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<NAME>TCP Staff (Michigan)</NAME>
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<PB REF="1">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD>Prophetick Admonitions TO THE CITY of <HI>LONDON,</HI> Of Four Great Calamities like to befall it, <HI>viz.</HI>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>De&s;truction of their Hou&s;es, fullfilled in</HI> 1666.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>Slaughters of their Per&s;ons, Wives and Children</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>Lo&s;s of their Goods and E&s;tates. And,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. <HI>Violation and Slavery of their Con&s;ciences.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST> And of the only means to prevent 'em.</HEAD>
<OPENER><DATELINE>Fir&s;t Preached, and afterwards Printed, and Dedicated to the Citizens, by <HI>Thomas Reeves,</HI> B. in Divinity, <DATE>in the Year 1657.</DATE></DATELINE></OPENER>
<LICENSE LANG="eng">
<P>LICENSED,</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><DATE>May 21. 1694.</DATE></DATELINE>
<SIGNED>D. POPLAR.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</LICENSE>
<P><HI>PRaenotions and Pre&s;ages</HI> of future Things are various and from different Cau&s;es; &s;ome more certain, &s;ome more doubtful; &s;ome more general, &s;ome more par|ticular and di&s;tinct; &s;ome from a natural Sagacity and good ob&s;ervation and con&s;ideration of the cour&s;e of Things, in their Cau&s;es and Events, both Natural, Moral, and Di|vine; &s;ome from a farther advantage either of a Divine Illu&s;tration, or &s;ecret impre&s;&s;ions of Spirits from without, both good and evil; &s;ome from more manife&s;t Revela|tions in various manners: Whence the pre&s;ages of <HI>this Au|thor</HI> were, I do not find that he doth any where expre&s;ly a&s;&s;ert or declare, but it &s;eems he had no little concern up|on him in the Writing of the&s;e Sermons for the City of <HI>London;</HI> and of the four Calamities which he had ob&s;erved
<PB N="2" REF="3">to concur to the De&s;truction of other Cities: the fir&s;t, which is by De&s;truction of the Buildings, he had &s;o live|ly de&s;cribed in all things, except the manner by Fire, that it made this Book much taken notice of by many after the accompli&s;hment of it, by that di&s;mal conflagration in the year 1666. and the apprehen&s;ion which divers think|ing People have of the great danger there is, that the re&s;t may likewi&s;e be accompli&s;hed in their time, if not pre|vented by the means &s;o earne&s;tly recommended by the Author, has moved a well wi&s;her to the City to be at the Charge of Printing an Ab&s;tract, for a Warning and Ad|monition to the Citizens, to whom the whole was De|dicated.</P>
<P>The Author in his Epi&s;tle Dedicatory, <HI>pag.</HI> 10.13. and in his Application of the Ca&s;e of <HI>Nineveh</HI> to this of the City of <HI>London, pag.</HI> 215. having &s;et out at large his apprehen&s;ions of the dangerous State of the City, in re&s;pect of the many and great &s;ins then abounding in it, (which are not a little increa&s;ed and aggravated &s;ince) in his Application of the&s;e words, <HI>that great City, p.</HI> 217. he proceeds to &s;how <HI>the horror of this Cities De&s;olation,</HI> if ever it doth happen to peri&s;h, for it is that Great City. <HI>Oh the Dream</HI> (&s;aith he) <HI>be to our Enemies, and the Interpre|tation to them that hate us. For if this City come to be vi&s;i|ted, there are not tongues enough in the whole City to reckon up all the Mi&s;eries that &s;uch a Judgment will bring along with it.</HI> And then relating the Mi&s;eries which have befallen other Cities, he came at la&s;t to this, in the&s;e words, <HI>pag.</HI> 220.</P>
<Q REND="margQuotes"><P>Oh! then if ever your &s;ins bring in God's judgments into your City, marching rank and file, &s;ee the variety of &s;orrows, ye mu&s;t weep under; as happily as you no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;eem to live, ye mu&s;t have another face of wretchedne&s;s among&s;t you; what&s;oever pre&s;ent comforts ye now enjoy, yet then nothing but exigents and di&s;|a&s;ters; your Looking gla&s;s will be &s;natcht away, your Mirror
<PB N="3" REF="3">cracked, your bright Diamond &s;hivered in pieces, this goodly City of yours all in &s;hreds; ye may &s;eek for a thre&s;hold of your ancient Dwellings, for a Pillar of your plea&s;ant Habitations, and not find them; all your &s;pecious Man&s;ions and &s;umptuous Monuments are then gone; not a Porch, Pavement, Seeling, Tarras, Stairca&s;e, Gallery, Turret, Lanthorn, Balcony, Bench, peice of a Skreen, pane of a Window, Po&s;t, Nail, Stone or Du&s;t of your former Hou&s;es to be &s;een; no, with wringing hands ye may ask, where are tho&s;e &s;weet places, where we traded, fea&s;ted, &s;lept? where we lived like Ma&s;ters, and &s;hone like Morning-Stars? No, the Hou&s;es are fallen, and the Hou&s;hol|ders are dropt with them; we have nothing but the naked Streets, or naked Fields for &s;helter; not &s;o much as a Chamber where to lodge a Friend, or to couch down our Children, or re|po&s;e our own Members, when we are &s;pent with wearine&s;s, or afflicted with &s;ickne&s;s Wo unto us! our &s;ins have pulled down our Hou&s;es, &s;haken down our City, we are the mo&s;t har|borle&s;s, &s;eatle&s;s People in the World, we live rather like For|reigners, than Natives; yea, rather like Bea&s;ts than Men. Foxes have holes, and the Fowls of the air have ne&s;ts, but we have neither holes nor ne&s;ts; our &s;ins have deprived us both of couch and covert: we would be glad if any Ho&s;pital or Spittle would receive us; Dens and Caves, the bleak air or cold ground are now left unto us as our only &s;hades and refuges.</P>
<P>But this is but the mi&s;ery of &s;tone work, of Arches, Dor|mans, Roofs; but what will ye &s;ay when it doth come to skin work, Arms, Necks, and Bowels, may not your dear per&s;ons come to be joyned in the hazard? and your ten|der per&s;ons touched? yes, ye which have walked the Streets in State, may then run the Streets in di&s;traction; ye which have &s;earched out others with &s;everity, may then be plucked out of corners by others with rigour; ye which have been bowed unto with reverence, may then bend your knees for mercy; with one Leg or half an Arm, ye may beg the pre&s;ervation of the re&s;t of your Members; what inventions &s;hall ye then be put to, to &s;ecure your &s;elves? yea, per|haps what would ye not give to &s;ave your lives? and your tears, it may be, will not re&s;cue you, nor your
<PB N="4" REF="4">gold redeem you; but your veins mu&s;t weep as well as your eyes, and your &s;ides be watered as well as your cheeks; when your &s;ins &s;hall &s;hut up all the Conduits of the City, and &s;uffer only the Liver Conduit to run; when they al|low ye, no &s;howers of rain, but &s;howers of blood to wa&s;h your Streets; when ye &s;hall &s;ee no men of your Corpo|ration but the mangled Citizen, nor hear no noi&s;e in your Streets but the cries, the &s;hrieks, the yells, and pants of ga&s;ping dying men; when among&s;t the throngs of A&s;&s;ociates and Con|federates, not a man will own you, or come near you; when your Cu&s;tomers will &s;lip from you, your Friends hide head, and your &s;ervants flee out of your fight: When ye &s;hall &s;ee your Kindred &s;lain in one place, your Wives in another, your Children in a third, and your &s;elves at la&s;t, it may be, cut in two to encrea&s;e the number of dead Carka&s;&s;es: When, as populous as ye are, ye &s;hall be but numbred to the Sword; as pui&s;&s;ant as ye are, the valiant &s;hall be &s;wept away; as fine fed as ye are, ye &s;hall be fed with your own fle&s;h, and made drunk with your own blood; when your tre&s;pa&s;&s;es have been &s;o outragious, that vengeance doth deny you a Being, that ye are thought fit for nothing but to be killed in the place, where ye have committed the Crimes; and to &s;uffer the pains of death within tho&s;e Walls, which you have cur&s;ed with your <HI>Sodoms</HI> faces, and <HI>Aegyptian</HI> hard heartedne&s;s; when your Politicians can no longer help you, but mu&s;t have their &s;ubtle brains da&s;hed in peices with yours, nor your Lecturers can no longer &s;ave you, but ye mu&s;t meet together at the Congregation near the &s;hambles; when this great City &s;hall be but a great chopping board to quarter out the limbs of &s;inners, or the great Altar wherein a whole City is to be &s;acrificed: Oh! doleful day of new painting your Walls, new paving your Streets, new &s;ummoning of a Common-Hall, when all are called forth to nothing, but the deri&s;ion of Adver&s;aries, the in&s;ulting of enemies, to have your brea&s;ts to try the points of Spears, your &s;ides the keen|ne&s;s of Swords, your heads the weight of Pole-axes, your bodies to be made Foot&s;tools, and your dead carca&s;&s;es &s;tep|pings for truculent foes to tread and trample upon; when there will be no pity upon the aged, nor compa&s;&s;ion upon
<PB N="5" REF="4">the young, but heaps upon heaps, tumbling of Garments in Blood, and Swords made fat with &s;laughter: Oh &s;ee what a crim&s;on City, crim&s;on &s;ins will then make.</P>
<P>Or if ye do e&s;cape the dint of the &s;word, and your lives be given you for a prey, &s;hall not your goods be a prey? yes, &s;ome may be re&s;erved out of the greate&s;t Ma&s;&s;acre; when men are weary with killing, a retreat may be &s;ounded, and men called off from this &s;laughter, yet can ye then challenge your old Hou&s;es? or bring your Keyes to your old Che&s;ts? No, your titles are gone, your intere&s;ts lo&s;t; ye have traded your &s;elves out of your e&s;tates, or &s;inned your &s;elves out of your Properties. The enemy is now Hou&s;e|keeper, Land-holder, ye have forfeited all to the Sword; fare|well Inheritances, Purcha&s;es, Lea&s;es, Wares, Wardrobs, Fur|niture, Jewels, as ye have gotten perhaps the&s;e goods unju&s;t|ly, &s;o they they &s;hall be taken away unju&s;tly; as ye have fetched them in with violence, &s;o they &s;hall be forced back with violence; vengeance from Heaven will have &s;atisfaction of you for all your fraudulent Bargains, cruel Pawns, extorting Mort|gages, blooding of Widows, skinning of Orphans; or, as ye have u&s;ed your goods for pride and bravery, &s;o &s;hall ye &s;ee all your gallantry plucked from you, and your new fa&s;hions wrung from you; ye &s;hall behold others flaunt in your attires, or &s;pruce up them&s;elves with your curious Dre&s;&s;es; ye your &s;elves may be glad of the wor&s;e filthy Garment ye left be|hind you; yea, perhaps of a ca&s;t Garment from your Ad|ver&s;aries backs; or as ye kept all your e&s;tates to your &s;elves that tho' God took ye out of the mire, yet having wiped off your own durt, ye never pluck out others which &s;tick in the &s;ame extremities; which have forgotten your own Beginnings, and being now mounted to &s;ublimity, are good for nothing but to ride the trappered Hor&s;e, or wear Furs; and a great company of the&s;e uncompa&s;&s;ionate Creatures this City hath, that the indigent poor and the &s;uffering Go&s;pel, can thank them for little &s;uccor and &s;ympathy; that when them&s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="3 letters">s fare deli|ciou&s;ly every day, <HI>Lazarus</HI> cannot get fragments from them; and when perhaps they have <HI>Obadiah</HI>'s e&s;tate, they have not had <HI>Obadiah</HI>'s heart, but get means greedily, and keep it penuriou&s;ly. Now the&s;e &s;elf thrifts, how &s;hall Divine Ju&s;tice Judge them for this par&s;imonie. They which would gra&s;p all, &s;hall loo&s;e all,
<PB N="6" REF="5">their clo&s;e hatches &s;hall be locked up from him, who hath a new key to open them, their cankered gold &s;hall eat them out of their va&s;t abundance; they &s;hall be driven to live upon Alms, and to go along with the tattered crew (which they contemned) to beg for &s;upport and &s;u&s;tenance; they &s;hall wi&s;h that they had but one &s;pare bag, which all the cries of the di&s;tre&s;&s;ed could not make them to open, or that they had but a few of tho&s;e mites, which all the tears of nece&s;&s;ity could not make them to &s;catter abroad; no they would tru&s;t nothing into God's hand, and God &s;hall &s;hut up all hands and hearts again&s;t them; they had no commi&s;eration, and no eye &s;hall pity them. If they be not &s;lain in the heap, yet they do but live to &s;ee their own mi&s;ery their &s;ins have made them Bankrupts, they are undone ruined.</P>
<P>And Oh! that the lo&s;s of Mony were the greate&s;t mi&s;chief, but there is a Trea&s;ure of greater value in danger, Con&s;cience is ready to be rifled; there is not an ab&s;olute conque&s;t made, till the inward Man be in Fetters, thou mu&s;t be a &s;lave in prin|ciples; Oh! it is a hard thing at that time to be a <HI>Jew inward|ly,</HI> to keep <HI>the girdle of truth about thy loyns;</HI> thou mu&s;t then bear the fruit of the degenerate Plant, or &s;trange Vine; pour out the Drink-Offerings of other Sacrificers, follow the &s;orcery of the Mi&s;tre&s;s of Witchcrafts, or learn Magick with them, that are brought up in the Doctrine of Devils; thou mu&s;t limp with the halting Age, fit thy Mouth to an&s;wer the general &s;hout, That great is <HI>Diana</HI> of the <HI>Ephe&s;ians.</HI> Thou mu&s;t taunt thine own Father, &s;pit in the face of thine own Mother, and hi&s;s away all thy true Brethren; thou mu&s;t be divorced from thy old faith tho' never &s;o cha&s;t, and deny <HI>Sarah</HI> to be, thy Wife, tho' thy e&s;pou&s;als with her were never &s;o &s;olemn: The Jews had but lived a while under the <HI>Babylonian,</HI> and they &s;oon learned to &s;peak in the Language of <HI>Canaan,</HI> and the Language of <HI>A&s;hdod;</HI> The Samaritans had continued a very &s;hort &s;pace under the A&s;&s;yrian, and they &s;oon wor&s;hipped the true God, and the Gods of the Nations; &s;o that corruption in Doctrine quickly doth follow outward &s;ubjection; if the City doth come under another Lord, the Citizen is commonly a double &s;lave, both in Soul and Body. That tho' perhaps many Men care not what become of con&s;cience, that if they could keep their walls, skins, and pur&s;es, they would pawn their Souls to any Broker, they have a Religion fitted for any Ages and
<PB N="7" REF="5" MS="y">accidents; yet they to whom profe&s;&s;ion is dearer than the right eye, and purity of the Go&s;pel than the life blood; is not this an heavy puni&s;hment? yes, if the Soul be the darling, and there be no more dangerous cha&s;e than the hunting of Souls <HI>(and what &s;hall a Man give in exchange of his Soul?)</HI> then it is a mortal wound to have the Soul &s;tabb'd; Oh! mi&s;erable Age, if this hour of temptation &s;hould come upon you, that Men &s;hould be led away with the error of the wicked, and fall from their own &s;tedfa&s;tne&s;s, yea for out|ward re&s;pects make Shipwrack of Faith and a good Con&s;cience; yet thus it will be then, there will be no &s;afety for inconta|minate faith, thou wilt either be a <HI>Nicodemus</HI> to come to Chri&s;t by Night, or if with <HI>Daniel</HI> thou do&s;t open thy Win|dows publickly towards <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> thou wilt be ca&s;t into the Den of Lions; <HI>Ecebolius</HI> will then turn Renegade, and <HI>Marcel|line</HI> will hazard to ca&s;t in his grains of incen&s;e to Idols, <HI>Demas</HI> will for&s;ake all for this pre&s;ent World. S. <HI>Peter</HI> him&s;elf will &s;carce be a Saint in the judgment hall, but for fear of a Da|mo&s;el for&s;wear Chri&s;t. Thou wilt then be a complicated and compleat Slave a &s;lave in thy Hou&s;e, a &s;lave in thy per&s;on, a &s;lave in thy E&s;tate, and a Slave in thy Con&s;cience. Oh! therefore if it be po&s;&s;ible, &s;hut the City Gates before judgment doth enter, or meet the enemy afar off, before he draw nigh to the City; for if Tears, and Prayers, and Reforma|tion do not &s;top his pa&s;&s;age, here will be variety of mi&s;eries, ye &s;ee, at the &s;ubduing the City; there mu&s;t be an eminency of repentance, or el&s;e there will be an eminency of wrath. It will be that <HI>great Vi&s;itation,</HI> for it is <HI>that great City.</HI></P></Q>
<P>This Admonition and Exhortation he largely and warm|ly inculcates in divers places of his Book, and al&s;o in his Epi&s;tle Dedicatory to the Religious Citizens, whom he thus be&s;peaks, <Q REND="margQuotes">Apply your &s;elves to the right work and fall to down right Chri&s;tianity. Let him be the be&s;t Man, which can be mo&s;t vertuous and zealous in this Religious Service. It is an hard thing to build a City; and it will be as hard a thing to pre|&s;erve it. When a City is grown crazy with &s;ins, they mu&s;t be Ma&s;ter-Workmen which can repair the decays of it, or keep it from a downfall: if ye be never &s;o well prepared, yet ye have a task which doth require almo&s;t an Angelical purity and perfection to di&s;charge it. Eye your duty, and look upon
<PB N="8" REF="6">nothing el&s;e, and &s;ee what a great mea&s;ure of remor&s;e and re|formation is expedient to keep a tottering City from an emi|nent ca&s;ualty.</Q> And a little after: <Q REND="margQuotes">Con&s;ider what ye are to do, to wring a &s;pear out of the hand of the Almighty, to turn back an ho&s;t of judgements upon their March; appear in your compleat harne&s;s, and quit your &s;elves like Men.</Q> A|gain after he had &s;howed by what Citizens this is to be perform'd <Q REND="margQuotes">There are &s;ins in the City, and the&s;e &s;ins do threaten judge|ment; all ye then which do face the one, and fear the other let me intreat you to &s;igh, and &s;acrifice with me, that the Ci|ty being penitent, neither the pe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">il, nor peri&s;hing of the Ci|ty may be dreaded. To obtain this ble&s;&s;ing, I have (as I can) &s;anctified my &s;elf with &s;ome &s;olemn re&s;olutions; I de&s;ire you to enter into the Vow with me, not to de&s;ert the City with your repentance, and devotions, till a di&s;charge may be brought out of Heaven, and the City &s;ettled in a condition to be &s;pared.</Q> <HI>And again,</HI> <Q REND="margQuotes">The City is in peril, what is the pre|&s;ervative? Policy may invent many expedients for &s;ecurity, but I do know none but that of repentance. To prevent a general overthrow, &s;hall we ever &s;ee a general conver&s;ion? What will Men leave their Seats of honour, and apply their &s;elves to &s;ack cloth, a&s;hes, fa&s;ting, mighty cryes, turning from their evil ways, and from the violence of their hands? Oh that we could &s;ee &s;uch a beautiful City to honour our Nation, and ble&s;s it &s;elf. But I am afraid that this is but a Ci|ty of de&s;ires, and that it is not harder to build up <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> a|gain in her fir&s;t glory, than to rai&s;e up &s;uch a City among&s;t us; every &s;tone in this City may &s;ooner be altered and new laid rather than Mens minds and con&s;ciences. I doubt whe|ther penitent duties were ever truly intended among&s;t us, and I am very jealous whether ever or no we &s;hall &s;ee them really expre&s;&s;ed. Men can rather &s;hoot the gulf, climb the <HI>Alps</HI> go a pilgrimage over the whole Earth, than repent. Well, as it is my drift to propo&s;e, impo&s;e, and di&s;po&s;e, &s;o let it be yours to explore at home, and excite abroad.</Q> And much more to this purpo&s;e hath he both there and el&s;ewhere which abun|dantly &s;hews his &s;trong apprehen&s;ions of the Cities danger, and his great concern for it pre&s;ervation.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
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<DIV1 TYPE="colophon">
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed for <HI>J. Meckes,</HI> in <HI>Hanging Sword-Court,</HI> in <HI>Fleet-&s;treet,</HI> 1694</P>
</DIV1>
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