A LAMENTATION OVERDO ENGLAND, Because of the Judgements that is now Appearing against her for her manifold TRANSGRESSIONS. OH England, England! What shall I say unto thee? or how shall I lay open before thee thy unutterable Transgressions and Iniquities, of all sorts and natures, that that thou mayst be thoroughly sensible of the cause for which the God of heaven and earth is now appearing against Thee, with sore Calamities and great Judgements? Oh, that my head were as water, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that Jer. 9 11. & 10. 22. Jer. 19 8, 9 I might thoroughly lament thy sad condition into which thou hast driven thyself, through thy wilful resisting the day of thy Visitation. Oh, that thou hadst throughly considered in this Jer. 9 1, 2 Luke 19 42, 43, 44 thy day, the things which did belong to thy peace; but now are they hid from many, who are drinking iniquity as the Ox drinks water; therefore shall thine enemies compass thee on every side, and shall pray upon thee, as the Ravens upon a dead carcase, and none shall frey them away, unless thou break off thy sins by repentance, and thy iniquities by showing mercy to the poor and oppressed in thee; for from the head even to the foot, thou art a disjointed body, full of bruises and gangrened sores, which are so spread in every member, that there is now little hopes of thy recovery. Oh, how often would the Lord Mat. 23. 37. have gathered thee, as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings; but thou hast mocked his Messengers, and despised his words, and misused his Prophets, until the wrath of God 2 Chron. 36. 16. is broke forth against thee, and thy ttoubles come upon thee as an armed man, which thou canst not withstand; thy Pride, thy Wantonness, Luxury, Whoredom, Swearing, Lying, Drunkenness, Gluttony, Oppression and Cruelty, cozening and defrauding the Innocent, shall press thee down as a millstone, into the Sea; fear, the Pit and the Snare shall be upon thee, and it shall come to pass, that he that fleeth from the noise of fear of that Isa 24. 17, 18. dreadful day that is coming upon thee, shall fall into the Pit, and he that cometh up out of the midst of the Pit, shall be taken in the Snars; for the earth shall reel to and fro, like as thy Drunkards have reeled in thy streets, and it shall be removed like a Cottage, and the Transgressions thereof shall be heavy upon it, and the haughtiness of many shall be bowed down, and Terror, Fear and Amazement shall seize upon the stoutest heart, before the fierce anger of the Lord now broken forth be executed upon it, for the destroying Angel from the Lord is gone forth to plague and famish thy Inhabitants, who hath long fatted themselves like fed Horses, devouring the good creatures of God upon their lusts, sitting down to eat and drink, and rising up to play, 1 Cor. 10. 7. which was the Idolatry of the old World, and one of the evils for which God took an occasion to destroy them. Oh, how often hast thou tempted the God of Heaven by thy abominable Oaths and Curse; nay, thou hast invented new Oaths to please the lusts of wicked men, Therefore shall thy Land mourn, Jer. 23. 10 and thy pleasant places be dried up, and thy fruitful fields as the high places of the Forest; for they that have wrought wickedness have been set up in thee, and they that have tempted God (as aforesaid) Mal 3. 15. have been even delivered, countenanced and tolerated: yea, Judgement hath stood afar off, and Justice hath been turned backward, Isa. 59 14, 15. and Truth hath fallen in the streets, and Equity could not enter; and he that hath departed from evil, hath been made a prey upon by thy ravening Wolves, who have laid many Snares for them who have reproved sin in the gate: Shall not I visit for these Isa. 29. 21 things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this? Oh, how often hath Justice and true Judgement Jer. 5. 9 been perverted by thy Judges, whose unparallelled proceed (against righteous men only, for the worship and service of God, and obedience to his Son (within this late years) will be recorded to generations to come, who have first made John 4. 23, 24. Laws to trap & snare the righteous, and then have hunted them therewith out of their peaceable habitations, and thrown them into many noisome prisons, where they have long kept them, contrary to the known Laws and Liberties of England, and exposed them to ruin in person and estate for ever, only because they worship God and obey his Truth, according as he hath persuaded their hearts; let the Goals throughout this whole Land, be as a cloud of witnesses against thee this day, yet with this thou art not satisfied, but thou must have such banished out of their native Country, & exposed to slavery in a foreign Land, whom thou couldst never justly charge with the least injury to any man's person or Estate; The cry of whose Blood (murdered by Thee in thy close and noisome prisons, for want of room and Air) is gone up to the God of Heaven, and he hath begun to pour out his Plagues upon Thee: And as thou London hath proceeded in the above said Cruelties, imprisoning many to death, cruelly whipping, stocking, beating, pinching, buffetting, and banishing, etc. against thee hath God bend his bow, and there is wrath gone forth from him against thee, and the Plague is begun, which shall imprison and banish thousands into Num. 16. 46. a dungeon where there is no redemption, and thy Calamities generations to come shall reckon up; but though thou must first drink of the cup of the Lords fierce indignation and hot displeasure, yet after thee it shall be given into the hand of every Oppressor in the Land, until they know that the most High rendereth to every man according to the fruit of his do, who is now pleading with thee by his Sword, by his Plagues and Judgements, which thou canst neither Suppress, Imprison nor Banish, but they shall hunt thy Inhabitants out of their sealed Houses and fair Cities, even as thou hast hunted his chosen Ones out of their Meetings and Dwellings, for the same measure thou hast measured, shall be measured to thee again; and Mat. 7. 1, 2. Jam. 2. 13 they shall have judgement without mercy, who have showed no mercy; the Sword without, and the Famine and Pestilence within, shall destroy both the youngman and Maid; and thus Ezek. 7. 15. shall thy Land be vexed, until the Lord have performed the thought of his heart concerning thee, for thou hast overpast the deeds of the wicked, and thy wilful Transgressions hath rendered thee guilty before God and man of all those judgements that are come and coming upon thee: Alas, alas, for the misery, destruction, and desolation which is hastening to come upon thee; the day of the Lord shall come upon thee, as pain upon a woman that traveleth, and you shall be amazed at one another's faces, your faces shall be as flames: for, Behold the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to scourge the Land, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it; and he will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquities, and will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and lay low the haughtiness of the terrible, who hath made strong the bonds and fetters of his Anointed; then shall a man be more precious than gold, and the residue that shall remain, shall return to Zion with songs of deliverance, and Hallelujahs to the Isa. 35. 10. Lord for ever; and sorrow and sighing shall fly away, and they shall receive beauty for ashes, and the oil of joy for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called Trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. But thou shalt mourn as the Dove mourneth, yea, thy laughter shall be turned into mourning, and thy joy into heaviness; and thy swarms of false Prophets, who have long daubed thee with untempered mortar, and made merchandise of thee through covetousness, shall drink deep of the cup of the Ezek. 22. 28. 1 Pet. 2 1, 2, 3, 4. Mal. 4. 1. Lords indignation, who is highly guilty of all the Cruelty and Oppression, Pride and Iniquity, for which Gods anger is now kindled, which shall burn them up, and leave them neither root nor branch; the great Globe of the World they have so long hugged fast under their long robes, shall tumble from them as down a mighty mountain, without recovery; and the arm of flesh (they have so long fled unto, and trusted in) shall whither before their eyes; and the complaint of the Widows they J●r. 17. 5. Ma. 13. 14. have devoured, and of the Strangers which they have oppressed, evil entreated and persecuted, and of the Fatherless which they have destroyed by their covetous practices, shall be written before them, as in Tables of brass, and they shall have time to read them, their creeping about upon their bellies, and twisting every way like Serpents, to uphold themselves and their wives and children in pride, fullness of bread, and abundance Ezek. 15. 49. of idleness, shall be a Proverb in generations to come: And as those things which I was moved to write concerning their brethren the Presbyters, a little before their overthrow came upon them, which eclipsed all their glory, so shall these things overtake this generation of Vipers, whose glory shall go out as the snuff of a candle, for they have been as evening Wolves, ravening the prey, and destroying many souls to get dishonest gain; the blood of both Prince and People is upon their heads, crying now aloud for vengeance; and the Executioner is even at the door, and they shall not proceed much further, till their folly be made manifest to all men. Oh England, England! how art thou like an ungirded Vessel, Rom. 1. 8. how often hath the Lord invited thee to Repentance, warning thee of his fierce Wrath, which is to be revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness, but instead of harkening and returning, thou hast abused, stocked, stoned, buffeted, persecuted in thy Synagogues, shamefully entreated, imprisoned to death, yea and banished them whom the Lord raised up in tender love to warn thee, and after their reproof, thou has invented how to be more desperately wicked, surpassing the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, nay Matt. 11. 23. if the mighty works which hath been done in thee, had been done in them, they would long e'er now have repent in dust and ashes, but thou has hardened thy heart and stiffened thy neck, and set at naught all his reproofs, and despised all his Counsels, therefore thou shalt seek him early and shall not find him, and in the morning shall say would God it were evening, and in Deut. 28. 67. the evening would God it were morning, for the anguish which shall come upon thee, all these things in the Lords appointed season shall overtake thee, and much more, unless thou return unto him who hath smote thee. And now in the day of thy Visitation, thou has proclaimed a Fast, and peradventure will hang down thy head (like a Bulrush) for a day, wilt thou call this a Fast and an acceptable day to the lord Is not this the Fast which the Lord hath chosen to lose the bands of Wickedness, and to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the Oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke that ye have most unjustly laid, and still retains upon the necks of the Innocent, who lays in every County oppressed, and persecuted for the exercise of a good Conscience towards God, and all Men: are you willing to set such free to serve the Lord in England? and will you break the bond of iniquity, and undo every yoke, this is the Fast the Lord requires of you, which if you be not willing to keep; all your hanging down of your heads, prayers, and tears will be but as Cain's Sacrifice, who persecuted his Brother (till he had slain him) about Religion, unto whose offering God had no respect, and the Cries of their Oppressions will more prevail with the Lord against you, than all your formal Prayers will for you, for I must tell you, God heareth not sinners, but if any Man will do his will, him he heareth, Joh. 9 31. [yea] when you spread forth your hands, he will hid his eyes from you, and when you make many prayers, he will not hear, for your hands are full of cruelty, blood, and iniquity; Wash ye, make ye clean, put away the evil of your do from before him, cease to do Isa. 1. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. evil, learn to do well, seek judgement, relieve the oppressed, judge the Fatherless, plead for the Widow; now come let us reason together (saith the Lord) though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they be red like Crimson, they shall be as wool; if ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the Land, but, if ye refuse and go on in rebellion, the aforesaid Judgements shall surprise you as an armed Man, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it, and you shall know that the Lord ruleth in the Kingdoms of Men, and giveth them to whomsoever he will. Therefore if there be any yet amongst you whose hearts is not wholly hardened, haste, hast to meet the Lord by Repentance, and remember what the King of Nineveb did after Ionas had prophesied the Destruction of that great City for its Jona 3. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. wickedness, who said Let Man and Beast be covered with Sackcloth, and Cry mightily unto God, [yea] Let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands; who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not, And God saw their works that they turned every Man from his evil way, and God repent him of the evil that he had said he would do unto them, and he did it not, now this is the Fast which the Lord expects at your hands, To turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence which is in your hands against his heritage, peradventure God may turn from you that great Judgement which he hath visited you withal, Oh that I might be Instrumental in helping the worst of mine enemies out of the snare of the Devil, much more my Native Countrymen whose hearts are breathing after the Lord, but whether they will hear or forbear, I have answered the word of the Lord who commanded me to write, and furnished me with matter faster than my Pen could write, that his Judgements and the Cause thereof and the Remedy against the Remainder thereof might be fully declared and published in the ears of thee oh England, which in faithfulness I have done, according as the word of the Lord arose in me without flattering. So thus far am I clear of the blood of all Men, whether I live or die, remain in Bonds or be at Liberty, whether I be banished for the Testimony of Jesus and Word of God, or remain in Prison here as I have done this several years, with several more of my Brethren and fellow-sufferers; in all which I am no way careful, but can freely say, Oh Lord thy will be done in the Earth, etc. Therefore I rest in that peace which the World cannot rob me of, and remain, England's real Friend, called Ambrose Rig. From the Prison in Horsham in Sussex this 12th day of the 6th Month called August, 1665. THE END.