A few Words to all People concerning the present and succeeding Times.
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WHoso is wise amongst the Peo-ple
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Consider what I say;
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Great things to pass the Lordwill bring
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In this the later day.
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For now out of Captivity
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shall little Judah walk,
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And poor oppressed Israel,
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with all her feeble folk.
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Yea, now while Pharoah doth oppress
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the Seed, which now must reign;
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And Herod killeth with distress;
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yet all their work is vain.
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Though Chaunting Priests with forgeries
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poor silly souls delude,
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Yet oft God's Witness doth arise
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against what they intrude.
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Though many people do backslide
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from that which once they knew,
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And, with the wicked now deride
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Gods servants, who are true.
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Though we like sheep appointed are
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to suffer at man's will,
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Yet dying we the Truth declare,
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though men our bodies kill.
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It is God's Witness in each man
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in secret shall arise
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To plead for us, when no man can
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for Conscience peace devise.
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When we in Prisons are opprest,
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and from the Rulers sent,
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God's Witness then doth break their rest,
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to move them to repent
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Oh! happy now dear friends we are,
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who have obey'd the Light,
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Which doth for us our cause declare,
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when we are out of sight.
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Yea, this I say, forever blest,
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and none shall take our Crown,
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Nor yet deprive us of our rest,
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by treading of us down.
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Let now Jerusalem rejoice,
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her children shall be free.
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They now do hear the Bridegrooms voice
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and Zions King they see.
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Who doth the Prison-doors unlock
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down in the Dungeon deep,
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He pierceth through the hardest Rock,
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that the our souls may seek.
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Into his bosom now return
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all ye that with me weep,
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And do in secret with me mourn;
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the Lord our souls wil keep.
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Let no high thought in us be found,
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lest it lift up our mind;
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But in true humbleness abound,
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for here true peace we find.
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In AEgypt's darkness wise men talk,
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who do the Light despise,
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While we in Goshen in it walk,
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in whom it doth arise.
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That which the Prophets did foretel,
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and good men pray'd should be,
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[N]ow in it with the Saints we dwel,
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in measure as we see.
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Our boldness great, and confidence,
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in weakness doth arise,
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As we do keep in the true sence,
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which doth the World despise.
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When we before the Rulers stand,
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none think what then to say;
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The Lord our strength is near at hand
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to guide us in that day.
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Yea, when the Lord doth stop our speech,
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we waiting in his fear,
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Our patience shall God's Witness reach,
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when men no words shall hear.
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For Christ in silence like a Lamb,
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did to the slaughter come,
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And as a sheep before the shearer,
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so did he then stand dumb.
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False Judgemens on him wise men gave,
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they did his life condemn,
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In scorn they brought him to the grave,
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and did the Truth contemn.
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God's Martyrs dear in every place,
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like sufferings under-went,
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When they were used with disgrace,
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yet they abode content.
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Now is the time of suffering
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begun in the last day,
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Which shall the Beast to ruine bring,
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and's Kingdom must decay.
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Although destruction be in hand
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for us a people poor,
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It wil bring darkness o're the Land
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in which shall die the Whore.
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And Antichrist with all his train
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with toyle themselves shall vex,
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For they shall see their Labour's vain
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God's servants to perplex.
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All Babels Rulers sore shall grieve
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At that which they shall see.
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When none their City can relieve,
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destroyed it must be.
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Strong is the God that wil annoy
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thee with his vengeance sore,
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And in his fury thee destroy,
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where thou shalt cry and roar.
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The time is short thou hast to reign,
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though thou sit'st like a Queen,
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Yet thou shalt perish in disdain;
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the like was never seen.
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Thy Kingdom now is very dark,
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and blackness doth abound,
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It's now too late for thee to heark,
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repentance can't be found.
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When sentence past, none can reverse,
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the King of Heavens Decree,
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Thy scoffing cannot make it less,
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what he wil do with thee.
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At his approach thy strength shall fail,
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thy stubborn heart shall mourn,
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With horror then thy self bewail,
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for thou shalt be forlorn.
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Thy lying mouth shall then be shut,
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thy vaunting turn'd aside;
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Thou from thy Lovers shalt be cut,
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then down shall come thy pride.
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Thy wise men and thy Captains all,
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together so combine,
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That ye together all may fall
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within a little time.
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The Work is such you do oppose,
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so weighty and profound;
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The like before it never rose,
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your wisdoms to confound.
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No Weapon forged, now shall stand
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against God's chosen One.
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Whose iron Rod is in his hand,
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For he must reign alone.
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Yea, all that will not bow to him,
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in shivers must be broke;
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For he will shatter every Limb
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with his destroying stroke.
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The Child is born this Work shall see
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effected in this kind,
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And suddenly these things shall be;
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for little is behind.
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Yea many are the Children young
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who shall these things behold,
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And are the Nations yet among,
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but God wil all unfold:
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And to his little ones reveal
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his wonders great and strange;
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What he will do, that he may heal
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the Nations at their change:
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How Kings and Princes shall bow down
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their glory then forsake;
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And at their feet shall cast their Crown,
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that they may now partake
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With him and those who have been poor,
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and whom this World despise;
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Yet of true Riches they have store,
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though they walk in disguise.
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The Jews who would Messiah know
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and are as yet behind,
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In them the Light now dawn will shew
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where they the Christ may find.
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The Gentiles who in darkness have
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been buried in their sin,
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Shall now come forth of that dark grave
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where long time they have been.
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Now is the time for Jews to turn,
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and Gentiles to awake;
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In many hearts the Light doth burn,
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which shall all Nations shake.
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Yea Kings and Kingdoms they shall reel,
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Light shall their Powers rent,
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Great strivings in them they shall feel,
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to move them to repent.
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No Laws man makes can Light arrest,
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nor Prisons it contain:
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No Banishments can it oppress;
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In Conscience Light must reign.
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The Gallows, Sword, Faggots and Fire,
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these Instruments are vain,
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With which man may himself out-tire
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yet still the Light remain.
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God's Witness true in this last age,
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by whom he wil contend
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With Kings and Rulers in their rage,
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that so they may amend,
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And set his captive people free,
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their Conscience to enjoy,
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That they may have their liberty,
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and none may them destroy.
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Oh happy Nation where thy King
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and Rulers shall bow down
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Unto the Light which now doth spring,
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they shall receive the Crown
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Of immortality and bless
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which never shall away.
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Their honor then shall be endless,
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and glory not decay.
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But England yet into thine ears
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this dreadful voice I send,
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That thy destruction's very near,
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if thou dost not amend.
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All Sodoms sins in thee are found,
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the old world's wicked way;
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Iniquity doth now abound,
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God's people to destroy:
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Nothing thou dost so much neglect
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as truth and righteousness.
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God's ways thou wholly dost reject,
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and lovest wickedness.
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All whoredoms drunkenness and Oaths,
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in these are thy delight;
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And all that God and good men loaths
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is pleasant in thy sight.
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Oh! England do not so forget
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God's mercies towards thee.
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A little time is left thee yet
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that happie thou mayst be;
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If thou dost suddenly repent,
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and from thy sins depart;
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Embrace God's truth which he hath sent,
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and it will change thy heart;
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But if thou stubbornly go'st on,
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yet hear what I do say,
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The Lord will not let thee alone,
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but he will bring a day
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Of bitter howling over thee,
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in which thou shalt lament,
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The time which can't recalled be,
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that then thou mayst repent:
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Against thee then God will reveal,
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his wrath shal thee destroy,
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In his displeasure with thee deal,
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then perish shal thy joy.
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For with strange plagues, sword & famine
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the Lord will with thee plead;
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Yea then thus he will examine
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thee suddenly with dread.
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Oh Land! though fruitful, thou shalt pine,
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thy Cities must decay;
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Thy people proud, who are so fine,
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Oh London! great shal be thy wo,
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who shal lament thy case?
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For in thy streets green grass shall grow
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God will thee so debase:
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For thy oppression, and thy pride,
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for thy backsliding state;
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For that the truth thou dost deride,
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and goodness thou dost hate:
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For that thou dost God's servants beat,
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imprison, and misuse;
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The simple-hearted thou dost threat,
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and innocent abuse:
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Religion now with thee is vain,
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Idolatry hath place;
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Lukewarmness is imbrac'd again,
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and all that may disgrace
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God and his truth, Christ and his Lambs,
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it may be found in thee:
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And all that can increase truths bands
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by wickedness is free:
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Who is opprest save righteous men,
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who in vile prisons lie;
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Arise, O God, for these things then,
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yea loud now is the crie
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Of thine Elect in every place,
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How long Lord, Holy, True:
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Wilt thou not hasten on thy pace,
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against the wicked Crew?
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Yea this I say, let all awake,
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the day is very near,
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In which God will in vengeance shake
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the Earth, that all may fear.
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Let Kings and Judges now be wise;
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let all men soon repent;
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Let sinners from their rest arise,
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the night is now far spent;
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The great day of the Lord's at hand,
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who shal abide his ire?
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Or who before him then shal stand,
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who is devouring fire?
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Then Kings and Captains, bond and free
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shall at his presence quake;
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Then all into dark holes would flee,
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when he the Earth shal shake:
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Then in the ragged Rocks and Caves
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you'l seek a place to hide,
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Who use God's People worse then slaves,
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then they you'l not abide.
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Even then when Earth in fire shal burn
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and El'ments melt with heat.
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When heav'ns like scrowls away shal turn
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God's anger then shall threat:
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Because his patience then shal cease
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to all his enemies,
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And onely judgments shal encrease
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to all Eternities:
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Where gnashing teeth with weeping cries
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for evermore shal be
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To such as do God's truth despise,
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and follow vanities.
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Oh now dear suffering friends rejoice!
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Redemption will not stay
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From us who have made Christ our choice,
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before the evil day,
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When Prisons, Sword, Gallows and Fire
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shal compass us about,
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He wil help up when in the mire,
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and guide us when we doubt.
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All tender Friends I dearly greet
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you in the Lord of Life;
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And in his patience which is sweet,
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fare well where is no strife.
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Yea in that Love which suffereth long,
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for ever let us dwel;
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And in God's Truth let us be strong,
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in this I say farewel.
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