear witness against you And the many Prisons in England and else-where in which you have imprisoned some unto Death and many others to the Ruining of them and their Families because they could not for Conscience sake pay you your Unjust and Unchristian Demands as Tythes and many other things which never were demanded nor paid in the primitive Christian Times as Gospel-Maintenance neither is there any ground in the Scriptures for them to be demanded by the Ministers of the Gospel and seeing they were neither demanded nor paid by the Apostles or their Successors while they kept in the primitive Purity nor any Prescription given forth by the Apostles that they to wit Tythes should ever be paid or received by the Christians in future Ages And also seeing they were denyed and testified against by several of the first Reformed Protestants as Walter Brute c. Therefore for you to demand them and to cast men into Prison for the Non-Payment of them manifests you to be such as the holy Apostle cryed out against Who beguile unstable Souls an heart they have exercised with Covetous Practices Cursed Children which have forsaken the Right Way and are gone astay following the Way of Balaam the Son of Bosor who loved the Wages of Vnrighteousness 2 Pet. 2. 14 15. And these your Cruelties Persecutions and Oppressions testifie to your faces and to all People that are willing to see you that you are out of the Steps Life and Spirit of the Messengers and Ministers of Christ Jesus neither have you any Example for these your Wicked Practices and Ungodly Lives neither from the Priests under the Law nor from the true Ministers of Christ and Preachers of the holy Gospel in the primitive Times and in several Ages since the Apostles dayes but from Balaam false Prophets false Teachers c. such as the Prophets of the Lord testified against And all these your Practices of Oppression Cruelty and Persecution and your Unholy Lives and Conversations are sufficient Evidence and Ground for us had we no more not to believe that you are the Ministers and Messengers of Christ but of Antichrist for we don't read that ever the true Ministers of Christ did oppress or persecute others or leave any President for any such Practice but the contrary for it was many times their Lots to be persecuted shamefully abused and cast into Prison by others both in the primitive Times and in the Reformation and almost in every Age until this very day And so the words of the Apostle have been and yet are fulfilled to wit Yea and all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution 2 Tim. 3. 12. And it was the Portion that Christ our Lord said that such who lived in and followed him should meet withal viz. That they should be hated of all Nations for his Names sake And that they should hale them before Rulers and their Councils And that they should cast them into Prison and Kill them He did not say The Believers should cast their Enemies into Prison and persecute them but commanded To love their Enemies and to pray for them that despightfully used them and persecuted them that they might be the Children of their Father in Heaven who sends the Rain on the just and unjust c. But you have been so far from obeying Christ's command to love your Enemies that you have and yet are doing despight to those that never did you any harm but have sought and yet are seeking your Everlasting Peace and Well-beeing both of Soul and Body So that Persecution and Cruelty is not a Mark of true Believers that obey Christ neither of his Messengers and Ministers whom he sends forth to preach the Everlasting Gospel but a Mark of the Whore false Prophets and Antichrist Notwithstanding all their fair Pretences for Christ yet they have been persecuting the Saints and drinking the Blood of the Martyrs and Servants of Christ For which the Anger of the Lord is breaking forth and he is arising in his Mighty Power to plead the Cause of his Suffering People and will give the Whore Blood to drink and the Cup of his Indignation and Fury which she shall not escape from his hand shall be her Portion and the Portion of all that joyn with her except they Repent And that you are in the same Steps your own Practices in persecuting and oppressing an innocent People are Evidence and Proof sufficient against you And therefore all you whose Day of Mercy is not yet over and are guilty of these things Repent of and cease from these your Wicked and Unchristian-like Practices of Cruelty Oppression and Persecution and also from your Wicked Unclean Lives and Conversations and humble your selves under the Mighty Hand of God submit to lie under his Righteous Judgments and bear his Indignation and Wrath which is just upon you for your Nickedness Cruelty and Oppression and for your Pride and Ungodliness which abound amongst many of you that thereby you may learn Righteousness and to dread and fear before the living God and to serve him in Truth and Righteousness who over all is worthy to be served honoured and obeyed forever And mind the teachings of his holy Grace and Spirit a measure whereof is given to every man to profit withal which teacheth to deny Vngodliness and worldly Lusts and to live a Sober a Righteous and a Godly Life in this present evil World And be ye Examples of Meekness and Lowliness of Mind and Spirit and of Purity Righteousness and Holiness in your Conversations Or else the Dreadful God of Heaven and Earth will pour out his Fury like Fire upon you and ye shall be as Hay and as Stubble before his Fiery Indignation which shall burn you up and none shall be able to quench it and your Portion shall be with the Beast and false Prophets who shall be taken alive and cast into the Lake of Fire that burns as with Brimstone to be Tormented forever and for evermore Moreover God Almighty whose Righteous Soul has been grieved by your Cruelty and Oppression against his People and whose holy Name has been and yet is dishonoured by your Ungodly Lives will pour out Shame and Everlasting Contempt upon you and ye shall be like Chaff before the Breath of the Almighty who will drive you away like Smoak before the Wind never to be found any more And your Names shall Rot in the Earth and your Stink shall come up And as the Remembrance of the Wicked and false Prophets are an evil Savour to this day so shall the Remembrance of you be to the Generations that are yet to come if ye Repent not speedily But that you may all escape these Judgments of the Lord and Eternal Sorrows which are prepared as a Portion for the Wicked in returning to the Lord by true Repentance and Amendment of your Lives and that you may find Mercy with God to your Immortal Souls both in this World and in that which is to come is the Desire of him who is concerned to give forth this Testimony as a Warning to all whose day is not yet over Who am a Hater of Deceit and Hypocrisie but a Lover of Truth and Righteousness and a Well-wisher of the Souls of all the Sons and Daughters of Men William Bingley THE END