ENGLAND'S REMEMBRANCER, OR A WARNING FROM HEAVEN: Setting forth the two judgements of God now upon the Land, viz. Sword and Plague.  
With an admonition by a well-willer to his Country, for prevention of the third judgement threatened, which is Famine.  
Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul departed from thee: lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.  Jer. 6.8. 
He that abideth in the City, shall die by the Sword, and by the Famine, and by the Pestilence, etc. For I have set my face against this City for evil, and not for good, saith the Lord.  Jer. 21.9, 10. 
Entered according to Order.  
LONDON, Printed by Thomas Pain, for Francis Eglesfield, Anno Dom. 1644.   

ENGLAND'S REMEMBRANCER.  
WE in England, Scotland, and Jreland, have been like the people of Laish, Judg. 18. secure and careless. Like the old world in the time of Noah, and like the men of Sodom in the days of Lot, Luke 17.27. Eating and drinking, and saying, We shall have peace though we walk in the imaginations of our evil hearts, Deut. 29.19. We would not hearken to the voice of our God, and Jsrael would none of him, therefore may he now justly give us up unto our own hearts lust: he hath called, but we have refused; he hath stretched out his hand, but no man regarded; we have set at naught all his counsels, and would none of his reproof; therefore may he now laugh at our calamity, and mock when our fear cometh, when it cometh as desolation, and destruction as a whirlwind, that all men may see and say, that the turning away of the simple hath slain them, and the prosperity of fools hath destroyed them. God hath given to this Nation of ours many a fair warning, as loath to smite till needs he must; he hath sent his Ministers early and late to thunder in our ears, yet except we repent, we shall all likewise perish. God hath set our Neighbour's house on fire as a beacon to give us warning; I mean the Judgements that have befallen our brethren beyond the Seas, and hath made the Rebels in Jreland rods to his own people; we have been worse to our God then Joab was to Absalon, 2 Sam. 14.29, 30, 31. for Absalon sent but twice, and Joab refused him, but God hath sent many and often to us, and we would not hear. When Absalon set Joabs' field on fire he came, but God hath set our field on fire, and we come not. Our God hath given Jacob for a spoil, and Jsrael to the robbers, because we have sinned against him, for we would not walk in his ways, neither were obedient to his law, Isa. 42.24. therefore he poured upon us the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle, he hath set us on fire round about, yet we know it not, & it burneth still, but we lay it not to heart; the sword of Almighty God devoureth flesh, and drinks our blood, yet neither mercies nor judgements move us: Still Ephraim eats the arm of Manasseh, & Manasseh Ephraim. The Kingdom is like a mad man distracted, that saves the cruel enemy a labour, and with his own bloody hands pulls as it were the hair from the head, the skin from the flesh, the flesh from the bones, the bowels from the belly, the heart from the breast, and tears & rends all in pieces, yet scarce ever sighs or weeps or groans for all, but swells, & swears, and laughs, and rages, and rores to death: God hath formerly sent many small judgements before as forerunners of this great judgement which now is come as little gunshots before the great murdering piece. It hath been told us before, that if we repent not, God would do such a thing in England, that whosoever should hear thereof both his ears should tingle; thus the cocks crowed before the storm, after many grievous diseases, and plagues he hath sent the sword & he can make our streets swim with the blood of us all, and both with and after sword send famine as he hath threatened, Levit. 26. I will yet punish them seven times more, and if that will not do it, seven times more; The Lord will not cease to smite so long as we cease not to sin. Consider Jerusalem in the whole book of the Lamentations, and consider Germany, they were God's people as well as we, yet had they their little ones dashed against the stones, and their women ravished, and abominable Idolatry set up, and all turned topsie turvie, upside down. We have had the clear light of the Gospel many years, we have had many deliverances, especially those of the Gunpowder Treason, and Eighty eight; we have had more peace, plenty, and prosperity than any Nation, yet we have loved darkness rather than light, we have trampled Christ's blood under foot in the contempt of the Gospel, and with bloody oaths and profanation of his Sabbaths, with cursed Idolatry, riotous drunkenness and Atheism, Adultery, Bribery, Oppression, Usury, Simony, Fraud, Hypocrisy, Pride, Idleness, many still have a show of godliness, but deny the power of it, many lukewarm Christians, shall not God visit for these things? Isa. 1.2, 3.  
I take no delight to upbraid mine own Nation, or to defile mine own nest; I cannot hold my tongue for Zions sake: let me perish if I see my Country perish, and give them not warning. Wherefore I beseech ye my dear brethren (all true hearted Englishmen) in the bowels of Christ Jesus, who died for us, and shed his own heart blood for us, as you regard your own souls, bodies, and estates; as ye wish and desire the peace and prosperity of this our Zion, dally with the Lord no longer, God will not be always mocked, turn now at the last unto the Lord with all your hearts; turn ye, oh turn ye, why will ye die? Seek the Lord whilst he may be found, call upon him whilst he is near; draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Oh that I could even weep over this Land, as our Saviour did over Jerusalem, and say: O England, England, thou that rejectest my Prophets, 
Luke 13.34.  and despisest those that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thee together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not; wherefore thy house shall be left unto thee desolate: oh that thou wert therefore now wise yet in this thy day to consider those things that belong unto thy peace, lest at length they be hid from thine eyes. Woe to thee O England, 
Mat. 11.21.  if the great works which have been done in thee, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, in Sodom and Gomorrah, they had repent in sackcloth and ashes long ere this: And thou London, London, which art lifted up to heaven, for abundance of spiritual means, shalt be brought as low as hell, except thou repent: wherefore I beseech ye again and again for Christ his sake, for the Gospel's sake, for your countries' sake, for your own soul's sake be entreated; Repent, repent; Search, even search yourselves O nation not worthy to be beloved, 
Zeph. 2.1.  before the decree come forth, and ye be as chaff that passeth on a day: look into your lives, consider your ways, go apart, and seriously ask your souls; What have we done? Let your mirth be turned into mourning, 
Dan. 9.19.  your feasting into fasting, weep and lament bitterly for your sins, cry mightily for mercy, even as for life and death; cease to do evil, learn to do well; wash you, make you clean, put away your sins from before God his eyes; rend your hearts and not your garwents, amend and change your ways, bring forth fruits meet for repentance: that so ye may get the sword again into his sheath, which is already drawn out, and will give every one of us our death's wound, except we repent; and may quench that wrath which is already kindled, and will burn hotter and hotter, and never cease until it have utterly consumed us, if in time we quench it not by the tears of true repentance: wherefore now prepare to meet thy God, O England; It is more than high time to repent, defer no longer, if the last blow be once stricken, that is, cut it down, even utter desolation; there will then be left no place for repentance. Oh that I could therefore persuade you; but it is not I, it is the Lord that must do it; now Lord do thou persuade Japhet; for we cannot: Turn thou us unto thee O Lord of hosts, make thy face to shine, and we shall be saved; convert us unto thee, and we shall be converted, renew our days as of old; Lord thou longest for our conversion; thou standest waiting & crying; 
Jerem. 13.27.  Wash thine heart, O England, wilt thou not be made clean? oh when will it once be? Lord cleanse thou us, and we shall be cleansed; wash thou us, and we shall be whiter than snow; cause us to come unto thee, why hast thou hardened our hearts from thy fear? 
Isay. 64.8.  O Lord thou art our Father, we are thy clay; thou art the Potter, we are the work of thine hands; oh destroy not the work of thine own hands; frame and fashion us, and make us such as thou wouldst have us to be: spare thy people, O God, spare thy people, and be jealous for thine inheritance, Why shall the people say, Where is their God? O Lord hear, O Lord consider, and do it, defer not for thy name's sake, for thy Christ his sake, pity the desolations of thy Zion, of the City where thy name is called upon? Wilt thou O Lord, forsake for ever? Why is thy wrath thus hot against the sheep of thy pasture? Our sins indeed testify against us, that we are a rebellious and stiffnecked people, we lie down in our shame; and confusion covereth us; thou art righteous and just when thou judgest, but we are a perverse and froward generation; we would not hear when thou called'st, but stopped our ears, like the deaf Adder, 
Pro. 1.26.27.  therefore thou mayst now justly laugh at our destruction, and mock when our fear cometh: but there is mercy with thee that thou mayst be feared, we beseech thee in wrath remember mercy, have mercy upon us according to the multitude of thy compassions, oh Lord save us; or else we perish. Comfort us according to the days that thou hast afflicted us: Return O Lord, how long? and be pacified towards thy servants. Continue still to be our God, and let us be thy people; remove thy judgements which lie heavy upon us, and destroy us not utterly for thy name's sake: Make us all to turn to thee from the highest to the lowest by speedy and unfeigned repentance, that so thou mayst not utterly cut us off, even head and tail, root and branch, in one day; but mayst still delight to do us good, to multiply thy blessings upon us; and make us as worthy to be beloved in and through thy Son Christ Jesus, that Son of thy love, as we have been for our long peace and prosperity of all the Nations of the earth admired: even so be it Lord, so be it.  
This is the first and general Remedy which a Nation must use for the removal and preventing not only of the Plague, but of any other judgement whatsoever; namely, 
2 Chron. 7.13.14. Jerem. 18.7.8. Isa. 1.19.20. Jere. 14.11.12.  true repentance, which stands in sorrow for sin, and reformation of life. If ye consent and obey, ye shall eat the good fruits of the Land; but if ye refuse and be rebellious, ye shall be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Now if so be I cannot prevail with the whole Land; then I turn to you that fear the Lord: I hope to have audience in your cares. If ye cannot prevail for others, yet make sure of your own souls; learn to hid yourselves, to build an Ark for the safety of you and yours. But ye will say, how may that be done? I answer.  
We must separate from the sins of a land, if we would not be partakers of their plagues, Deut. 4.3.4. Zeph. 2.3. The more wicked the times grow, the more holy we should grow, like bright orient stars the deeper they go in the dark night the brighter they shine, like the light of Goshen in the darkness of Egypt, like Upright Lot in wicked Sodom, like righteous No in a bad world.  
We must mourn for the sins of the times, Ezek. 9.4. and for our own sins, and we must trust to God for safety. Nahum. 1.7. Psal. 33.18.19. Psal. 91.1. Pro. 18.10.  
Lastly, Let us betake ourselves to prayer: Pray, pray, pray therefore, cry and say: O Lord we know not what to do, only our eyes are up towards thee: what shall we say unto thee O thou preserver of men? we are even ashamed and confounded to lift up our eyes to heaven; we have sinned exceedingly, we, our Rulers and Governors. Prince, and people; we have all sinned; our sins are gone up as an heavy load, too heavy for us to bear; heaven and earth even groan under the burden of them, they cry mightily for vengeance, but hear the groans of thy servants, let their cries be louder in thine ears; hear the plead and intercessions of thine own Son for us; his blood cries louder for mercy, than our sins can do for judgement, had it not been for that, we had all long ago perished, and been utterly consumed. O thou the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble, why art thou as a stranger, in the land, 
jer. 14.8, 9  as one that passeth by to tarry for a night? Why art thou as a man astonished, as a strong man that cannot help? Yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us, thy name is called upon us; forsake us not. Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? Hath thy soul abhorred Zion? Why hast thou smitten us, that we cannot be healed? We looked for peace, and behold no good; for health, and behold trouble: we acknowledge O Lord, our wickedness, and the wickedness of our fathers, we have all sinned: do not abhor us for thy name's sake: cast not down the throne of thy Glory; remember and break not thy covenant with us; 
Psal. 51.18.  we have no help but of thee, thou art our God, therefore save us; oh be favourable unto thy Zion; build thou the walls of Jerusalem: 
Psal. 53.6.  so shall we praise thy name for ever, and teach all ages to keep praises for thee in store. Oh give salvation to thy people out of Zion; when thou shalt restore again the captivity of thy people, then shall Jacob rejoice and Israel shall be lagged.   
FINIS