A LAMENTATION FOR THE Lost Sheep Of the House of ISRAEL.  
With an Invitation to have them turn in their minds to the true Shepherd of their souls.  
ALSO Something in discovery of the nakedness of all professions who are found in the words without the life and power.  
Written by one of the children of the Light, who is known to the world by the name of MARTMA SIMMONS.  
I have seen also in the Prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing, they commit adultery, and walk in lies; they strengthen also the hand of evil doers, that none doth return from his wickedness; they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorah,  Jer. 23.14. 
Awake awake put on thy strength O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments O Jerusalem, the holy City, for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean,  Isa. 52.1. 
Octob: 20 LONDON: Printed for Giles Calvert at the Blackspread Eagle at the West end of Paul's. 1655.   

A LAMENTATION For the lost Sheep of the House of Israel.  
OH England England when art thou; groping in the dark and stumbling at noon day; art thou grown so high in thy fallen wisdom, and in the pride of thy heart, that thou canst not stoop to a measure of God in thee? thou high professor, and thou wild wanton one, thou run'st to fast over the field to find the Pearl; there is a Royal Diadem hid in thy unclean heart, which never consented to the evil thereof; Oh that thou wouldst hearken to it that thy inward eye might be opened, then wouldst thou see the beauty of it: surely if thou didst but see thy soul in death, and a measure of the light and life of Jesus there, checking, calling, and knocking, to have thee turn in thy mind to it, that thou mayest be purged and oleansed, and that it may shine forth and bring up thy soul out of the horrible pit; then wouldst thou begin to know indeed what pure redemption is: And here mayest thou come to see that faith which purifies the heart, which is the real substance of things hoped for, and this would be of more value to thee then thousands of Gold and Silver: Oh vain and foolish man and woman that maketh not God thy trust, but trusts in the arm of flesh, and in the multitude of thy conceivings; how soon art thou affrighted and paleness strikes thee in the face, and the least stirring or rushing in the creation makes thy knees smite together and thy countenance fall, and this is because thou art in Cain's condition, and hast no habitation in God; and though thou mayest offer a Sacrifice, and pray, and cry, and confess thy sins, and cover the Altar with tears, and give thy body to be burnt, it in that nature it is not accepted. But this I shall say to thee, Oh that thou couldst but hear; if thou wouldst but submit thy neck to the yoke of Christ, the measure of him in thee, that thou mayest see him to work in thee and thy own works laid aside, thou wouldst find more peace and satisfaction both to soul and body; and then shouldst thou see him who is the Rock of ages to be thy Rock, and strong defence, and then shouldst thou see a war begin contrary to thy will and him that brings into the war and carries through, and then there would be nothing to do on thy part but to stand still and keep thy mind in, girt up to him that works, and then thou wilt come to see what it is to follow the Lamb through the tribulation; but if thou wilt not improve thy measure of Light, but wilt run on in thy headstrong rebellion against that little secret love that checks thee in private, and shows thee thy heart when none else can, and if thou slight this day of small things, then will this precious Pearl, the measure of Light, be taken from thee and given to him that is more worthy; and the gnawing worm will enter into thee, which will never die, but will torment thee to all eternity, and then wilt thou be shut up in darkness and unbelief; where thou mayest say to thy soul, take thy thine ease, eat drink and be merry, for to morrow shall be as this day, and much more; but thou fool in this night, of thy darkness, shall thy soul be taken from thee, and then what will thy small time of pleasures do thee good? will they not add to thy torment? therefore I counsel thee to prize thy time, and be still and stayed and seek diligently for that messenger, who is one of a thousand, who brings the glad tidings, who is the true teacher that cannot be removed into a corner, the corner stone, who if thou abide will break thy heart to pieces, and will convince thee of thy sin, and of thy righteousness, and bring his pure Judgements upon it, that his righteousness may appear.  
And now to you high Priests of this Nation; and teachers of all sorts of opinions, who have been groping and hunting in your wisdom to find out that precious Pearl to defile in your filthy nature; but you have not yet found it, nor cannot find the door to enter into the kingdom, nor get your starved hearers a little bread of assurance of eternal life; only this you can do to add to your condemnation, gather up the Saints conditions of sufferings and patience, who were persecuted by the same proud high flown nature that you are in, and you add your meanings to them, and so bring the curses that are written in that book upon your heads, it is time for you now, seeing you cannot find a way, to give over stealing from your neighbour, and be content with that you have, and let the people alone to the measure of God in them, that that may guide them into the way that they may find bread for their souls; and seeing you will not enter yourselves, do not shut the kingdom against them, in laying stumbling blocks before them, and raising up false accusations against the Light and those that walk in it, and casting a lie into the mouths of the ignorant people, in saying the letter is the word, when the letter declares that the word was in the beginning, by which word the world was made, which word all the Saints and servants of God was ever guided by; which word enquired of your father Cain for Abel's blood, which word translated Enoch, which word called Abraham out of his own country to follow the Lord in a strange land, who was no vagrant person, which word called Moses from the glory of Pharaohs house, which word in due time was made marisest in flesh, who wandered up and down n dens and caves of the earth, who had no certain abiding place, and yet he was no vagabond, whom your generation crucified, who is risen again, and hath taken upon him the seed of Abraham, who is now appeared in this day of his power, to gather up his elect into himself, and to rip off all your deceitful cover, and lay you open to the shame of the Heathen; and this is the word that we witness to lead and guide and command us whose minds are stayed in it; and this word moves us into your Idols temple, and to other private meetings, to discover your Image of mixture of several opinions, until you stop our mouths, and hale us forth, and deliver us up to your Rulers, who second you in your persecution, who imprison us, and scourge, and stock, and stone, and despitefully use us, and by the power of this word are we brought through these tribulations, and have joy in the midst of them, and when we are reviled we revile not again taking patiently all that you have power in your wills to inflict upon us, and we are made able to desire the Lord not today these things to your charge, and that he would open your eyes that you might see what you are a doing, and the 〈◊〉 would soon cease your rage and find enough to do within in your own hearts; and by this word we see the Scriptures were given forth from this word, and as we come into these several conditions and measures that the Saints were in that spoke forth this Declaration, we can set to our seal that the Scriptures are true, and they are ours that live in the life, and not yours who despise the life, and feed yourselves with words, and gather up to yourselves great riches, in that nature, you eat greedily of the tree of knowledge, and now if you could but get to eat of the tree of life you would soon be above God, but that you cannot do, for there stands a flaming sword that turns every way to keep you out, so that all that comes there comes through it and leaves all the first wisdom behind; and therefore if any of you be found worthy to come down to the measure of Christ and submit your necks to his yoke it will be good for you, but not many rich nor many wise do come to know these things; and we have the Promise of this word, that he will be with us unto the end of the world, and we know that his Promise is yea and amen.  
And now all people that hath sobriety, and love to your souls, come out from among these Idol dumb Shepherds that feed themselves, but not you, and if you put not into their mouths they will soon show violence to you: come out from among them, and be no longer partaker of their uncleanness, for they are broken cisterns that can no longer hold water; and come into the fountain that runs forth freely, the streams whereof would refresh your hungry fainting souls: in my father's house there is bread enough: Oh why will you perish for hunger? mind the light the measure of Christ in you, that with it you may see where you are, that you may see his eternal love, how he calls and invites you into the kingdom, that he may take off your filthy garments, that he may  you with the garment of righteousness, and marry you unto himself; and now the day of his mighty power is appeared, and the fountain of life set open to wash and cleanse you from your sins, and baptise you into his death and sufferings: Oh be not stubborn and stiffnecked against him, for we that do follow him do find his paths pleasant pure and sweet, and the further we follow him in the strait gate and narrow way, we see that his love is passed finding out: And now in the tenderness of my heart longing for your souls good am I made open to you, having had a habitation in this City of London sometime; for seven years together I wandered up and down the streets enquiring of those that had the Image of honesty in their countenance, where I might find an honest Minister, for I saw my soul in death, and that I was in the first nature, and wand'ring from one Idols temple to another, and from one private meeting to another, I heard a sound of words amongst them but no substance I could find, and the more I sought after them the more trouble came on me, and finding none sensible of my condition, I kept it in, and kept all close within me; and about the end of seven years hunting, and finding no rest, the Lord opened a little glimerings of light to me, and quieted my spirit; and then for about seven years more he kept me still from running after men, and all this time I durst not meddle with any thing of God, nor scarce take his name in my mouth, because I knew him not, it living wild and wanton not knowing a cross to my will I spent this time; it something I found breathing in me groaning for deliverance, crying out, oh when shall I see the day of thy appearance; about the end of the last seven years the Lord opened my eyes to see a measure of himself in me, which when I saw I waited diligently in it, and being faithful to it I found this Light more and more increase, which brought me into a day of trouble, and through it, and through a warefare and to the end of it, and now hath given me a resting place with him; and this is my beloved, and this is my friend O daughters of Jerusalem: And now all that have a desire to come this way must lay down your Crowns at the feet of Jesus, for now a profession of words will no longer cover, for the Lord is come to look for fruit, all types and shadows is flying away; and he that will come in may inherit substance, and he that will not shall be left naked.   
FINIS.