The Citie of London Reproved for its Abominations, which Doth Concern All the Inhabitants Thereof that are Guilty.
By Margaret Fell, 1614-1702.
London: Printed for Robert Wilson, 1660.

THE
CITIE
OF
LONDON
REPROVED
For its Abominations, which doth concern all the INHABITANTS
thereof that are Guilty.

REpent thou Bloody City, (who doth, and hath long Crucified the Just, and caused Him to suffer;) whose Pride and Hipocrisie, Deceit and Dissembling, hath reached into Heaven; the God of Heaven hath seen thy Abomination, and the Cup of flatteries, and deceitful Abominations that thou hast given to the Heads of this Nation, and doth give to every Change of Government, and every Power that comes up to Rule; thou can bow in thy deceitful flatteries, according to the Priests of the Nation, for thy own Ends; But the Righteous God hath seen you all, and doth see you, and he will uncover you, and lay your Abominations open, and rend off all your false Coverings, under which you may hide your selves from Men; but the Lord sees through them, And He will uncover you, and make your nakednesse appear, yea your professing Coverings, and out-side adorning, and seeming Religion, under which you have Committed great Abominations, and Dissembling both with God and Man; the day is come wherein you cannot hide your selves.

Doth not even the Witnesse of God in your own Consciences, that Bears Testimony for the Truth of God; This that tells you, You should deal singly and uprightly with all men, this that tells you, You should do unto all men as you would have them do unto you; Doth not this bear Testimony to you very Faces, that you are deceitful and dissembling Hypocrites, Time-servers, and Men-pleasers, that have so used your Wit and Policy, and acted so in Deceit, Dissembling and Hypocrisie, that the most part of you have kept your selves out of Sufferings all these times of Suffering, which have been nigh twenty years; And few or none in the Nation have escaped the Scourge of Suffering as you have done; but they have suffered by one party or another, which you have escaped through your Policy and Subtilty? — Did you not strengthen, uphold and maintaine, with all your force and strength, the long Parliament against the King and those that were with him? And did you not Feast them and bow under them for your own ends? And did you not Feast Oliver Cromwell, with as much Acclamation and Solemnity as your Hearts could invent? Is not your Feasting only to please men? but it is a great Admission to the Lord and destructive to the Creation: Oh the excesse, and Abomination, and wicked inventions that are exercised by you at such times! they are even heavy to bear; surely God hath seen it, and he will reward you according to your Workes.

And surely, if the Lord had not amongst you a Seed, you should be as Sodom, and be made even like unto Gomorah; For the Lord may well say unto you, The shew of your Countenance doth Witness against you, and you declare you sin as Sodom, and hides it not, you strengthen the Hands of the wicked, that none can return from his wickedness: And you are unto the Lord as Sodom and Gomorah, and it may well be said unto you, as it was unto Jerusalem, It will be more tollerable for Sodom and Gomorah in the day of Judgement then for you; For you have been the destruction of many Nations, in that you have made so much Profession of God, and of Christ, and of the Scriptures, but the fruits that you have brought forth, hath been Pride, Hypocrisie and Deceit, Fulness of Bread, Excess of Riot and Drunkenness, Chambering and Wantonness, yea all Sin and Abomination that could be committed; Insomuch that the very Heavens in several parts of the World, are even ashamed of your practises; Your Deceit and Dissembling is so manifested among people, that have not made such a Profession, that even the Name of a Christiam is odious in many parts of the World. But this is the Fruits that your much Preaching and Profession brings forth, which is not in the Life and Power of God, and so is even a stinke to the Nations: Well may the Lord say, How shall I pardon thee for this? Thy Children have forsaken me, When I had fed them to the full, then they committed Adultery, and assembled themselves by Troops, they were as fed Horses in the morning; Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord? And Shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this? Go ye upon her Walls and destroy, but make not a full end: Take away her Battlements, for they are not the Lords. Surely the Lord hath seen, and doth see the abomination and wickedness that is committed, and set up, and countenanced among you; and he cannot passe by it, but must avenge the Abomination of it.

Can your Hearts endure, or can your Hands be strong in the dayes that the Lord doth deal with you according to your works, who despiseth the day of the Lord, and despiseth his People, and will have none of his Wayes, nor none of his Counsell; but will have those wayes and worships in which you may have Liberty to act according to your own hearts Lust, and according to the evill of your wayes, and abominations of your hearts? But the day of the Lord is come, which will burn as an Oven, and the wicked, and them that do wickedly, will be before him as Stubble; and then What will you answer him? When the Lord pleads with you by Sword and by Fire, how can you stand in his Presence, who hath Acted against him, and are in continuall Rebellion against the God of Heaven, spending his Creatures upon your Lusts, and setting your Hearts to work Abomination against him, by all wayes that you can invent? What can you Plead for your selves, when he comes to call you to an account for those things? Can you say to him that you acted those things to please men, and to humour men, and to turn mens hearts towards you for your own ends, though they have been one against another, and you really true to none but for serving of your time? Will this stand before a just and Righteous God, who can by no means clear the guilty? I tell you, Nay.

Oh Consider in this your day the things that belong to your Peace: Ye know not how near the hand of the Lord may be to smite you, for you have been A Sinful, Provoking, and Aggravating People against God, and unto this very day abound in Pride and Wrongedness: And you have been warned from the Lord by a dispised People, by which God will be clear from your blood; though you have taken little notice, and given little regard, yet God will be thereby justified, and you condemned: So if you love your souls, Repent, and turn to the Lord, and put away the evill of your Doings; Cease to do evil, and learn to do well, that the Lord may have mercy on you, Who delights in mercy: At the time of Ignorance God wincked, but now he warnes all men every where to repent: And remember that you are once more Warned.

London, Printed for ROBERT WILSON.