To all the hireling priests in England. Rigge, Ambrose, 1635?-1705. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A91831 of text R224247 in the English Short Title Catalog (Wing R1494). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 8 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A91831 Wing R1494 ESTC R224247 45789390 ocm 45789390 172701 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A91831) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 172701) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English Books, 1641-1700 ; 2646:6) To all the hireling priests in England. Rigge, Ambrose, 1635?-1705. 1 sheet ([1] p.) Printed for Thomas Simmons ..., London. : 1659. Signed: Amb. Rigge. Reproduction of original in: Friends' Library (London, England). eng Apocalyptic literature. Broadsides -- England -- 17th century. A91831 R224247 (Wing R1494). civilwar no To all the hireling priests in England. Rigge, Ambrose 1659 1535 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A This text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-07 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-08 Emma (Leeson) Huber Sampled and proofread 2007-08 Emma (Leeson) Huber Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion To all the HIRELING PRIESTS IN ENGLAND . GODS Indignation is greatly kindled against you , Oh! ye seed of evil-doers ; How can you escape the damnation of Hell ? How often have you perverted the right way of the Lord ? Gods sword is drawn against you , and the stroke of it is near to fall upon you , you have long made your selves as fat Horses , with that which you have got by deceit and fraudelity , that your eyes hath stood out with fatness this many years ; but now the time of your calamity draws near , wherein you shall be fed with Judgement and wrath from the Almighty , for the curse shall enter into your houses , where your ill-gotten goods lieth , and shall destroy them with the stones thereof , and with the timber thereof , and as you have laid upon your beds of ease long , so shall you be cast upon the bed of endless torment , for your abominations hath reached to Heaven , and hath long grieved the Most High , your wilful transgressions cannot be numbred , for as troops of robbers wait for a man , so have you murthered in the way by consent , for you have committed much lewdness , and have compelled others to do it also , that would not ; And how many widows houses have you devoured ? Wo , wo , wo from the Lord God is gone out against you , cursed shall you be when you go forth and when you come in ; Oh! how is Gods indignation kindled against you , ye generation of vipers , who hath fed your selves and not the flock ; Oh! what will you do when the Lord requires his flock at your hands ? What a ravening and tearing in England have you made for your bellies , which is your God , the like cannot be parallel'd by all the false prophets that ever was heard or read of ; Then when this would not satisfie you , you have thirsted after blood it self , therefore shall your cup be filled with it , God will smite you with shame and contempt , so that you shall become a reproach to all that fears him ; The day of the Lord shall come upon you as pain upon a woman in travel ; and that light within , which you have so much derided and cried against , shall be kindled as a fire in your bowels , and shall never be quenched till it have consumed you root and branch , for God will not much longer be mocked by you . Oh! you greedy dumb dogs , who could never be satisfied , Hell and destruction hath enlarged her self to receive you , because you have provoked the Lord and rebelled against him dayes without number , Oh! how have you caused his servants and messengers to be shamefully intreated for declaring unto you his truth in most parts of the Nation ? nay , when some of the Rulers would have shewed mercy unto them , you have provoked them to wrath , therefore shall you have Judgement without mercy , who hath shewed no mercy ; The Lord hath shaked his hand at your dishonest gain , his Soul loaths your solemn assemblies , your sacrifices are abomination in his sight , for your hands are full of blood , your iniquities are come up to Heaven , the cry of the poor and the complaint of the needy , which you have grievously oppressed , hath the Lord heard ; your sheeps covering which you have hid your selves long under , shall now be ript off , and your nakedness and shame shall appear unto all men , the Lord will discover your secret parts when you shall not be able to make a covering to hide you , the night of darkness is coming over you , wherein you shall stumble and be snared and taken , and this is because you have hated the true light , and caused others to hate it , your calamities cannot be numbred . Oh! how sad is the cry that I have heard against you , you have turned many from the right way of the Lord , to follow the imaginations of your corrupt hearts , and when the true light did break forth to have guided their feet into the way of peace , you have laboured by all your strength to keep all people from it , and said all manner of evil against it , and for this cause will Gods Judgements be heavy upon you , you have often taken the sheaf from the hungry , and hath with-holden water from the thirsty , therefore shall a famine and a drought come upon you , till you be consumed , you shall be like unto the grasse that growes upon the house top , whereof the mower cannot fill his hand , nor the gatherer of sheaves his bosom , you have been shameful vine-dressers , your vineyards are overgrown with weeds , netles and thistles in the sight of the whole Nation , therefore will the curse come upon you , fear , the pit , and the snare will compass you , and it shall come to pass that as many of you as are not slain with fear , shall fall in the pit , and as many as escapes the pit shall fall into the snare ; for from under Gods Protection are you gone , and therefore will he suffer him that you have served so long to give you your reward , your end will be much worse then ever was your beginning , though it was Popery ; Had you but in any measure stood in the Counsel of God , and caused his people to have heard his word of faith in their hearts , they had been turned from the evil of their wayes long ere now , but you have run and God never sent you , but the love of filthy lucre , so you were never like to profit the people at all ; therefore will the Lord smite you with a sore blow , and lay all your honour in the dust , and cloath you with contempt in the sight of all that fears him , nay you shall proceed not much further till your folly shall be made manifest unto all men as theirs was who trod in your steps in former ages ; oh howl , howl and lament for the misery that is coming upon you , you have often hated reproof time after time when the Lord would have done good unto you and have had mercy upon you , for notwithstanding you were placed in his vineyard , yet when he sent his servants to look for fruits , you have beaten and shamefully intreated them , and now he having sent his Son you have slain him , what do you think will the Lord of the vineyard do when he comes to reckon with you ? he will cast you out of his vineyard and will let it out to others , who will yield him fruit in due season , wo , wo unto you , for you have stood in the way of many & would neither enter into the Kingdom your selves , nor suffer them that would , this have you often done , your long robes ( Pharisee like ) which you have long gloried in , shall become ragged & torn , and shall be unto you a torment , your powdred hair and sweet perfumes shall be turned into stink , your wives Hoods and vailes , gold and silver Lace , and other gaudy attire which you have ravened from your Parishes , ( by which you are maintained ) and caused to be hung upon them , shal become like them which Gods judgment came upon in Isaiah chap. 3. their honour shall fade as the flower and go out as the snuff of a candle , and these are the words of the Lord which was given in to me to write unto you when I was in weakness as to the outward , and who warned me to warn you what he hath intended against you ; Therefore if there be any one of you , that are not guilty of the things aforementioned , whose hearts are not wholly hardened , sit down in sackcloth and repent while you have a little time , least Gods controversie be sealed against you all , and you be turned into the pit where there is no Redemption . Written from the spirit of truth which is the words of truth , unto all the false hirelings in England by AMB. RIGGE . LONDON . Printed for Thomas Simmons , at the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate , 1659.