ENGLANDS WARNING OR, ENGLANDS SORROW FOR Londons Misery. Containing, a small Catalogue of England's and London's Sins, which might well cause dreadful Judgements to follow. Together, with some notable Examples of other eminent Judgments; And some brief exhortations to a speedy Repentance, and turning to the Lord, least he uttetly destroy us, and leave us D 〈…〉 Joel 2. 12, Therefore all now, ●aith the Lord, turn ye even to me, with all your heart, and with Fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning. V. 13. And rent your hearts, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. V. 14. Who knoweth, if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meat-offering, and a drink offering unto the Lord your God. LONDON, Printed for T. Passenger, and W. Whitwood, and are to be sold at their Shops on London-Bridge; and in Duck-Lane. 1667. Englands frightening; OR, Englands Sorrow, for Londons Misery. Jer. 22. 8. And many Nations shall pass by this City, and they shall say, every man to his neighbour, wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great City? THe great God who lives and Reigns for ever, whose power is infinite, and kingdom without end, he hath set bounds and terms of Being to all things and places in the world; 'tis he that can kill or make alive, save or destroy, and who dare say, what dost thou? Eminent examples of his terrible judgements hath the Lord left upon Record, as a warning to his people that they may escape the snare, and avoid the punishment that is due to sinners. Our God is a consuming fire, and if his Wrath be kindled but a little, who is able to abide it? A sad Example of Gods Iustice, is now before our eyes; The Lord hath made of a Defenced City, a heap, and well may we now say, our Crown is fallen from our heads; But let us a little inquire into the words before red ( and many Nations shall pass by this City;) Hath it not been a receptacle for strangers, and the wonder of other Nations, what place in the world better situated, more populous, and more advantageous for Trades, and have not the flower of other Nations passed by this City? yea, lived in it; but now must every man say to his neighbour, wherefore hath the Lord done thus to this great City? And now my dear Friends, let us seriously inquire into the Reasons, wherefore the Lord hath dealt so severely with this great City? There is reason enough, if every man would but look at home, to his own heart, But Oh those great, crying, and God provoking sins! which hath caused the Lord to turn his face against us, and to cast off this City; I shall name but a few of the greatest; As 1 Blaspheming, and Cursing the holy Name of the great jehovah, taking his holy Name in derision into their ungodly mouths, swallowing down oaths and blasphemies, as they do their provisions, and daily bread, as in Rev. 13. 5, 6. and there was given to him a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies, and he opened his mouth to blaspheme against God, to blaspheme his Name, and his Tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven; This power was given to the Beast, and Oh! how many impious wretches take this power to themselves, to blaspheme the Name of God, to speak evil of the Holy of Holies? such as those the Apostle Paul delivered over to the Devil; Oh Friends holy and reverend is his Name, be serious at the very thoughts of it, and take heed that the Name of God, nor the word of God be not blasphemed; it might make ones heart to ache to hear those Dreadful blasphemies and Curses in our streets, as if there were no God to hear or avenge; but our God is a God of Iudgement, blessed are all they that trust in him; This wee may reckon amongst the number of the great sins that hath brought down this great judgement, and made our City a Sodom, and of a place flowing with milk and honey, to be a barren desert. 2. Drunkenness is a crying and provoking Sin, Wo to the Drunkards of Ephraim, so woe to the Drunkards of England, yea, of London; you have drawn down judgments, you who have added Drunkenness to Thirst, now the Lord hath given you a Cup of Wrath to drink; well then, let me say with the Prophet Joel, Awake ye Drunkards, and weep, and howl, all ye drinkers of Wine, because of the new Wine, for it's cut off from your mouths. Joel 1. 5. Oh! how many have wallowed in this beastly sin? have made a God of their bellies, and have gloried in their shane? The hearts of men have been over charged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and now, how many hath God taken in their Cups, and made their Habitations Desolate, yea, to become a ruinous heap; those who have gloried in that beastly sin, and have caused others to abuse themselves also, may now sit down in sorrow, having not enough to satisfy according to reason; the dreadful curse that was pronounced against Jerusalem, the same is fulfilled in us, that he would fill the Inhabitants of the Land with Drunkenness, this may be reckoned among the Catalogue of the God provoking sins, why God should deal so severely with us, and cause his anger to smoke against us. 3. whoredom is another crying and provoking sin; as the Lord spake of Jerusalem, so justly may it be spoken of London, and of England, I have seen thy Adulteries, and thy Neighings, and the lewdness of thy whoredoms, and thine abominations, on the hills, and in the fields; woe to thee, oh Jerusalem! wilt thou not bee made clean, when shall it once be? Woe to thee, oh England, England, wilt thou not stick to defile thyself? the Lord would cleanse thee but thou wilt not be cleansed: but now Whoremongers and Adulterers, God will judge, his spirit shall not always strive with man, for he also is dust. And oh you provokers of God! those late dreadful Flames are nothing to the Flames of hell, to the torments of the damned; these touched but your Substance, but the other shall touch your Souls, and make you roar under the extremity of your pains for ever. Oh England! put away thy whoredoms, Jerusalem played the Whore, and would not be satisfied: As in Ezek, 16. 28. and in the 25. v. Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to the multitude that passed by, and hast multiplied thy whoredoms, and what was the end of all? It provoked God to anger; oh therefore, let not whoredoms take away thy heart, for no such shall Inherit the kingdom of God. 4 Provoking sin, which greatly heightened the Lords wrath and much helped the kindling of those cruel flames, is Pride; as the Wise man saith plainly. Prov. 16. 18. Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall; this was the sin of sodom, and this was the sin of London, even pride and fullness of bread, as you may red in Eze. 16. 47. As the Daughters of Jerusalem, so the daughters of London, went with stretched out necks, mincing as they go; little thinking that those that walk in pride, the Lord is able to abase; through pride of heart, men exalted themselves, and despised the cry of the poor, and turning aside from the cause of the fatherless and widow; but hear what the Lord saith of proud persons, or places, Jer. 50. 31. Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord God of Host, for the day is come that I will visit thee, and v. 32. And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up; I will kindle a fire in his Cities, and it shall devour all round about him. As the great God pronounced a woe against the pr●de of Ephraim, so justly might he do against England as in Isa. 28. 1. Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, so woe to the crown of pride, and to the drunkards of England and London; oh therefore be humble, and let not pride of heart deceive thee. 5. profaning the Lords Holy day, and abusing and despising of holiness, is a grievous provoking sin, because of which, God will avenge himself, and that speedily; and hath not England been sadly guilty of this sin? without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Oh how hath the Lord been wrath with those, who have been wilful breakers and prophaners of his Holy day? the Lord, who is otherwise the God of mercy, commandeth Moses to ston to death that man, who out of a presumptuous mind, should go to gather stickson the Sabbathsons; the fact but small, yet the sin the greater, because, for so small an occasion, man should presume to break so great a Commandement: Many fearful examples of Gods Iudgement by terrible Fires, have in our daies been shewed upon divers Towns, where the profanation of the Lords day hath been countenanced: Stratford upon Avon, was twice, upon the same day twelve month, being the Lords day, almost consumed with Fire. Teverton in Devon-shire, whose remembrance, as a good man said, made his heart to bleed; was warned by Godly Preachers, and was threatened that God would bring some eminent Iudgement upon them for their horrible profanation of his day. Not long after, on the third of April, 1598. God, in less than half an hour, consumed with a sudden fearful Fire, the whole Town, except only the Church, the Court-house, and the Alms-house, and above fifty persons consumed with the flames, and above four hundred houses all in flames together: and now since, in the year 1612. the whole Town was again fired and consumed, except thirty houses; surely they are blind that cannot see the finger of God. But to come home to our dreadful Calamity in London, lately one of the famousest Cities in the World, which lamentable Fire began on the second of September, in the year 1666. being the Lords day in the morning, continuing burning till Wednesday following, about five in the afternoon, almost to the utter subversion of it, wherein at least, within the Walls, and without, were totally destroyed, fourscore and ten Parishes, with Parish Churches, to the utter undoing of many thousand families, so that we may complain with the Prophet in the 2 Jer. 15. v. The young Lion roared upon him and yelled, and they made his Laud wast, his City is burnt without Inhabitant: Oh for this, ye Inhabitants of England, gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl, for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned back from us; Oh our City is burnt with fire, as the Prophet Isaiah says; but yet the Lord is to be praised for his Iudgments, as it is in Isa. 25. 1, 2, 3. Oh Lord! thou art my God, I will exalt thee, I will praise thy Name, for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth, for thou hast made of a City an heap, of a defenced City, a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no City. The Lord hath done this, let the people be silent, and not murmur at the heavy hand of God, for it is the Lord that gives and takes away, blessed be his Name. Well now, Oh Earth, Earth, Earth, hear the Word of the Lord! Oh England, hear that thou mayst live, fear Gods threatenings, and take warning by your Neighbors chastisements, remember the Tower of Shiloe, those eightéen upon whom the Tower of Shiloe fell, and slay them; Think you those were greater sinners than others, or above all men that dwelled in Jerusalem? I tell you nay( saith Christ) but except you repent you shall all likewise perish: Luke 13. 4. Oh think not yourselves secure, or that you are better than others, because the Lord hath spared your Towns, and Cities, and Habitations for you, and destroyed London; 'tis for your sins as well as Londons sins, and you shall all smart in this Calamity; except you repeat and return to him, he hath more arrow in his Quiver, he can do by his great power, great works, and who can say to him, What dost thou? Oh then! what use will England make of this fore Iudgement? Hath not our Land cause to mourn? and if it were possible to weep tears of blood, and cry mightily to the Lord, that yet he may turn away his Wrath, and receive us graciously. The Lord will hear the desire of the humble; Thou wilt prepare thy heart, and cause thy ear to hear, Psal. 10. 17. Come then and be humbled, lie low at Gods Footstool, peradventure he may hear, and pardon, and deliver; Let us go into his presence; and beg his Spirit of prayer, least his Wrath be poured out against us, because we call not upon his Name: Let us poor less upon worldly things and enjoyments, seeing the vanity of all things 〈…〉 the Sun, and the unstedfastnesse ●nd mutability of them. Fly from sin, that is the way to escape punishment; keep close to God, and he will keep close to you, leave not him, and he will not leave you; Let the thoughts of those dreadful flames never fly from your hearts, and let it cause a returning and relenting spirit that yet the Lord may come and be a defence to us, and appoint salvation, for Walls and Bulwarks, then shall we say: we have indeed a strong City, and Oh thou King of Glory open thou the everlasting doors of our souls and enter in, and then shall we be at peace with thee for ever, Amen. Here follows a little account of the great and lamentable Fire, which begun on the second of September, 1666. THis Fire began at one Mr. Farrington's a Baker in Pudding-Lane, betwixt twelve and one of the clock in the morning, who being in his bed with his Son, hardly escaped the fury of those irresistible Flames; In which house, I as an eye-witnesse, beholded it burn above an hour before it caught hold of any other; then from thence, it caught hold on that side next the Bridge, and so burnt upwards and downward in a very furious manner, in despite of all the Engines and Art of man that could be used: The wind blowing East, and sometimes North East very high, helped the kindling of it exceedingly. Some persons have been taken, upon suspicion of Treachery, who have been without question strictly examined, and will be brought to a Legal Trial. The Names of the Parishes that were burnt by this devouring fire are as followeth. St. Alban woodstr. St. Alhallows gr. St. Alhallows bredst. St. Alhall. hony-lane St. Alhallows less. S. Alhallows Lumbst. St. Andrew Hubbard S. Andrew wardrobe St. and blackfriars St. Antholins Parish S. Austins Parish. S. Barthol. Exchange S. Bennet Fynch S. Ben. Grace-chur St. Ben. Pauls-wha St. Ben. Sherehog S. Buttolph Billin●. Christ-Church St. Christophers S. Clement Eastcheap S. Dionis Backchurch St. Dunstans East S. Edm. Lumbardst. S. Faiths S. Fosters. S. Gabriel Fanchurch S. Geo. Botolph-lane S. Grego. by S. Pauls S. James. Garlick-hil S. John Baptist. S. John Evangelist. S. John Zachery. St. Laurence Jewry S. laurence Pountney S. Leonard Eastcheap S. Leonard Fosterlane. S. Margaret Lothbury. S. Margaret Moses S. Margar. New-Fishstre, S. Margaret Pattons S. Mary Abchurch S. Mary aldermanburic S. Mary Aldermary St. Mary le Bow St. Mary Bothaw St. Mary Cole-church. St. Mary-hill. St. Mary Mounthaw St. Mary Somerset St. Mary stainings St. Mary Woolchurch St. Mary Woolnoth St. Mart. Iremongerlan● St. Martins Ludgate St. Martins Orgars St. Martins Vintrey St. Martin Friday-stre● St. Maudlins Milk-stre● S. Maudlin old Fishstre● S. Michael Bassishaw St. Michael cornhill St. Michael crooked-lane St. Michael Queenhithe St. Michael Quern. St. Michael Royal St. Michael Woodstreet S. Mildred Breadstreet S. Mildred poultry St. Nicholas Acons S. Nicholas coal▪ abbey S. Nicholas Olaves S. Olaves Jewry St. Olaves Silver-street S. Pancras Soperlane S. Peters Cheapside S. Peters Paulswharf S. Stephens Walbrook S. Swithins S. Thomas Apostles Trinity Parish. Without the Walls. St. Bridget. bridewell Precinct. Part of those Parishes without the Walls. St. Andrew Holborn St. Buttolph Aldersgate S. Dunstans in the West St. sepulchers Parish Part of these Parishes following, were burned within the Walls. St. Alhallows Barking St. Alhallows the wall St. Magnus Parish St. Peter Cornhill St. Steph. Colemanstreet The bounds of the Fire being from the Temple to the Tower in length, and from the Thames side to London Wall, in some places, in other places not so far. FINIS.