[...]
Make all thy Scarlet sins as white as Snow,
And cast thy threatned judgement on thy foe.
But, if thou (fondly thinking thou art well)
Shalt slight this Message, which my Muse doth tell,
And scorne her Counsell; if thou shalt not rue
Thy former wayes; but, frowardly pursue
Thy wilfull course: then, hark what I am bold,
(In spight of all thy madnesse) to unfold.
For, I will tell thy Fortune; which when they
That are unborne, shall reade, another day;
They will believe Gods mercy did infuse
Thy Poets breast with a Prophetick Muse.
And know, that he this Author did prefer,
To be from him, this
Iles Remembrancer.
If thou I say Oh Britain shalt retain
Thy crying sins, thou dost presume in vain,
Of Gods protection: If thou stop thine eare,
Or burne this Rowle, in which recorded are
Thy just Inditements; it shall written be
With new additions, deeply stampt on thee
With such Characters, that no time shall race
Their fatall image, from thy scarred face.
Though haughtily thou dost thy selfe dispose;
Because the Sea thy borders doth enclose.
Although thou multiply thy inland Forces,
And muster up large Troopes of men and horses,
Though like an Eagle thou thy wings display'st,
And (high thy selfe advancing) proudly say'st,
I sit a loft, and am so high, that none
Can fetch me from the place I rest upon.
Yea, though thou no advantages didst want,
Of which the gloriest Emperies did vaunt;
Yet, sure, thou shalt be humbled and brought low,
Ev'n then, perhaps, when lesse thou fear'st it so.
Till thou repent, provisions which are made
For thy defence, or others to invade,
Shall be in vaine; and still, the greater cost
Thou shalt bestow, the honour that is lost
Shall be the greater; and thy wasted strength
Be sick of a consumption at the length.
Thy
Treaties which for peace or profit be,
Shall neither peace, nor profit bring to thee.
Yea, all thy winnings shall but fewell be,
To feed those follies that now spring in thee.
On all thy fruits and cattell in the fields,
On what the ayre, or what the water yeelds,
On Prince, and People, on both weak and strong,
On Priest and Prophet, on both old and yong,
Yea, on each person, place, and every thing,
The plague it hath deserved God shall bring.
A leannesse shall thy fatnesse quite devoure;
Thy wheat shall in the place of wholsome flowre,
Yeeld nought but bran. Instead of grasse and corne,
Thou shalt in time of harvest reap the thorne,
The thistle, and the bryar. Of their shadowes
Thy Groves shall robbed be. Thy flower Medowes
Shall sterill wax. There shall be seldome seen
Sheep on the Downes, or Shepheards on the green.
Thy walkes, thy gardens, and each pleasant plot,
Shall be as those where men inhabite not.
Thy Villages, where goodly dwellings are,
Shall stand as if they unfrequented were.
Thy Cities, and thy Palaces, wherein
Most neatnesse and magnificence hath been,
Shall heapes of rubbish be, and (as in those
Demolish't Abbies, where in Dawes and Crowes
Now make their nests) the Bramble and the Nettle,
Shall in their Halls and Parlours root and settle:
And moreover, they that now ate trained,
In ease, and with soft pleasures entertained;
In stead of idle games, and wanton dances,
Shall pracise how to handle Guns and Launces,
And be compell'd to leave their friends embraces,
To end their lives in divers uncough places,
Or else, thy face, with their owne blood defile,
In hope to keepe themselves and thee from spoile.
Thy purest Rivers God shall turne to blood;
With every lake that hath beene sweete and good
Ev'n in thy nostrils he shall make it stinke,
For nothing shall thy people eate or drinke,
Untill their owne, or others blood it cost;
Or put their lives in hazard to be lost.
Most loathsome Frogs; that is a race impure,
Of base condition, and of birth obscure,
This hatefull brood shall climbe to crooke and sing,
Within the lodging Chambers of the
King;
Yea, there make practise of those naturall notes,
Which issue from their evill sounding throates;
To wit, vaine brags, revilings, ribaldries,
Vile slaunders, and unchristian blasphemies.
The Land shall breede a nasty Generation,
Unworthy either of the reputation
Or name of men; for, they as lice shall feed,
Even on the body whence they did proceed;
There shall moreover swarmes of divers
Flies,
Engendred be in thy prosperities,
To be a plague: and still are humming so,
As if they meant some weighty worke to doe,
When as, upon the common stocke they spend;
And naught performe of that which they pretend.
Then shall a darkenesse follow, farre more black,
Then when the light corporeall then dost lacke.
For, grossest ignorance, o' reshadowing all,
Shall in so thicke a darkenesse thee inthrall,
That thou a blockish people shalt be made,
Still wandring on in a deceiving shade,
Mistrusting those, that safest paths are showing,
Most trusting them who counsell thy undoing;
And aye tormented be with doubts and feares,
As one that Out-cries in clarke places heares.
Nor shall the hand of God from thee returne,
Till he hath also smote thy 'eldest borne.
That is, till he hath take from thee quite,
Ev'n that whereon thou set'st thy whole delight;
And filled ev'ry house throughout thy Nation,
With deaths unlooked for, and lamentation.
So great shall be thy ruine, and thy shame,
That when thy neighbouring Kingdomes heare the same,
Their eares shall tingle. And when that day comes,
In which thy follies most receive their doomes;
A day of clouds, a day of gloominesse.
A day of blacke despaire and heavinesse,
It will appeare. And then thy vanities,
Thy gold and silver, thy confedracies,
And all those Reedes on which thou hast depended,
Will faile thy trust, and leave thee unbefriended.
Thy King, thy Priests, and Prophets then shall mourne,
And peradventure fainedly returne
To beg of God to succour them: but they,
who will not harken to his voyce to day,
Shall cry unheeded: and he will despise
Their Vowes, their Prayers, and their Sacrifice.
A Sea of troubles, all thy hopes shall swallow;
As waves on waves, so plague on plague shall follow:
And every thing, that was a blessing to thee,
Shall turne to be a curse, and helpe undoe thee.
And when thy sinne is fully ripe in thee,
Thy Prince and People, then, alike shall be.
Thou shalt have Babes to be thy Kings, or worse,
Those Tyrants who by cruelty and force,
Shall take away thy ancient freedomes quite,
From all their
Subjects; yea themselves delight
In their vexations: and, all those that are
Made slaves thereby, shall murmure, yet not dare
To stir against them. By degrees they shall
Deprive thee of thy Patrimonials all;
Compell thee (as in other Lands this day)
For thine owne meate, and thine own drink to pay.
And, at the last begin to exercise
Upon thy Sons, all heathenish tyrannies,
As just
Prerogatives. To these intents,
Thy Nobles shall become their instruments;
For they who had their birth from Noble races,
Shall (some and some) be brought into disgraces.
From Offices they shall excluded stand,
And all their vertuous off-spring, from their Land
Shall quite be worne: Instead of whom shall rise
A brood advanced by impieties.
That seek how they more great and strong may grow,
By compassing the publique overthrow.
They shall abuse thy Kings with Tales and Lies;
With seeming love, and servile flatteries;
They shall perswade them they have power to make,
Their Wills, their Law, and as they please to take
Their peoples goods, their children and their lives,
Ev'n by their just and due
Prerogatives.
When thus much they have made them to beleeve,
Then they shall teach them practises to grieve
Their Subjects by, and instruments become
To helpe the scruing up by some and some,
Of
Monarchies to
Tyrannies. They shall
Abuse
Religion, Honesty, and all,
To compasse their Designes. They shall devise
Strange Projects; and with impudence and lies,
Proceed in setling them. They shall forget
Those reverent usages which doe befit
The Majestie of
State; and raile, and storme,
When they pretend disorders to reforme.
In their high
Counsells, and where men should have
Kinde admonitions, and reprovings grave,
When they offend, they shall be threatned there,
Or scoft, or taunted, though no cause appeare.
What ever from thy people they can teare,
Or borrow, they shall keepe, as if it were
A prize which had beene taken from the foe,
And they shall make no conscience what they doe
To prejudice
Posterity. For, they
To gaine their lust, but for the present day,
Shall with such love unto themselves endeavour,
That (though they know it would undoe for ever
Their owne posteritie) it shall not make
The
Monsters any better course to take.
Nay, God shall give them for their offences,
To such uncomely reprobated sense:
And blind them so, that (when the Axe they see
Ev'n hewing at the roote of thine owne tree,
By their owne handy strokes) they shall not grieve
For their approaching fall: no, nor beleeve
Their fall approacheth, nor assume that heed,
Which might prevent; till they fall indeed.
Marke well, oh
Brittaine! What I now shall say,
And doe not slightly passe these words away;
But, be assured that when God beginnes,
To bring that vengeance on thee for sinnes,
Which hazzard will thy totall overthrow,
Thy Prophets, and thy Priests shall slily sow
The seeds of that dissention, and sedition,
Which time will ripen for thy said perdition.
But, not unlesse the Priests thereto consent,
for in those dayes shall few men innocent
be grieved (through any quarter of the Land)
In which thy
Clergy shall not have some hand.
If ever in thy fields (as God forbid)
The blood of thine owne children shall be shed
By civill discord, they shall blow thy flame,
That will become thy ruine, and thy shame;
And thus it will be kindled, when the times
Are nigh at worst, and thy increasing crimes,
Almost compleate; the Devill shall begin,
To bring strange Crotchets and Opinions in
Among thy
Teachers, which will breede disunion
And interrupt the visible Communion
Of thy establish't
Church. And in the steed
Of zealous Pastors (who Gods Flocke did feed)
There shall arise within thee, by degrees,
A Clergie, that shall more desire to fleece
then feed the Flock. A Clergy it shall be
Divided in it selfe: and they shall thee
Divide among them, into severall factions,
Which rend thee will, and fill thee with distractions:
They all in outward-seeming shall pretend
Gods glory, and to have a pious end;
But under colour of sincere devotion,
Their study shall be temporall promotion;
Which will among themselves strong quarrels make,
Wherein thy other children shall partake.
As to the Persons or the cause they stand
Affected, ev'n quite throughout the
Land.
One part of these will for preferment strive,
By lifting up the Kings Prerogative
Above it selfe; They shall perswade him to
Much more then
Law, or
Conscience bids him do;
And say God warrants it. His holy
Laws
They shall protect; to justifie their cause:
And impudentlie wrest, to prove their ends,
What God or better purposes intends.
They shall not blush to say, that ev'ry
King
May doe like
Solomon in every thing,
As if they had his warrant: and shall dare
Ascribe to Monarchs, rights that proper are
To none but Christ; and mixe their flatteries
With no lesse grosse and wicked blasphemies,
Then Heathens did yea make their
King believe,
That whomsoever they oppresse or grieve
It is no wrong; nor fit for men oppressed
To seek by their own
Laws to be redressed.
Nay further, to their wicked ends they shall
Apply the sacred
Story; or what ever,
May seeme to further their unjust endeavour
Ev'n what the Sonne of
Hannah told the Jewes
Should be their scourge (because they did refuse
The Sov'raignty of God, and were so vaine,
To aske a King, which over them might raigne
As Heathen
Princes did) that curse, they shall
Affirme to be a Law
Monarchicall,
Which God himselfe established to stand,
Through all ages, and in every Land,
Which is as good
Divinity, as they
Have also taught, who doe not blush to say
That
Kings may have both
Wives and
Concubines,
And, by that Rule whereby these great
Divines
Shall prove their
Tenet, I dare undertake
(If found it hold) that I like proofe will make
Of any
Jewish Custome, and devise,
Authoritie for all absurdities.
But, false it is; for, might all Kings at pleasure
(As by the right of Royaltie) make ceasure
Of any mans possessions: why I pray
Did
Ahab grieve, that
Naboth said him nay?
Why made he not this answer thereunto,
(If what the
Prophet said some
Kings would doe,
Were justly to be done) thy
Vineyard's mine,
And, at my pleasure,
Naboth, all that's thine
Assume I may, why, like a Turkie-chicke
Did he so foolishly grow fullen-sicke,
And get possession by a wicked fact
Of what might have beene his by royall act?
If such Divinitie as this were true,
The Queene should not have needed to pursue
Poore
Naboth, as she did, or so contrive
His death; since by the
Kings Prerogative
She might have got his
Vineyard. Nor would God,
Have scourg'd that murther with so keen a rod,
On
Ahab, had he aked but his due:
For, he did neither plot, nor yet pursue
The murther; nor (for ought that we can tell)
Had knowledge of the deed of
Jezabel,
Till God reveal'd it by the Prophet to him.
Nor is it said, that
Naboth wrong did doe him,
Or disrespect, in that he did not yeeld,
To sell, or give, or to exchange his Field.
Now if what here is mention'd, thou dost heed,
(Oh
Brittaine!) in those times that shall succeed,
It may prevent much losse, and make thee shun
Those mischiefes, whereby Kingdomes are undone.
But, to thy other sins, if thou shalt adde
Rebellions (as false Prophets will perswade)
Which likely are to follow, when thou shalt
In thy profession of
Religion halt:
Then will thy Kings and people scourge each other
For their offences, till both fall together.
By weakning of your powers to make them way,
Who seeke and looke for that unhappy day.
Then shall disorder ev'ry where abound,
And neither just nor pious man be found,
The best shall be a
Bryer and a
Thorn,
By whom their neighbour, shall be scratcht and torne.
Thy
Princes shall to nothing condiscend
For any merit, just, or pious end;
But either for increasing of their treasure,
Or for accomplishing their wilfull pleasure:
And unto what they fell, or daigne for meed,
There shall be given little trust or heed:
For, that which by their words confirme they shall
(The Royall seales uniting there withall)
A toy shall frustrate, and a gift shall make
Their strickest
Orders no effect to take.
The Parents, and the Children shall dispise
And hate, and spoile each other: she that lies,
Within her husbands bosome, shall betray him;
They who thy people should protect, shall slay them▪
The aged shall regarded be of none,
The poore shall by the rich be troden on:
Such grievous insolencies, every where
Shall acted be; that good and bad shall feare
In thee to dwell; and men discreet shall hate
To be a
Ruler, or a
Magistrate;
When they behold (without impenitence)
So much injustice, and such violence.
And when thy wickednesse this height shall gaine,
To which no doubt it will ere long attaine,
If thou proceed. Then from the bow that's bent,
(And halfe way drawne already) shall be sent
A mortall arrow: and it pierce thee shall
Quite through the head, the liver, and the gall.
The Lord shall call; and whistle from a far,
For those thine enemies that fiercest are,
For those thou fearest most; and they shall from
Their Countries, like a whi
[...]le wind hither come
They shall not sleep, nor stumble, nor untie
Their garments, till within thy fields they lie.
Sharpe shall their arrowes be, and strong their bow,
Their faces shall as full of horrour shew,
As doth a Lyons. Like a bolt of thunder,
Their troopes of horse shall come and tread thee under
Their iron feete. Thy foes shall eate thy bread,
And with thy Flocks both clothed be and fed.
Thy dwellers, they shall tarrie from their own,
To Countries which their Fathers have not knowne:
And thither shall such mischiefes them pursue,
That they who seeke the pit-fall, to eschew,
Shall in a snare be taken. If they shall
Escape the Sword, and Serpent in the wall
To death shall sting them: yea (although they hap,
To shun a hundred plagues) they shall not scape;
But, with new danger still be chas'd about,
Untill that they are wholly rooted out.
The
Plowman, then, shall be afraid to sow;
Artificers, their labour shall foregoe;
The Merchant man shall crosse the seas no more,
(Except to flie and seek some other shore)
Thy ablest men shall faint, the wise ones, then,
Shall know themselves to be but foolish men.
And they who built and planted by oppression
Shall leave their gettings to the foes possession.
Yea, God will scourge thee,
England, seven times more,
With seven times greater
Plagues then heretofore.
Then, thy
Allies their friendship shall withdraw;
And, they that of thy greatnesse stood in awe,
Shall say (in scorne) is this the valiant Nation,
That had throughout the world such reputation,
By Victories upon the shore? Are these
That people that were Masters of the Seas,
And grew so mightie? Yea, that prettie Nation,
That not worthie of thy indignation,
Shall mock thee too; and all thy former fame,
Forgot shall be, or mention'd to thy shame.
Then woe to them who darknesse more have lov'd
Then light: and good advice have disapprov'd:
For they shall wander in a crooked path,
Which neither light, nor end, nor comfort hath.
And when for
Guides and
Counsell, they do cry,
Not one shall pitty them who passeth by.
Then woe to them that have corrupted been,
To justifie the wicked in his sin;
Or, for a bribe the righteous to condemn:
For flames (as on the chaffe) shall seize on them:
Their bodies to the Dunghill shall be cast;
Their flower shall turne to dust; their flock shall wast,
And all the glorious titles they have worne,
Shall but increase their infamy and scorne.
Then woe to them that have been rais'd aloft
By good mens ruins; and by laying soft
And easie pillowes under great mens Armes.
To make them pleas'd in their alluring charmes.
We gather Armies, and we Fleets prepare;
And then, both strong and safe we thinke we are.
But when we look for Victories and glory,
What follows, but events that make us sorry?
And 'tis Gods mercy that we turne our faces
With so few losses, and no more disgraces.
For what are most of those whom we commend
Such actions to; and whom we forth doe send
To fight those Battels, which the Lords we call,
But, such as neither fight for him at all?
Whom dost thou make thy Captaines, and dispose
Such offices unto, but unto those
(Some few excepted) who procure by friends
Command, and pay to serve their private ends,
These by their unrepented sins, betray
Thy
Cause, by these the honour, and the day
Is lost: and when thou hopest that thy trouble
Shall have an end, thy danger waxeth double.
We faine would be at peace, but few men goe
That way, as yet, whereby it may be so.
We have not that humility which must
effect it: we are false and cannot trust
Each other, no nor God with true confessions;
Which shews that we abhor not our transgressions.
It proves, that of our errors we in heart
Repent not, neither purpose to depart
From any folly. For all they that are
Sincerely penitent, doe nothing feare
So much as their owne guilt, nor seek to gain
Ought, more then to be reconcil'd again.
And they that are thus minded, never can
Be long unreconcil'd to God or man.
Believe me
England, howsoever some
Who should foresee thy plagues before they come,
Endeavour to perswade thee that thou hast
A hopefull time, and that the worst is past
Yet I dare boldly tell thee, thou hast nigh
Worne out Gods patience by impietie.
And that unlesse the same we doe renue
By penitence, our folly we shall rue.
And, if we doe not more Gods will regard,
That mischiefe is but for a time deferr'd.
Be mindfull therefore while it is to
day;
And let no good occasion slip away.
Now rend your hearts, ye
Brittaines, wash & rinse them
From all corruption, from all evill cleanse them.
Goe offer up the pleasing Sacrifice
Of
Righteousnesse: from folly turn your eyes.
Seek peace, and follow it with strict pursute:
Relieve the needy; Judgement execute;
Refresh the weary, right the fatherlesse:
The strangers and the widdows wants redresse:
Give praise to God, depend with lowly faith
On him, and what his holie
Spirit saith:
Remember what a price thy ransome cost,
And now redeeme the time that thou hast lost.
Return, return thou (oh back sliding Nation)
And, let thy teares prevent thy desolation:
As yet thou maist return: For Gods embrace
Is open for thee, if thou hast the grace
To give it meeting. Yet, Repentance may
Prevent the mischiefes of that evill day
Which here is mention'd: yet, thou maist have peace,
And by discreet endeavouring, encrease
Each outward grace, and ev'ry inward thing,
Which will additions to thy comfort bring.
Now grant us peace oh Lord! for perilous
the times are growne, and no man fights for us
But thou oh God! Nor do we seek or crave,
That any other
Champion we may have.
Thy Church in these Dominions, Lord preserve
In puritie, and teach us thee to serve
In holinesse and righteousnesse, untill
We shall the number of our dayes fulfill.
Defend this Kingdome from all overthrowes,
By forraigne enemies, or home-bred foes.
Our King with ev'ry grace and vertue blesse,
With thine honour, and his owne, encrease.
Inflame our Nobles with more love and zeale,
To thy true Spouse, and to this Common-weal.
Inspire our Clergy in their sever places,
With knowledge, and all sanctifying Graces;
That by their lives and doctrines they may reare
Those parts of
Zion which decayed are.
Awake these
People, give them soules that may
Believe thy Words, and thy Commands obey.
FINIS.