A LAMENTATION Over thee O LONDON With thy RULERS and PEOPLE, who hast slighted the day of thy Visitation, and resisted the Spirit of the Lord, and despised his counsel, and evil entreated and persecuted his Servants, Messengers, and Children; and now must receive thy reward at the hand of 〈◊〉 Lord.  
And when he was come near, he beheld the City and wept over it, Luke 19.41.  
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not? Matth. 23.37.  
London, Printed in the Year, 1665.   

A LAMENTATION Over thee O LONDON.  
O Thou great City, whose borders are even extended beyond compass, and thy inhabitants like unto the mighty swelling of the sea, even as it were numberless, the day of thy judgement is come, and the sword of the mighty God is drawn forth against thee, and he is come to plead the cause of his poor, oppressed, despised, and afflicted one's in thee whom thou hast destinated for destruction, & counted unworthy to live in thee, though the Lord, whose mighty hand is stretched forth against thee, hath placed them there to live out the remnant of time given unto them, and thou seekest with thy utmost strength, to root up what the Lord hath planted, and to separate what he hath joined together, and in what thou hast done, thou hast even done in despite of his love unto thee; O how hath he striven and wrestled with thee in the bowels of his dear love shed abroad in the hearts of his faithful lambs and servants for this many years past; O how hath the tender breathe of his love visited thee, and thy Rulers, from year to year, and from time to time, and even from day to day, warning thee and thy Rulers of the day that is come, and hath overtaken thee, and thou hast rewarded them, and art rewarding of them with prisons, whips, stocks, stones, and even with death, and now thou art filling up thy measure with banishment, which punishment is more severe than death itself, and greedily art pursuing thy cruelty upon them by wholesale, not minding the sword of God's just judgement, which hath already pierced thy bowels; O thou City with thy inhabitants, that hast made a mock and a scorn of the faithful warnings of the servants of the most high God, ministered and dispensed in thee, early and late, in thy streets, in thy Markets, and in many of thy dwellings, some being made signs unto thee, and others declaring in words the Mind of the Lord concerning thee, and in fulfilling the will of the Lord in true obedience, have delivered their messages unto thee even with their lives in their hands, in that day, the burden was theirs and they did bear it, and now it is thine, and thou must bear it, and though in times past thou hast been threatened with Judgements of another kind, yet hast thou had thy God at hand, even thy riches and treasure, and with it hast stopped the wrath, which otherwise might have reached thee, and because the mighty God hath permitted things so to work, thou hast sat as a Queen over the Nations, and hast tasted no sorrow, and for that end hast thou magnified thy God, but hast dishonoured God Almighty, who is come to plead with thee in judgement, and now sorrow shalt thou both feel and witness, and he who is thy Judge will not at all be bribed, thy gold, thy silver, thy riches, and all thy costly delicates, will stand thee in no stead, unless it be to add plague unto plague, for Just is the Lord who is come to judge, and he will make inquisition in thee, even in thee, O City for the innocent blood which hath been shed in our meetings, in your prisons, and on your pavements, and also for those souls who have been most barbarously thrust out of their native land, into exile, their cries with their wives, & tender children, are entered into the ears of the Lord God, and he hath regard unto them, and for their sakes, yea even for their sakes, is he entered into judgement with thee, O City and thy inhabitants, for thou mayst observe that before thy rulers put forth their cruel hands to execute that barbarous penalty of banishment upon the people of the Lord, called Quakers, the judgement of the Lord which is now made visible, was withheld, but as soon as they did make a precedent of their malice, the Lord did show an example of his judgement, ye and not many doors 
* It was said that in or near Beerbinder lane, a mealman were shut up of the Plague, who was E. B. his near neighbour soon after he was banished.  from the habitation of that faithful servant and Saint of the most high God Edward Brush, who with his dear Companion, James Hardin, was the first in England that the Lord permitted thy Rulers, O City, to wreak their wrath upon, yet this was not at all laid to heart, or taken notice of, but the ice being broke, or entry made, into this bloody work, seven more of the precious Lambs of the Lord, were most barbarously thrust out of their native land into exile; and here was thy first aggravation, concerning this thing, and after them eight more for their precious testimony unto God's dear truth thrust out of the Nation in the like manner, and besides those numbers that are condemned by thy Rulers for banishment now in that dismal cell of Newgate, who for want of room and air, many times, and my eyes with weeping tears have beheld them, panting even for breath through the grates of thy prison, and all this thou layest not to heart, O City, neither thy Rulers, nor Inhabitants, but notwithstanding the Lord is entered into judgement with thee, and is giving thee a Cup which thou must drink, by sending his Messenger amongst you, even his Plagues, which is that, which must and will awaken thee to receive thy reward; thou goest on still, and does what in thee lies, to perpetrate the destruction of them people, that never did, neither said thee harm ever since they had a being, in that life which cannot reward or recompense evil with evil; but this in time thou must see and also confess.  
And though many may seek to save themselves by flight from the Judgements come, & coming; yet let such know, though they mount upon dromadaries for haste, the hand of God Almighty will overtake them, yea the strong shall pursue the swift, and take hold on him, and to that end shall confession be made by every tongue, that the Judgements of God are Just, and righteous, and that they are not come upon thee, O City, and thy Inhabitants at unawares, but many years' warn hast thou had, yea thou hast been warned near this twenty years by the servants of the most high, as aforesaid, and know this, it is not only for thy gross unclean sins, which thou hast accumelated, which in these late years have so much abounded, but this is the sweep of thy drag persecution, yea PERSECUTION and the very malice of it, is that above all other, that doth awaken the wrath of God, and bring down vengeance upon a generation, this hath been known, this is known, and this will the Lord make thee know in time.  
And this may be said of thee, O City, as of Jerusalem, and a Lamentation taken up for thee, yea a bitter Lamentation; O that thou hadst known in the day of thy visitation, the things that belong to thy peace, but now are they hid from thy eyes.  
Woe is me for thee, O City, where is the man that shall stand in the gap, and make atonement unto the Lord, whose fierce wrath is kindled against thee, warnings thou hast slighted, good Council and reproof from the Lord thou hast rejected, the mercies and blessings of the Lord God thou hast sacrificed 〈◊〉 thy lust, and hast lived out of the sense of him, who would have drawn thee unto himself by the cords of love, as with the cords of a man, but thou hast despised it, and now must thou eat the fruits of ●hy works; and this is thy portion from the Just ●and of the Lord.  
R. C.   
THE END.