A Discovery of the PRIESTS AND PROFESSORS, AND OF Their Nakedness and Shame, which is coming upon them, from their High Profession, to fall as Mire in the Streets.  

ALL People fear the Lord, and give glory to his Name; for the hour of his Judgement is come, and he will reward every one according to his work; there will be no hiding-place from the presence of the Lord: for all who have been striving against the Light that comes from Christ, shall with it be confounded; for the wisdom of the wise men will the Lord turn backwards, and all who strive against his Light, shall surely fall, and come to nothing.  
Oh Priests and Professors! Consider this, the Lord is coming to try you, and to make manifest your works; he will sift you, and make manifest your Root and Bottom, which by your deceitful Covers you have hid yourselves under, and trampled the blood of the Covenant under foot, by your deceitful Merchandise: But now the Lord will strip you of your deceitful Covers, that all that pass by when your iniquity and profaneness is laid open, shall wonder and be amazed, that such a glorious Profession, should become as a thing of nought, which seemed to be very glorious in the eyes of many: But the Lord is risen to shake all Foundations, which are not in the life of Righteousness, and turn and overturn, till he come whose Right it is to rule all Nations with a rod of Iron; and he will break the wicked in pieces like a Potter's Vessel. This is to you that have professed God in words, but in life and practice have denied him, and striven against his witness which the Lord hath placed in you; but now your Hypocrisy and Deceit will be laid open to the sight of many.  
The Lord by his servants hath warned you long, yea many years, but ye have despised his Messengers, and would have none of his counsel; but like fed Horses snuffing up the air, when the servants of the Lord did cry unto you to repent: Some you sent to the Stocks, as the Priest caused the Prophet in the days of old; when he spoke the word of the Lord, Jer. 20.2. As it was then, so it is now; for these many years you have been Haling out of your Synagogues, and causing to be whipped, and stocked, and imprisoned, the servants of the living God.  
Have not I seen your Hypocrisy, saith the Lord? Have you digged deep to hid your Counsel from him that searcheth the heart? Nay Verily, you cannot; the Lord will search you, and try you, and bring all your deeds to the Light. And as you have done unto others, so shall it be done unto you, pressing down, and running over; because you refused the counsel of the Lord, the Lord will refuse and reject you; because the tender proffers of the Lord you have refused, and rebelled against his Light, and hardened your hearts, and stiffened your necks, and would not take his Yoke upon you, which is easy, and his Burden light: This hath been refused by you.  
Priests and Professors, The Lord will bring a Yoke upon you, which all your wisdom will not bring you from under; nay your wisdom the Lord is blasting, and your profession will whither, and Blackness and darkness will come over you.  
You have slighted the day of your visitation, and would have none of his counsel; so the Lord hath rejected you: So strive not against the Lord, which hath brought this upon you, For you have been sowing to the Wind, and you shall reap the Whirlwind.  
Priests, This is unto you: As times and seasons have changed, so ye have changed; and the Lord hath seen your hypocrisy, and he will reward you according to your works. When times went contrary to your minds, than you preached up Wars and Fightings, that many Widows and fatherless children were made to cry out; and many men's lives and Estates destroyed about Religion, and to settle Church-government, as you call it.  
O Blush, and be ashamed of your do! the Church of God is not to be established with carnal Sword, nor with Wars, nor with Fightings, but in the Spirit and Power of the living God; for times and seasons are in his hand, and he changeth them as it seemeth good in his own eyes, who will change Times and Seasons when he pleaseth: For my ways (saith the Lord) is contrary to your ways. So lie down in patience, under the mighty hand of God, and strive not against him, which will bring down the lofty looks of man, and lay his honour in the dust, which will not take counsel at him who made Heaven and Earth, which will be terrible to all unrighteousness. Take heed to yourselves, preach up Wars and Fightings no more; there hath been too much bloodshed about Religion, to hold up your Presbytery, and Independency; but now the Lord sees your Hypocrisy; for you have cried down others, and set up yourselves in large Benefits and Augmentations, to keep up your Church; and this hath been done by the Sword, and you are grown proud and wicked, and have set up yourselves and your Religion in high esteem in the Nations: But hypocrisy and deceit hath lodged amongst you, and now the Lord will sift you as Corn in a Sieve, and your hypocrisy shall appear to many people, which have looked upon you to be the Ministers of Christ; when your Nakedness and Shame comes to be made manifest, than they that pass by and considers your Shame and Nakedness, which shall surely come upon you, how your glorious Profession becomes as a fading Flower, or as the morning Cloud, or as the early Dew, which passeth away; so will your large Profession fall as Mire in the streets.  
Strive not against the Lord in your hypocrisy, neither put it in the minds of people to fight for your Religion, as it hath been by some of you in years past, to the destroying of many men's lives; but now the Lord is bringing the sword of justice upon the hypocritical Nations, who have dissembled with him long; and think not in your hearts that you must yet stand, and your Religion; nay, you must surely fall, and this Government must come over you, which you in your minds have been against, which carnal Weapons hath protected: But that is fallen, and think not that you shall stand; for the Lord hath thrown down the Sword, and the Swordmen which you were protected by; think not that you shall stand, for you must surely come under the same Power which they are fallen under; strive not against the Lord, who is bringing this upon you, as a Rod to correct you; for you have long dissembled with men, but you cannot dissemble with the Lord, who searcheth the heart, and tryeth the reins; for his Light is risen, which will discover all your ways, and manifest your works (which hath been in darkness) with his eternal Light, which is now risen to this very end, that Antichrist may be made manifest in all his appearances; all your Covers will be too narrow, which you have got with the Saints words, but now your life and practice will be made manifest to many people.  
The day is coming upon you that ye shall be ashamed, to make mention of the Name of the Lord, your hypocrisy and shame shall so appear, that your Beds shall be too short, that you shall not stretch yourselves upon them, and your Cover too narrow, that you cannot be hid from the Wrath of the Almighty, which shall be as storm and hail; the terrible Wrath of God, which will come upon all the unrighteous, which takes counsel, and not of the Lord; you have spurned against him, and would have none of his counsel, therefore must you bear your own iniquity; and it is the just hand of God upon you. And that the Lord is fulfilling upon you, which he did reveal unto me in a Vision, in the ninth Month, 1659. That the Church of England should be stripped naked of all her deceitful Covers, and then the tenderhearted people, and the sober-minded, which looked upon you to be Ministers of Christ, and they had been as soft Pillows unto you Teachers to lean upon; but whon they shall see your Nakedness and Shame which will surely come upon you, than they will turn away from you, and from your Worship; and then none shall be left you, but the worst of people, and they shall be as hard Pillows unto you, and then shall you fall as Mire in the Streets. This was revealed unto me in a Vision, in the Spirit of Truth, which leads into all truth, & reveals things to come, to those that abide in his counsel, and wait that his will may be done in earth, as it is in Heaven, and in his own time he will fulfil that which he reveals unto his servants; for thus it was in the days of old, the Lord revealed unto his servants the Prophets, things that were to come; both in words, and in signs; that when those things came to pass which they declared of, than were they known to be the servants of God; and as it was then, so it will be now, and the Lord is hastening the work, that his way may be known, and who are his people, and who are not; and then shall deliverance come, when he hath made them manifest by his Power, who are the Sheep of his Pasture; Israel shall know it, and the Upright in heart shall rejoice: But Rebels he will bring to distress. Oh the mighty work of God, which the Lord he is bringing to pass by a foolish people! and by them he will vex the Nations, that hath rebelled against his Light, and will not be counselled by it, but runs on in wickedness, till your iniquity be found out. Then who shall be able to deliver you out of the hands of the living God, which will be terrible to all unrighteousness; for ye have been sowing to the flesh, and of the flesh ye shall reap corruption; for you have been as a fruitful field in show and outside, but now the Lord is turning it into barranness, because of your wickedness and oppression; as it was in the days of old, in Egypt, where the Seed of God then suffered, so you are seen to be in spiritual Egypt, where the Seed hath been oppressed, and the spirits of good men kept under, and punished as evil-doers; therefore is your Blossom failed, and your Bud shall be taken away, and your Leaves shall fall as in Autumn, and your Trees shall whither, and your Works shall be blasted, and then you shall cry, Alas, how is our Blossom failed, and our Bud taken away, and Trees withered in one day; which we had Planted and delighted so much in, and bestowed so much labour upon them: Thus will your misery come upon you; You have been as Trees full of leaves, but they are falling off; the Storm from the Almighty will shake you, like as the storm in Winter, till your leaves be shaken off, and your bows be rotten with the fierce Wrath of God, which will surely come upon you, like the Figtree which was cursed, and dried up by the roots, & notto bear fruit any more: Thus will your deceitful Merchandise fall, and as a Millstone cast into the Sea, never to rise again; thus will your calamity come, and none shall be able to deliver you from that which the Lord hath determined to bring upon you; your iniquities hath hid good things from you, so you must bear the indignation of the Lord, because you have rejected his Counsel, and made Flesh your Arm, and trusted in the shadow of Egypt, and forsaken the living God, and turned into your own Lust, Pride, and Covetousness, which have been abomination to him, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; and because of your iniquity, you must go into utter Darkness, if you do not speedily repent, and seek the Lord, that he might repent of the evil that he hath determined against you, because of your wickedness which you have committed against him; ye have covered saith the Lord, but not with my Spirit; ye have run, and I have not sent you; ye have told people that ye were my Ministers saith the Lord, and have deceived the hearts of the simple; and through covetousness, and with feigned words, made Merchandise of the people, and so are found out of the Doctrine of the Apostles, as your fruit hath made you manifest, which will be to your great shame and confusion, for you have told people that you were the Ministers of Christ, and many people believed you; as is was in the days of the false Prophets, so is it seen in the Light of Christ Jesus to be amongst the false Teachers which is erred from the Spirit, and teacheth people the Letter, and doth not lead to the Spirit, which the Ministers of Christ doth lead to; which leads into all Truth, out of the Error.  
This was I moved of the Lord, to discover and make manifest what the Lord hath revealed unto me, as is aforementioned of your Nakedness and Shame; that all sober people, who desires to know the Lord, may come to see your shame, and nakedness; that from you they may come to be led by the Spirit of Truth, which leads into all much, which ●he Priests are found out of; for the day makes you manifest, and you cannot be hid from the Wrath of the Almighty; ye have long received Nations, but now the Lord God will spare no longer, he will reward every one according to his work; and yourself ends the Lord will make manifest, and your hypocrisy is made manifest in the Light of Christ, to all them that walk in it.  
W. S.   

Going Naked, a Sign.  
OH Church of England! This is unto thee, who livest in Oppression and Cruelty, pride and covetousness, a day of misery is coming upon thee, thy nakedness and shame is coming upon thee as an armed Man, from which no man can hid thee, neither Hills nor Mountains shall be able to hid thee in this the Day of the Lord; neither shall the Clefts of the Rocks preserve thee from the Day of the Lords Controversy with thee, thy nakedness and thy shame is near to come upon thee, from it thou shalt not fly: Oppression and Cruelty hath been as a Staff for thee, but the Lord is risen to break thy Staff of Oppression, and thou shalt be left naked, though thou hast seemed to be the glory of the Nations with thy deceitful Covers, but now thou shalt be left naked, and Nations shall be ashamed of thee: Howl and weep ye Teachers, for the Lord is gathering his people from you, and ye shall devour his flock no more. The Day is coming upon you, that none shall buy your Wares any more, ye Merchants of Babylon: All your Scarlet colour the Lord our God is coming to take off: Then your nakedness shall appear to many Nations, and you shall sit as a Widow, and there shall be none to comfort you; Distress and anguish shall take hold upon you, and pain as a woman in travel, and is not able to bring forth; so shall your misery come upon you: The Decree of the Lord is gone out against all unrighteousness, he will surely reward every one according to their works; for as a Troop of Robbers lie in wait for a Man, so a company of Priests by consent lie in wait to murder the innocent Lambs of God, and for their sakes the Lord is risen in his mighty Power, to break the bonds of wickedness, and to set the oppressed free, for the Lord hath heard the groaning of his Seed, and he is risen to deliver, to bring it out of Captivity, and from under the Taskmasters, where his Seed hath been long oppressed by unreasonable Men; But the Lord will spare no longer, but he will reward the Oppressors double into their Bosoms, and his Seed he will deliver.  
Oh howl and weep, your Day is far spent; Night is coming upon you, that you shall not have a Vision, and nothing shall be left to cover you: As naked shall you be spiritually, as my body hath been temporally naked in many places in England, as a sign of the nakedness and shame that is coming upon the Church of England, who live in Oppression and Cruelty, and all who lift up a Weapon for her, shall fall in the shame with her, which will surely come to pass: So all sober people consider your ways, and turn to the Light which comes from Jesus, that with it you may be gathered unto the Lord, from the false Teachers, to the teachings of the Lord; from the false worships, to the worship of the Lord in Spirit and in Truth: For a necessity was laid upon me from the Lord God of life & power to be a sign: But before I was given up to the thing, it was as death unto me; and I had rather, if it had been the Lords will, have died than gone on in this service; but when the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Go on and prosper; It was sweet unto me, as the honey and the honey Comb. And blessed saith Christ, are they that hears my Word, and keeps it.   
WILLIAM SIMPSON.  
The End.   

LONDON, Printed for Robert Wilson, at the sign of the Black-spread-Eagle and Windmill, in martin's Le Grand, 1660.