A WORD from the LORD TO THE Rulers and Inhabitants of London, That THEY may REPENT.  
For God's JUDGEMENTS are threatened, and his ANGER is kindled against all the Worshippers of Idols. And a WORD of Exhortation to all the tender sober People, to come out of Sodom before Her Destruction, that into the Covenant they may be brought [the Light] there to rest in Peace.  

ALL you Inhabitants of London, Rulers and People of all sorts, High and Low, who are from God's Witness, the Light of Christ, that should stay your minds, and preserve you in God's fear; to you this is the Word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord, I am weary of your doings, and your iniquities are a burden unto me. Arise, saith the Lord of Life, all you careless ones, arise and meet the Lord by speedy repentance, gird on sackcloth and weep and mourn, for the day draweth nigh, that the Lord will avenge himself of all his Adversaries; For the anger of the Lord is kindled against you already, and the fierce wrath and vengeance of the Almighty will suddenly overtake you, unless you speedily repent: Thus saith the Lord that made Heaven and Earth, I am displeased with your doings, your Streets are full of wickedness, that the Righteous can scarce pass on the way, but their souls are wounded and grieved; your Streets smell of Popery, and stink like Sodom, that the souls of the righteous are vexed. This is the Word of the Lord to you, whether you will hear or forbear, if you cast not down your Images in your Streets, which you set up as gods to worship and gaze upon, the Lord will blot your names out of the Book of Life, and remove you from the Land of the Living, and appoint you your Portion in the Lake, among Unbelievers and Infidels: So down with all these Images, and Image-makers, and Image-worshippers; Remember Sodom thy Sister, which the Lord did consume and destroy, with fire from heaven, and yet preserved Just Lot, the righteous Man; So the Lord hath a Remnant in thee, that he will preserve in the day, when he comes to plead with thee; for thy Sins do exceed Hers; For thou hast lifted up thine Images on high, and thy Sins reach to the Clouds; and as thy Sins have exceeded, so shall thy Plagues exceed Hers: Oh! the Woes and Torments of God, that will come upon thee, and upon thy Teachers, who have made thee vain and light, and strengthened thee in thy wickedness, and Prophesied peace unto thee, when destruction is even at thy door; they are like unto a company of Dreamers, who have seen no Vision, who know not the Lord, but speak the Imaginations of their own hearts; therefore hath the Lord Rejected them, and cast them by as Vessels of dishonour; And the Lord is choosing of the weak things, and of the foolish and base, to confound the Wisdom of the flesh, that no flesh might glory in his sight; and the Lord is Revealing his Mysteries unto babes in Christ, and the Lord hath Revealed unto me, in his Son Jesus Christ, thy State and Condition; and I beheld in the Streets, as if People were running one upon another, as a man when he is distracted; and behold within they were tormented, and they found no ease for their torment, but it daily did increase; They ran to the Hills and Mountains, crying, Cover us from the Wrath of the Almighty; but they were not all able to hide them: And this is thy State and Condition, thou hast lost thy Strength, and thy Beauty is withered, and thou art as one bereft of Senses, thou art full of unclean Spirits, thou art near to tear and torment thy own flesh; thou hast lost Wisdom that should have kept thee, and the Fear of the Lord that should have preserved thee So thy State is miserable, that I could even weep and mourn for thee: But there is a Remnant in thee the Lord's care is for, and for their sakes thou hast long been spared; but the Lord is gathering his into the Ark of his Covenant, the Light of Christ, where they will all be preserved when thy torment comes; and Lazarus, the poor, that hath received nothing from thee, but threatenings, stockings, whip, and imprisonings; thou who art Dives-like, when Lazarus rests in Abraham's bosom, then shalt thou who hast lived in Pride, Covetousness, Fullness, Ease, Drunkenness and Gluttony, be Tormented in the Lake. So all haste to Repentance, to amendment of Life, and now while you have time prise it, this is the day of your visitation. And all you, who have Desires begotten in you to know the Lord, haste to meet the Lord, in this the day of His free Love, wherein his Love is tendered to every particular of you, in his Son Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, that lighteth every man that cometh into the World, with a true Light; so all come to the Light, which is the Life of men. And all you who have tender Desires begotten in you, take heed that your minds be not surfeited with the cares of this World, and take heed of looking upon their Images, and Idols, which they have set up, to bewitch People's minds from the Truth; lest your minds be led aside, and thereby be betrayed, and so you come to receive of their Plagues; for they that partake with them in their Sins, must partake of their Plagues; therefore touch not, handle not, for these things will all perish in the using, lest you perish also with them; For Cursed is he that Worships any God but he that made Heaven and Earth, who lives for ever. And this in tender love, was I moved of the Lord to give forth unto all you who have tender Desires begotten in you towards the Lord: Turn your minds within, that you may be preserved in tenderness and fear, and mind you the Lord in all things, that you be not betrayed; For that is the Betrayer, which would draw your minds from the Anointing within; for the Deceivers are without, which set up, and invent Idols, to draw People's minds forth; but keep your minds within to the Light which discovers all deceivers and deceit, within and without, and preserves from it: So this in tenderness, and in love to all your Souls, is given forth; From one who is a Sufferer for the Truth of God, whose Name is known to the World to be,  
Rich. Scostroppe.   

OH London! How art thou fallen from thy first Love, that thou canst bow down thy back to an Idol? which the Apostles cried out against when they came to turn People from darkness to Light. Oh! the Spirit of the Lord is grieved with the sad abominations of your Vanity; What is your Sincerity quite shut up in obscure darkness? Can you that own the name of Christians rejoice, and the Righteous suffer? Is there none of you that lay the Afflictians of Joseph to heart? Have not the Messengers of the Lord in these late days foretold you, of those things which are now come upon you, concerning your nakedness? Oh! that mine eye could see your return out of Darkness to the Light, before the Witness of God be wholly slain amongst you; for the Lord takes notice of such as Fear, and Think upon his Name in this day; and if you mind this, then can you not waste any thing upon your Lust, while your fellow members are ready to perish in your Streets, and the cry of the innocent, and oppressed is heard therein.  
M. L.    

LONDON, Printed for Robert Wilson, at the Black-spread-Eagle and Windmill, in martin's Le Grand. 1661.