A Short WARNING TO ALL Persecutors of the Innocent; BUT More particularly to the Bailiffs and Officers of Kingston upon Thames, and the Justices and Officers of the Towns near thereunto.  
BEING An Alarm from the Lord God, to warn them, that they may repent, and turn from the Evil of their Do.  
By Henry Penfould.  
Printed in the Year, 1670.   

A Short Warning to all Persecutors of the Innocent; but more particularly to the Bailiffs, and Officers of Kingston upon Thames, and the Justices and Officers of the Towns near thereunto, etc.  
O Ye Stubborn, Hardhearted, Rebellious, Stiffnecked, and Cruel-minded men; Spoilers and Destroyer's of God's Heritage: Why do ye harden your hearts against the Lord God and his People? O Repent, repent, weep and howl, for the Day of the Lord God that cometh on ye suddenly, that hasteth to overtake ye.  
O Repent, repent, and rend your hearts; and be ye melted and broken, O ye Rocks, before the Lord God, before he arise in the fierceness of his Wrath and hot Displeasure, and rend ye, and tear ye to pieces, and ye be utterly consumed, and there be none to stand in the gap, nor stop his Wrath, nor deliver ye.  
O ye Destroyer's, and Wasters, and Spoilers of God's People, that are even seared and sealed, fast bound up together, as with one Bond and Cord of Iniquity: Repent, repent, and turn to the Lord, or God will break your bands, and lose your Joints suddenly.  
O Awake, awake, Why will ye slumber? Why will ye sleep? Why will ye not lift up your eyes, and behold and consider, before sudden Destruction overtake ye? Did ever Oppression and Cruelty make any People happy? Did ever the Persecutors of Gods innocent People, escape his Hand of Vengeance, that followed them.  
Therefore I do warn ye, as by the Mouth of the Lord God, to arise, escape, and flee from the Wrath to come, and Destruction that hasteneth on apace upon ye that run as a Post very swiftly, and ye shall not be able to escape, except ye arise, and meet the Lord God in his Judgements, and bow down and humble yourselves before him; else, he will tread you down under his Feet, and trample upon ye, even as ye do now upon the Innocent, who are poor and helpless, and have no Helper in the Earth.  
O why do you harden your hearts, and band yourselves together against the Lord God Almighty. Repent, repent, O ye Spoilers, O ye Destroyer's; for God will spoil the Spoiler, and destroy the Destroyer, and utterly lay waste the Habitation of them that spoil his Heritage.  
O ye Fools, and blind and dull of understanding; When did ever any People set themselves in battle against the Lord, and conquer? When did ever any People make war with the Lord God of Hosts, and Prosper? but that in the midst of their spoil and triumph God hath ensnared them, and taken, and overthrown them, 
Abraham rescued Lot.  even while the Prey hath been in their hands, and hath rescued and saved it, and destroyed them.  
O ye Foolish and Blind, Why do you not regard? Why do you not at all consider whom ye are thus rifling, and pillaging, and spoiling, in this manner, of their Goods and Estates? What are they your foreign Enemies? What are they such as were born to no privilege here, among ye? or what, have they wickedly forfitted or sold their privilege and right in the Laws of this Land, their just, and due, and equal Birthright, even with ye and other men? No, no, But they are your own Countrymen, your own Townsmen, your own Neighbours, that are your Friends, that have wished ye no evil, that have as good a Birthright unto the Laws and Rights, and Privileges of this Land, as yourselves; and have as little forfitted or sold our Birthright, to them, as yourselves, by the breach of any just or equal Law; or by any evil, or ungodly, or unchristian, or dishonest, or disorderly practice: But why then do ye thus proudly insult and boast over us, your Countrymen, your Neighbours, your Friends, doing things by us contrary to Reason, contrary to common sense, contrary to Christians, contrary to sober men, contrary to those that do as they would be done by, in keeping us close Prisoners, upon the account of evil Behaviour; whereas it is most certainly known, and hath ever been experienced by us, That we have ever been of as harmless, blameless, civil, sober, and honest Behaviour as any of yourselves; not guilty of any envyings, hatreds, threaten, evil-speakings, no Cursers, no Swearers, no Drunkards, no Strikers, no Spoilers of the Goods of Honest and Harmless men, as some of ye have been and are. But why do ye so proudly boast, and insult over us; because that ye know we have no Helper in the Earth? But do not thus err, and be not thus mistaken in your minds; we have our help in God, and the Lord God that sitteth in the Heavens, will certainly avenge our Cause, and bring help, and deliverance unto us, and destruction upon ye (except ye repent) before ye are ware; and now ye boast and rejoice over us, but when destruction cometh upon ye, for your evil deeds, than he that bringeth Salvation and Deliverance unto us, even our God, that sitteth in the Heavens (as David saith) shall laugh at ye; now is your time, and now ye make a mock and derision at God, and his Truth, and People; but hereafter, and anon it will not be your time; but God will deride ye, and make a mock at ye, except ye repent, and turn, and humble yourselves: But go too now, Why do ye boast yourselves thus, in the spoil of the Goods of the Innocent, as though ye were now heaping up and treasureing up some great Store for yourselves, your Wives, your Children, your Posterity after ye? but oh ye that do endeavour to destroy the Just, that would ruin Husbands with their Wives, and Fathers with their Children, the Harmless and Innocent, that have neither hatched or contrived or wished, or thought of wrong or mischief against ye. O consider these things: O Repent, O repent, and turn from the evil of your do, and cry, and weep, and lament, and humble yourselves before the Lord, if happily he may hear and receive you, and pardon your transgressions, and heal you, O leave off your spoiling, leave off your wasting, leave off your pillaging, leave off your destroying; for by this ye shall not increase your Riches, or Wealth, or Treasure, or Store; these goods shall never be any succour or support unto you in your decrepit old age (if ever ye live to come to it) remember what God saith of the wicked. Ye shall not get hereby any Treasure of Inheritance unto your Wives and Children, except by such kind of deeds, ye shall treasure up to yourselves in store, (which shall be a during Inheritance to ye, & the fruits of it remain to your wives and Children, and your children's Children, unless they repent) the Eternal Wrath, and sore displeasure, and indignation and curse of the Lord God, of this you shall be possessors all your days, in your middle and older age, with the Displeasure, and Wrath, and Indignation, and Vengeance, and Curse of the Lord ye shall be heavy loaden to your Graves; this shall be your Store, this shall be your Treasure, which ye shall carry with you, which ye shall leave behind you, to your Wives and Children, and children's Children; even the Wrath and Indignation, and Vengeance, and Curse of God (if ye do not repent) ye shall certainly carry this along with you, and leave this behind unto your Children, though you leave them nothing else; Gods Wrath, and Indignation, and Curse, and Vengeance to be sure ye shall make them Heirs, and Inheritors, and Possessors of, though of nothing else; this shall be as the Plague of Leprosy unto ye, that shall creep up your Houses, and stick fast by your Walls, that shall get up into your Beds of ease, that shall lodge with ye; that shall get into all your pleasant and delectable and comfortable things; it shall get into your Basket, and mix itself with all your Store; your Trades and your Callings shall be ruined by it; it shall cleave to your Flesh, and your Skin, and stick fast by your Bones; ye shall not wipe it off; ye shall not purge it out; ye shall not acquit yourselves, and be rid thereof, except ye repent, and rend your hearts, and wash your hands of these things, and turn from the evil of your doing, unto the Lord God, who is pitiful and merciful, that delighteth to show Mercy, and pardon transgression and sin, and willeth in no wise the death of a Sinner, but that all may turn to him, and live: But if ye do not mind yourselves, yet even for your Wives, and tender children's sakes, leave off the evil of your do, and count it not your boasting and rejoicing to procure the Wrath, and Indignation, and Curse, and Vengeance of the Lord God, and make him your Enemy, even for your Wives and tender children's sake:  
O why should they have cause to curse ye, and wish that ye had been cut off and destroyed, that ye had been rotten in your Graves before ever ye had set your hands to such a work as this; to persecute, and destroy, and spoil the Innocent?  
O why do ye strive to make your Name rotten & stink among sober men while ye live, and loathsome and stinking in Generations to come, after ye be dead? Are ye indeed ignorant, or have ye not read of such cruel, wicked, bloody minded men of old, that persecuted, and spoiled, and destroyed Harmless Honest men, for Serving and Worshipping God according to their Consciences, contrary to their way, Have not their names rotten? Do they not stink? Are they not loathsome, even the remembrance of them? Have ye not read, how the state of such men hath been miserable while they have lived, and when they have died worse?  
O Repent, and turn to the Lord God, that be may pardon your transgression, that it may not be so with you: O why will you let your own tender Children bear the weight of your transgression? O what have they done, that they should be punished for your iniquity? O why should your Children say, The Wrath and Curse of God hath consumed my Father, and all that he hath; all is gone besides, and that is left and descended to me: O unnatural, O cruel Father, that had no more love, that had no more affection, that hath left me only such a Legacy, that hath gotten only such a Treasure, and hath laid up such a Store, Vials full of Wrath, with many dregs of the Wrath and curse of God, to make me Heir, and Inheritor, and Possessor of (especially should I follow his sinful steps?)  
See ye here, now I have laid before you Life and Death, the Blessing of the Lord God Almighty and Cursing, that same that will bring ye to true Peace, and that which will be a perpetual Anguish and Horror, and a never dying Worm, gnawing upon ye continually; So why should ye now be angry with me? Why should ye gnash your Teeth upon me? What because I have told ye the truth; I have sought to do ye not wrong hereby, but it is in love unto ye, and your Posterity also; and by a necessity from God, to warn ye to flee from the wrath to come, that so I may be clear of your blood, and if ye perish by the Hand of the Lord, by your evil do (as certainly ye shall, if ye do not repent) than your blood shall be on your own heads, and I shall be clear: So now I have told ye before hand, and indeed I only tell ye, or rather desire ye which to choose, but the choice is in yourselves altogether, (as for me) for ye may choose whether ye will, Life or Death, Blessing or Cursing, the unchangeable Love and Peace of God or the Wrath and Curse of God; of which when ye would acquit yourselves ye shall not be able, unless ye turn and repent in time, which is the true desire of my soul, that all may repent and turn and live, and none of ye may perish, no, not one; who am howsoever accounted your Friend,  
Hen. Penfould. From the Stock-House in Kingston, where I am under close Confinement with three more, Honest and Harmless, and Quiet, and Peaceable men, until we give security for our good Behaviour. Written the 26th of the 4th Month, 1670.  
Christ saith, Love Enemies, and love one another: And is it your Priests and Bishops, that teach you to persecute one another.  
THE END.