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A50664 Immorality, debauchery, and profaneness, exposed to the reproof of Scripture, and the censure of the law containing a compendium of the penal laws now in force against idleness, profaneness, and drunkenness, houses of unlawful games, profane swearing and cursing, speaking or acting in contempt of the Holy Sacrament, disturbing of ministers, profane jesting with the name of God, absenting form the church, profanation of the Lord's day, debauched incontinency, and bastard-getting : with several texts of Scripture prohibiting such vices : also a brief collection of several signal judgments of God against offenders in the said vices and debaucheries / published for the advancement of reformation of manners, so happily begun and carried on by several societies, by G. Meriton, Gent. Meriton, George, 1634-1711. 1698 (1698) Wing M1800; ESTC R16769 67,391 130

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unless it be within ten Days after the Offence committed And if any Person shall travel upon the Lord's Day and be robbed the Inhabitants of the Hundred shall not answer for the Robbery but upon notice of such Robbery to them or some of them given or Hue and Cry for the same to be made they shall make or cause to be made fresh pursuit after the said Offenders with Horsemen and Footmen according to the Statute 27 Eliz. upon pain to forfeit as much Money to the King's Majesty as might have been recovered against them by the Party robbed And no Person or Persons whatsoever upon the Lord's Day shall serve or execute any Writ Process Warrant Order Judgment or Decree except in Cases of Treason Felony or Breach of the Peace but that the Service thereof shall be utterly void and the Person or Persons so serving or executing the same shall be as liable to the Suit of the Party grieved and to answer Damages to him for doing thereof as if he or they had done the same without any Writ Process Warrant Order Judgment or Decree at all Having shewed what Provision the Law makes for the Observation of the Lord's Day I shall proceed in the next Chapter to give an Account what some Texts of Holy Writ command in such Case to be observed Note that by the Statute 1 Jac. 1. Ch. 22. No Shoe-maker shall put his Wares to sale upon Sundays on pain of three Shillings and four Pence and also to forfeit the full value of the Wares sold CHAP. VIII Of the several Texts or Places of Scripture relating to the due Observation and Sanctifying of the Sabbath REmember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy Six Days shalt thou labour and do all thy work but the Seventh Day is the Sabbath of thy Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work Thou nor thy Son nor thy Daughter thy Man Servant nor thy Maid Servant nor thy Cattel nor thy Stranger that is within thy Gates For in Six Days the Lord made Heaven and Earth the Sea and 〈◊〉 that in them is and rested the seventh day wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it Exod. 20. 8 9 10 11. Six days thou shalt do thy work and on the seventh day thou shalt rest that thine Ox and thine Ass may rest and the Son of thy Handmaid and the Stranger may be refreshed Exod. 23. 12. Speak thou also unto the Children of Israel saying Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep for it is a sign between me and you throughout your Generations that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore for it is holy unto you Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death for whosoever doth any work therein that Soul shall be cut off from amongst the People Six days may work be done but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest holy to the Lord whosoever doth any work in the Sabbath day he shall surely be put to death Exod. 31. 13 14 15. Six days thou shalt work but on the seventh day thou shalt rest in Earing-time and in Harvest thou shalt rest Exod. 34. 21. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary I am the Lord Levit. 19. 30. 26. 2. And while the Children of Israel were in the Wilderness they found a Man that gathered Sticks upon the sabbath-Sabbath-day and they that found him gathering Sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron and unto all the Congregation And they put him in Ward because it was not declared what should be done to him And the Lord said unto Moses the Man shall surely be put to death all the Congregation shall stone him with Stones and all the Congregation brought him without the Gamp and stoned him with Stones and he died as the Lord commanded Moses Num. 15. 32 33 34 35 36. Keep the sabbath-Sabbath-day to sanctify it as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee six days thou shalt labour and do all thy Work but the seventh Day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any Work thou nor thy Son nor thy Daughter nor thy Man servant nor thy Maid-servant nor thine Ox nor thine Ass nor any of thy Cattel nor thy Stranger that is within thy Gates that thy Man-servant and thy Maid-servant may rest as well as thou Deut. 5. 12 13 14. Six days shall Work be done but on the seventh day there shall be to you an Holy day a Sabbath of Rest to the Lord whosoever doth work therein shall be put to death Exod. 35. 2. Blessed is the Man that doth this and the Son of Man that layeth hold on it that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and keepeth his hand from doing any Evil. Isa 56. 2. If thou turn away thy Foot from the Sabbath from doing thy Pleasure on my Holy day and call the Sabbath a Delight the Holy of the Lord Honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine own ways nor finding thine own pleasures nor speaking thine own words Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the Earth and feed thee with the Heritage of Jacob thy Father for the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Isa 58. 13 14. And on the seventh day ye shall have an holy Convocation ye shall do no servile Work Num. 38. 25. Thus saith the Lord Take heed to your selves and hear no Burden on the Sabbath day nor bring it in by the Gates of Jerusalem Neither carry forth a Burden out of your Houses on the Sabbath-day neither do ye any work but hallow the Sabbath-day as I commanded your Fathers But if you will not hearken to me to hallow the Sabbath-day and not to bear a Burden even entring in at the Gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day Then will I kindle a Fire in the Gates thereof and it shall devour the Palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched Jer. 17. 21 22 and 27. Thou hast despised mine Holy things and hast profaned my Sabbaths Ezek. 22. 8. Moreover this they have done unto me they have defiled my Sanctuary in the same day and have profaned my Sabbaths Ezek. 23. 38. And the Lord said unto Moses How long refuse ye to keep my Commandments and my Laws See for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the Bread of two days abide ye every Man in his place let no Man go out of his place on the seventh day So the People rested on the seventh day Exod. 16. 28 29 30. Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them But the House of Israel rebelled against me in the Wilderness they walked not in my Statutes and they despised my Judgments which if a Man keep he shall even live
him so nimble Mr. Ameridith replied he doubted not but to dance about the May-Pole the next Lord's Day but before he moved out of that place he was smitten with such a Feebleness of Heart and Dissiness in his Head that desiring help to carry him to a House he died before the next Lord's Day came At Walton in Surrey upon the Thames there in a great Frost Anno 1634 Three young Men on the Lord's Day after they had been at the Church in the Forenoon where the Minister pressing the words of his Text out of 2 Cor. 5. 10. That we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ c. They the while whispered as they sate And in the Afternoon they went together over the Thames upon the Ice unto a disorderly House of Gameing c. where they spent the remainder of the Lord's Day and part of the Night also in Revelling one of them in a Tavern merrily discoursing the next Day of his Sabbath Deeds and of his Voyage over the Ice but on the Tusday after these three returning homewards and attempting to pass over the Ice again they all sunk down to the bottom like Stones whereof one only was miraculously preserved but the other two were drowned Anno 1598 the Town of Teverton in Devo●shire was often warned and advised and told by the Godly Pastor thereof that God would bring some heavy Judgment upon the Inhabitants of that place for their horrible Profanation of the Lord's Day occasioned chiefly by reason of their Market-day being on the Monday and accordingly not long after their Minister's death in the said Year God sent a terrible Fire which in less then half an Hour consumed the whole Town except the Church the Court-house Almes-houses and a few poor People's Dwellings and above 50 Persons were consumed and perished in the Flames Also Anno 1612 it was again wholly burnt down except a few poor Houses they not being warned by the former Judgment but continuing in the same Sin In the Year 1635 A Profane Company of young Men went as Mr. Faucnor relates on the Lord's Day early in the Morning to Clarendon-Park to cut down a May-Pole and having loaden the Cart with it at Miln●rs-Barn entring into Salisbury one of the Cart Wheels falling into a Rutt made the young Tree in the Cart which they had stoln for a Pole to give a great shugg on one side which struck one of the Company such a blow on the Head that it beat out his Brains so that he presently died in the place and there lay a fearful Spectacle of God's Wrath both against that idle Sport and wilful prosaning of the Sabbath whilst he makes the very thing they had chosen for their Sport and Pastime to be the Instrument of executing his Fury And Dr. Teate gives a second Example of this Nature in the Year 1626. We read that Mr. Abberley a Godly Minister in Burton upon Trent did often take occasion to reprove and threaten Sabbath-breakers especially such as sold and bought Meat upon the Sabbath-day Mornings a Practice too common it seems in that place nevertheless there was a Taylor in the Town a very nimble active Fellow dwelling at the upper end of the Town who would go through the long Street as it were in Bravado to the other end of the Town and fetch home Meat on the Lord's Day before Morning-Prayer But as he came back with both his Hands full in the midst of the Street he fell down stark dead which as it pleased God says the Doctor did work some Reformation both amongst the Butchers and others When I was in Cheshire says my Author there was one Sir T. S. a Papist and at that time in favour at the Court who coming into his Country was much feasted and followed by the Gentry and upon a Sabbath day was entertained and feasted at a Knight's House where many others were present towards Evening they went to Dancing and in the midst of their Sports there was one Sir J. D. that had a great Blow given him on his Leg by an invisible Hand which made him lame for a long time after Thomas Savage a young Man who was Executed at Ratcliff Octob. 28. 1668 for Murthering his Fellow-Servant whilst he was in Newgate cryed out thus to some that came to see him O Wretch said he that I was 〈◊〉 studied how I might spend the Lord's Day in the Devil's Work I thought I could never dishonour God enough and that time I should have served God in I did most for Satan in it on the Sabbaths I used to play my Prancks I sometimes went into the Church indeed but I may speak it to my Shame and deep Sorrow I never heard one whole Sermon all the while I was with my Master and indeed I laughed at those that spent the Sabbath in Hearing and Praying and looked upon them as the veriest Fools in the World I was glad when the Sabbath came that I might have time to run to my Vile Comrades I rejoiced that then I could go to satisfy my cursed Lusts with Wherish Women O tell young Men from me that the breaking of the Sabbath is a dangerous and costly Sin Also while he was in Newgate one Sabbath day his Fellow-Prisoners being at Cards asked him to join with them O said he you and I have something else to do with our Time than to play at Cards is it now a time for us to be sporting away the Sabbath when we have but one poor Sand left us to work for Eternity A Minister on a time preaching and pressing the Sanctification of the Sabbath had occasion in his Sermon to make mention of that Man that by the special Command of God was stoned to death for gathering Sticks upon the Sabbath day Whereupon one in the Congregation stood up and laughed and made all the haste that he could out of the Church and went to gathering of Sticks the he had no need of them but when the People came out from Sermon they found this Man stark dead with the bundle of Sticks in his Arms lying in the Church-Porch Gregory Tomonensis reports that an Husbandman who upon the Lord's Day went to plow his Field as he cleansed his Plow-share with an Iron the Iron stuck so fast into his Hand that for two Years he could not be delivered from it but carried it about continually to his exceeding great Pain and Shame Another Profane Fellow without any regard to God or his Service made no Conscience to lead his Corn out of the Field on the Lord's Day in Sermon time but he was well rewarded for his ungodly Covetousness for that Corn which with so much care he gathered together was consumed with Fire from Heaven with the Barn and all the Grain that was in it And a certain Noble-man every Lord's Day using to go a Hunting in the Sermon time the Lord punished his Impiety with this Judgment he caused his Lady to
to look upon the Wine when it is red when it sparkles in the Cup or to rise up early in the Morning to follow drink that is strong as appears by the places of Scripture beforecited in the last preceding Chapter And we read that Pitticus the Mitelenian Philosopher and one of the seven wise men of Greece made a Law that whosoever committed a Crime when he was drunk should be punished double both for the Offence committed and also for being drunk And Solon another of the seven wise men of Greece and the famous Law-giver to the Athenians ordained that if any Prince were taken drunk he should be put to death Noah that Holy Patriarch drinking too much Wine not only discovered his own shame but also was the occasion of the cruel Curse which the Lord sent upon the Posterity of Cham which even to this day lieth hard upon them And Lot though he hated the Sin of Sodom and escaped the Punishment thereof yet being overcome with the Wine of the Mountains he committed Incest with his own Daughters and made a new Sodom of his own Family Balthasar rioting and revelling amongst his Whores had the end of his Life and Kingdom denounced against him by a bodiless Hand writing upon the Wall the Lord's Decree And whilst Holofernes besotted his sences with excess of Wine and good Chear Judith found means to cut off his Head Alexander the Great having invited many of his Favourites and Captains to a Supper propounded a Crown in reward to him that should drink most so one in the Company swallowed up four Steans of Wine being in value worth six hundred Crowns and so won the Prize but lost a greater Prize viz. his Life for he survived not three days after and one and forty of the rest that did strive with him for Conquest dyed also to bear him Company at his Death as they had done in the Frolick Alexander also himself was so addicted to the excess of drinking Wine and was oft-times so distempered therewith that sometimes he kill'd his Friends at the Table in his drunken fits whom in sobriety he loved dearest Cyrillus a Citizen of Hippon had a drunken Son who in the midst of his Drunkenness kill'd his own Mother great with Child and his Father also that endeavoured to restrain his drunken Fury and would have ravished his Sister had she not strugled sore and made her escape not without many wounds Three not far from Huntington to my own knowledg saith my Author being overcharged with Drink perished by Drowning when being not able to rule their Horses they were carried by them into the main Stream from whence they never came out again alive but left behind them visible marks of God's Justice for the Terror and Example of others Upon the Coasts of Bohemia Anno 1551. five drunken men quaffing together with horrible Blasphemies profaned the Name of God and the Picture of the Devil being painted on the Wall they caroused Healths to him to which the Devil answered immediately and the next Morning all five were found dead their Necks being broken and squeez'd to pieces as though a Wheel had gone over them Blood running out of their Mouths Nostrils and Ears to the great Astonishment of the Beholders An Alewife in Kesgrave near Ipswich who would needs force three Serving-men that had been drinking in her House and were taking their leaves to stay and drink the three Ou ts before they went that is Wit out of the Head Money out of the Purse and Ale out of the Barrel as she was coming towards them with the Pot in her hand was suddenly taken speechless and sick and her Tongue swoln in her Head and never recovered her Speech but di●d the third day after Two Servants of a Brewer in Ipswich drinking for the Rump of a Turkey and strugling in their Drink for it fell into a scalding Caldron backwards whereof one died presently and the other lingringly and painfully since my coming says Mr. Ward to Ipswich A Man coming home drunk would needs go and swim in the Mill-pond his Wife and Servants knowing he could not swim perswaded him and once got him out of the Water but he going in again was drowned in the Pond In Barnwel near Cambridg a lusty young man living at the sign of the Plough with two of his Neighbours and one Woman in their Company agreed to drink up a Barrel of strong Beer and drinking up the same three of them died within four and twenty Hours and the fourth hardly escaped after great Sickness A Butcher in Haslingfield hearing the Minister inveigh against Drunkenness being at his Cups in the Alehouse fell a scoffing at the Minister and his Sermons and as he was drinking the Drink or something in the Cup got into his Throat and stuck so there that he could neither get it up nor down but was choaked therewith presently At Tillingham in Dengy Hundred in Essex Three young men meeting to drink strong Waters fell by degrees to half Pints and one of them fell down dead in the Room and the other two prevented by Company coming in escaped not without much Sickness At Bungy in Norfolk three coming out of an Ale-house in a dark Evening swore they thought it was not darker in Hell it self one of them fell off the Bridg into the Water and was drowned the second fell off his Horse and the third sleeping on the Ground by the River side was frozen to Death A Bailiff of Hedley being drunk upon the Lord's Day at Melford would needs get upon his Mare to ride through the Street affirming as the report goes says my Author that his Mare would carry him to the Devil and his Mare casting him off broke his neck Company drinking in an Alehouse at Harwich in the Night over against one Mr. Russels Mayor of the Town was by him once or twice desired to depart and at length coming down he took one of them making as if he would carry him to Prison who drawing his Knife fled from him and was three days after taken out of the Sea with the Knife in his hand At Tenby in Pembrokshire a Drunkard being excessive drunk broke himself all to pieces from an high and steep Rock in a most fearful manner and yet the occasion and Circumstances of his fall so ridiculous as I says my Author think not fit to relate lest in so serious a Judgment I should move laughter to the Reader A Glasier in Chancery-lane in London fell to a common course of Drinking and being admonished by his Wife and many of his Friends to leave off his sinful Course yet he presuming much of God's Mercy continued in his sinful practise till upon a time having overcharged his Stomach with Drink he fell a vomiting broke a Vein lay two days in extream pain of Body and sorrow of Mind till in the end recovering a little Comfort he died Four sundry instances of Drunkards wallowing and tumbling in their
and a Kinswoman into a Garden he had and the Ministers coming to admonish him and exhort him to Repentance he was so far from being touched in Conscience or any ways moved with their godly Admonitions that he strove rather to harden himself more and more in his Wickedness And being one day swearing and denying God and giving himself to the Devil and calling for him with vehemency the Devil came and snatched him up presently and heaved him up into the Air his Wife and Kinswoman looking on and seeing him fly over their Heads he was never afterwards seen any more A Popish Priest on a time thundring out bitter Curses in the Pulpit against Luther wished if Luther's Doctrine was true that a Thunder-bolt might strike him to death three days after a mighty tempest of Thunder and Lightning arising the Priest ran to the Altar into the Church and fell to his Prayers but the Vengeance of God found him out and his Hypocrisy so that he was strucken in a manner dead with the Lightning but coming to Life again as they led him homewards through the Church-yard another flash so scorch'd him that he was burnt from the crown of his Head to the sole of the Foot as black as a Shoo so that he died with the manifest mark of God's Vengeance upon him Beza reports that he knew a man in France of good parts well instructed in Religion and a Master of a Family who in his anger Cursing and bidding the Devil take one of his Children had presently his wish for the Child was possessed immediately with a Spirit from which tho by the frequent and continual Prayers of the Church he was at length released yet before he came to his perfect Health he died The like hapned to a Woman whom her Husband in anger devoted to the Devil with bitter Curses whereupon Satan assaulted her presently and deprived her of her Wits so that she could never be recovered Another example saith the same Author hapned to a Perjurer that wittingly and wilfully forswore himself to the end to prejudice and deceive another but he had no sooner made an end of his false and wicked Oath but a grievous Apoplex seized him so that without speaking any one word afterwards he died within a few days A decrepit Romish Priest being by the help of others heaved and lift up into the Pulpit and choosing the Text out of 1 Cor. 11. concerning the Lord's Supper and taking occasion to defend the Papistical errors of the Mass he used these or the like blasphemous Speeches O. Paul Paul if this Doctrine touching the receiving the Sacrament in both kinds be true and if it be a wicked thing to receive it otherwise then I wish the Devil would come to take me and then turning himself to the People if the Pope's Doctrine concerning this point be not true then I am the Devil's bond-slave neither do I fear to pawn my Soul upon it These and many other blasphemous words he used till the Devil came indeed in the likeness of a tall man black and terrible sending before him such a fearful noise and such a wind that the People fearing the Church falling on their Heads were greatly amazed but he not able to hurt the rest took away the old lame Priest being his devoted Bond-slave and carried him so far that he was never after heard of In the year 1556. at St. Gallus in Helvetia a certain man that earned his living by making clean rough foul Linen against the Sun entring a Tavern tasted so plentifully of the juice of the Grape that he vomited out terrible Curses against himself and others amongst the rest he wished if ever he went into the Fields to his old Occupation that then the Devil might come and break his Neck yet notwithstanding his late words and this his profane and wicked Execration after sleep had conquer'd his drink and sobriety restored his Senses he went again to his Trade remembring his late words but little regarding them but however the Devil attended him at his appointed hour in the likeness of a big swarthy man and asked him if he remembred his promise the Vow which he made the day before and if it were not lawful for him to break his Neck and so struck the poor trembling man over the Shoulders that his Feet and his Hands presently dried up and there he lay not able to stir till by help of men he was carried home the Lord not giving the Devil so much power as he wished himself but yet permitting him to plague him on this sort for his Amendment and our Example Henry Earl of Schwartburgh through a corrupt custom used commonly to wish that he might be drowned in a Privy and as he wished so it hapned unto him for he was so served and murdered at St. Peter's Monastery in Erford in the year of our Lord 1148. The like befel a young Courtier at Mansfield whose custom was in any earnest Asseveration to say the Devil take me if it be not so so the Devil took him indeed whilst he slept and threw him out at a high Window where tho by the goodness of God he caught no great harm yet he learnt by experience to bridle his Tongue from all such cursed Speeches this being but a taste of God's Wrath that is to fall upon such wretches A Woman giving her self to the Devil both Body and Soul did use most horrible Cursing and Oaths both to her self and others usually at all times and in a more effectual manner at a certain Wedding and the People exhotting her to leave off her sinful course of Life yet she not regarding their advice continued in her profane wicked progress till all the People were set at Dinner and very merry and then the Devil came in Person and transported her into the Air before them all with most horrible outcries and roarings and in that manner carried her round about the Town so that the Inhabitants were very terribly afraid and then he tore her in four pieces leaving in several Highways a quarter that all that came by might be witnesses of the Punishment and then returning to the Marriage threw her Bowels on the Table before the Mayor of the Town with these words Behold these dishes of Meat belong to thee whom the like destruction awaiteth if thou dost not amend thy wicked Life There is mention made in Luther's Conferences that divers Noble-men being striving together at an Horse-race in their Course cried The Devil take the last and the last being a Horse that broke loose the Devil hoisted him up into the Air and took him clean away We read of a certain man that provided a sumptuous Supper and none of his invited Guests coming to it he in a great Passion and Heat said If none of them will come then let all the Devils in Hell come and presently came a number of those hellish Fiends whom he not discerning from men coming to welcom and
to Prison about them she began there to rot and stink so that they were forced to thrust her out of Prison into an Hospital where she in great Misery repented of her foul Sin Also one John Duncalf of Kings Swinford in January 1677. coming to the House of one Humfry Baby at Grangewell about three miles from Woolverhampton he begg'd of the Woman there Victuals and Drink who formerly knowing him and compassionating his Condition freely gave him some but while she was stooping to draw him some drink he stole her Bible and sold it afterwards fort three Shillings to a Maid not far off whereby the Woman came to hear-of it and paying her the Money received it again but could not hear what was become of the man But a while after John Duncalf hearing it discoursed that he stole a Bible grew very angry and gave out threatning words against a young man that reported it but being severely charged with it he did not only deny it with some fierceness but execrated and cursed himself wishing his Hands might rot off if it were true which words he had no sooner uttered but by his own Confession to divers that came to see him in his miserable Condition he said that immediately thereupon he had an inward Horror and Trembling upon him a dread and fear of the Divine Vengeance of God and the Justice of him from whom no secrets are hid and that within a few days after his Cursing himself his Flesh began to look black at the wrists of his Hands and he continued divers Weeks with Faintness and fearing an Ague was going for his Acquaintance but not being able to go further he laid himself down in a Barn and there continued two days and nights before he was found from whence he was removed to another Barn near Woolverhampton and had a Keeper appointed him his Flesh began first to rise in great knobs at his Wrists and Knees and to break and run with putrid Matter the Flesh shrunk from the Bones his pain was exquisite the smell very offensive Worms bred in the putrid Flesh and his Hands and Legs fell off And thus continued he begging the Prayers of those Divines that came to visit him and acknowledging the just Judgment of God for his Stealing Lying and Cursing c. for some Weeks a dreadful spectacle of the Divine Vengeance Anno 1677. At Atherbury in Oxfordshire a Woman that kept a petty Alehouse having much addicted her self to Oaths and Curses and one Morning a neighbouring Woman coming thither for some strong Drink she had occasion for and offering a piece of Money she would have two pence or three pence more for a former Debt which the other resolutely denied The Hostess began to swear and use several profane and abominable wishes and imprecations as God damn me and the Devil burn me if it be not so which last words she often repeated thrusting the other Woman violently out of her House shutting the Door and locking it against her Her Husband not long after coming home wondered to find the Door fast but at last with one or two of his Neighbours he forced it open and to his great surprizal finds in the midst of the Floor the Relicks of his Wife one side of her Body and the Clothes on it from the sole of her Foot to the crown of her Head burnt to ashes and nothing left but the Skeleton or part of the Bones whereas the other side remained whole and the Clothes not so much as touch'd or sing'd tho it was observed that the Flesh and Skin was all turned black Much the like Story as Reverend Mr. Turner tells us was published not many years ago concerning a Maid in Dublin A dissolute young man Servant to a Gentleman who was much given to beastly Drunkenness meeting with some of his Companions at Sangall in Switzerland to be merry when they had drunk freely and extravagantly he began to rail at and quarrel with his Companions and using many blasphemies against God he added this execration also If I serve my Master any longer I give my Body and Soul to the Devil and staying there all night in the morning he began to think of what he had said the night before yet having no other means of subsistence he resolved to return to his Master's Service but at his return when he was not far from his Masters House a man met him clad in black and fearful to behold who said to him Come fellow I am now ready to take that which is my right and which thou gavest me yesterday and so taking him by the Hand to his great Horrour and Amazement the Devil threw him to the ground and so vanished and not long after this miserable young man being found by some of his Neighbours his Hands and Feet were drawn together and being brought to a Lodging he had the use of all his Limbs taken from him and so continued till he died miserably A Serving-man in Lincolnshire for every trifle used to swear by God's blood and would not be warned by his Friends till at length falling into a grievous Sickness he was again much perswaded by his Friends to repent which counsel he still rejected and hearing the Bell toll in the very pains of Death he started up God's wounds the Bell tolls for me but he shall not have me yet whereupon the Blood issued out in a most fearful manner from all the joints of his Body from Mouth Nose Wrists Knees Heels and Toes and other parts of his Body and so he died as Mr. Perkins relates Another example of like Punishment befel one Mr. Barrington a great Swearer who going forth a Hunting or Hawking on the Lord's-day or a Festival and not finding game and speeding to his mind he went to an Ale-house at Puckeridg five miles from Ware in the way to Cambridg and call'd for drink beginning to swear after his unhappy Custom saying By God's blood this is an unlucky day and presently after he bled at the Nose which so vexed him that he began to rail and blaspheme the Name of God swearing Passion Wounds Nails Flesh Blood c. till at last he proceeded further to bleed at the Ears Eyes Wrists joints of his Hands and of all his Body at the Navil and Fundament in a wonderful great quantity and streams of Blood blaring out his Tongue in a fearful manner as black as Pitch so that no Person durst come near him this continued till the Devil and Death made an end of him next day says the Publisher hereof the Body was laid in a Cart carried to Standon and buried in the Highway Michael a Jewish Rabbin as he was swearing and blaspheming the Name of Jesus fell down and broke his Neck Three Soldiers passing through a Wood in the Country of Samurta there arose a tempest of Thunder and Lightning and one of them to shew his contempt of God and his Judgments burst forth into swearing and blasphemy
bring forth a Child with a Head like a Dog that seeing he preserred his Dogs before the Service of God he might have one of his own getting to make much of At Kimstat a Town in France in the Year 1559 there lived a certain covetous Women that was so greedy of Gain that she would neither frequent the Church her self to hear the Word of God not suffer any of her Family to go but continually stay'd labouring and toyling about drying and pilling Flax and doing other domestick Businesses and could not be reclaimed by her Neighbours and one Sabbath day Fire seemed to run among the Flax without doing any harm the next Sabbath day it took Fire indeed but was quickly extinct all this would give her no warning but she continued obstinate in her Profaneness the third Sabbath day the Flax again taking Fire could not be quenched till it burnt her and two of her Children to death for tho they were taken out alive yet the next day they all three died and that which was most to be wondered at says the Reporter a young Infant in the Cradle was taken out of the mid'st of the Flames without any hurt thus God uses to exercise his Judgments upon the Contemners of his Commandments In the Year 1583 at London at the Bear-Garden a great number of People being gathered together on a Sabbath day to see the Sport the Lord that he might chasten them in some sort and show his dislike of the profaning the Sabbath caused the Scaffolds suddenly to break the Beholders to tumble down headlong so that eight Persons Men and Women were slain besides many others were sore hurt and bruifed to the shorthing of their Lives The like Judgment happened at a Town in Bedfordshire called Risley in the Year 1607 where the Floor of a Chamber wherein a great number were gathered together to see a Play on the Sabbath day fell down and many by the Fall thereof sore hurt and some killed In May 1629 one John Bow of Ely Coachman to one Mr. Batnum of Beenham a Fellow very vitious and exceeding in these two Evils of Profane Swearing and Drunkenness on the Sabbath day in the Sermon time drank himself drunk so that when he was to sit in the Coach-box to drive the Coach he fell from it under the Horses Feet and was trodden to death or so hurt at least that he died shortly after In November 1621 one Richard Burn Servant to Jasper Burch Gardiner of Ely accustomed to travel on the Lord's Day and making no reckoning of the Sabbath seldom or never coming to the Church on that day but went onwards to St. Ives Market and so spent the day and being drunk was at length overtaken by the just Judgment of God for going up the Stream in his Boat which he had loaden with Marketable Wares he fell into the River and was drowned Mr. Hugh Clark preaching about Oundle in Northamptonshire where the People were generally very ignorant and much addicted to the Profanation of the Lord's Day by Whitson-Ales Maurice-Dances c. which he much set himself against endeavouring to evince their and to draw them from the Evil and Danger o● the Sin denouncing God's Judgments in case of their obstinate Perseverance but they being train'd up in those Courses and hardned by custom persisted still in their Wickedness At last on a Lord's Day the Leader of the Dance a Lusty young Man in the mid'st of their Profane Pastimes fell down suddenly and died but they soon shaking off their Fear returned to their Vomit again the Lord's Day following Mr. Clark took occasion from this sad dispensation to quote that Text Jer. 17. 27. If thou wilt not hearken to me to hallow the Sabbath day c. then will I kindle a Fire in the Gates thereof c. The People still kick'd against these Admonitions and the Eve following returned to their Sports again among whom was a Smith that was a chief Ring-leader but it pleased God the very next day two Husbandmen coming to sharpen their Plow-shares at his Shop a spark from the red hot Iron as he was beating it upon the Anvil flew into the Thatch which both the Smith and the Neighbours saw but had no power to move towards it which presently burnt down the Shop House and all the Smith had This Mr. Clark pressed upon their Consciences but nothing would prevail till at last upon a Sabbath day at Night when they were return'd to their several Homes there was heard a great noise and ratling of Chains up and down the Town which was accompanied with such a smell and stink of Fire and Brimstone that many of their guilty Consciences suggested to them that the Devil was come to fetch them away quick into Hell and now and not till now they began to think in good earnest of a Reformation Edmond Kirke Vintner executed July 11. 1684 for murthering his Wife in his Confession acknowledged himself frequently guilty of profaning the Lord's Day upon which Holy Day saith he I committed the heinous Sin of murthering my Wife Thus Sin was punished with Sin a less with a greater and the greater with the Gallows and that greater committed near the same Gallows and himself confessed that he had to his Wife asking whilst she passed by what place that was told her it was Tyburn where John Gower was lately hang'd for killing his Wife O Lord how dear to me thy Counsels are but how just and terrible thy Judgments Mr. Smythies Curate of St. Giles's Cripple-gate in the Confession and Discovery of a condemned Prisoner executed for Theft May 25 1687 saith as Mr. Burton reports that it was his earnest desire that all young Men should take care not to mispend the Lord's Day And I do not know says Mr. Smythies that ever I observed any Repentance in a condemned Malefactor who did not bitterly lament his neglect of his duty to God on that day In a Convocation of the Clergy at Perth in Scotland Anno 1188 for the better Sanctification of the Sabbath day it was ordained as Arch-Bishop Spotswood tells us that every Saturday from twelve of the Clock should be set apart for preparation thereunto and that all People at the sound of the Bell should address themselves to hear Prayers and abstain from worldly Labours till Monday Morning If nothing that is here shewed can prevail or any ways induce the presumptuous obstinate Prosaners of the Lord's Day to forsake their sinful and provoking Wickedness then let him that is young observe what Solomon says Rejoice O young Man in thy Youth and let thy Heart chear thee in the days of thy Youth and walk in the ways of thy Heart and in the sight of thine Eyes But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgment Eccles 11. 9. And he that is old let him know that death is at his Heels ready to trip them up and gives no warning of his coming
let not such an one therefore procrastinate and put off Repentance but let him watch for he knows neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh For he shall come in an hour that he is not aware of and if he find him in the daring provoking pursuit of his unrepented of Prafaness shall cut him in sunder and appoint him his Portion with the Hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth Math. 24. 50 51. and 25. 13. Luke 12. 46. CHAP. X. A brief Account of the Laws made against vitious and debauched Men and lew'd Women about getting Bastards NOte that before the Raign of K. H. 7. there were eighteen infamous Stews or Brothel-houses and H. 7. for a time forbad them but afterwards twelve only were permitted and had Signs painted on their Walls as a Boars-Head the Cross-Keys the Gun the Castle the Cardinals-Hat the Bell the Swan c. But afterwards H. 8. in the 37 th Year of his Raign by Proclamation under the great Seal dated 30 March Anno 37. aforesaid suppressed all the Stews and Brothel-houses on the Bank-side in Southwark for that they were against the Law of God and the Law of the Land And those Infamous Women were not buried in Christian Burial when they were dead nor permitted to receive the Rites of the Church whilst they lived And the Keeper He or She of such Houses is punishable by Indictment at the Common Law by Fine and Imprisonment for altho Adultery and Fornication be punishable by the Ecclesiastical Law yet the keeping of Bawdy or Stews or Brothel-houses being as it were a Common Nusance is punishable by the Common Law and is the cause of-many Mischiefs not only to the overthrowing of their Bodies but to the indangering of their Souls By the Custom of London as appears by the 1 H. 7. Fol. 6. c. If a Constable c. has Notice that a Woman is in Adultery with a Man that a Man or Woman of Evil Fame is gone to a suspected House he may take help with him and enter the House and if he find them so he may arrest them and carry them to Prison or to a Justice of the Peace to be bound over and prosecuted Bastards begotten and born out of lawful Matrimony being an Offence against God's Law and Man's Law It is by the Statute 18 Eliz. Chap. 3. Enacted That two Justices of the Peace whereof one to be of the Quorum in or next to the Limits where the Parish Church is within which Parish a Bastard shall be born that may be chargeable to the Parish upon Examination of the Cause and Circumstances shall by their discretion take order as well for the punishment of the Mother and reputed Father of such Bastard Child as also for the relief of every such Parish in part or in all and for the keeping of every such Bastard Child by charging such Mother or reputed Father with the Payment of Money weekly or other Sustentation for the relief of such Child in such wise as they shall think meet and convenient And if after the same Order by them subscribed under their Hands the Mother or reputed Father upon notice thereof shall not observe and perform the same that then every such Party so making Default in the non-performance thereof to be committed to the Common Goal without Bail except they give sufficient Surety to perform the same or to appear Personally at the next General Sessions of the Peace to be holden for the same County where such Order shall be taken and also to abide such Order as the Justices there or the more part of them shall take in that Behalf if they take any and if they take none at the Sessions then to abide and perform the Order before made as is abovesaid And by the Statute 7 Jas. 1. Ch. 4. It is Enacted That every lewd Woman which shall have any Bastard Child which may be chargeable to the Parish the Justice of Peace shall commit such lewd Woman to the House of Correction there to be punished and set on work during the term of one whole Year and if afterwards she offend again then to be committed to the House of Correction as aforesaid and to remain there until she can put in good Sureties for her good Behaviour not to offend so again And by the Statute 3 Car. 1. Ch. 4. It is Enacted That all Justices of the Peace within their several Limits and Precincts and in their several Sessions may do and execute all things concerning that part of the Statute 18 Eliz. Ch. 3. aforementioned that by Justices of the Peace in the several Counties are by the said Statute limited to be done The Punishment appointed by these Statutes being gentle and easy we see by every days Experience that Bastards are very frequently begotten I shall therefore inform such vitious profane and sinful Persons in the next Chapter what Punishments the Scripture has appointed for such Persons of such profligate and debauched Lives that they may not be ignorant of the great Anger and Displeasure conceived by Almighty God against such profane sinful Courses and of the great Hazard and Danger they involve their precious Souls in if they forsake not their vitious way of living and by hearty Repentance cleanse their Souls putting away the Filth of the Flesh 1 Pet. 2. 3. 21. And perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God 2 Cor. 7. 1. For he that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit neap Life everlasting Gal. 6. 8. CHAP. XI Of the several Places of Scripture threatning Judgments or forbidding Adultery Fornication Incontinency Lasoiviousness and Whoredom and shewing God's Anger and Displeasure against such profane Wickedness THou shalt not commit Adultery Exod. 20. 14. Deut. 5. 18. Do not prostitute thy Daughter to cause her to be a VV●●re lest the Land fall to VVhoredom and the Land become full of VVickedness Lev. 19. 29. 〈◊〉 the Ma● that committeth Adultery with another Mans VVife even he that committeth Adultery with his Neighbours VVife the and the Adulteress shall surely put to death Lev. 20. 10. And the Daughter of any Priest if she profane her self by playing the Whore she profaneth her Father she shall be hurnt with Fire Levit. 21. 9. If a Man be found lying with a Woman married to an Husband then they shall both of them die both the Man that lay with the VVoman and the VVoman So shalt thou put away Evil from Israel Deut. 22. 22. The Eye also of the Adulterer waiteth for the ●●ilight saying No Eye shall see me and disg●iseth his Face Job 24. 15. VVhen thou sawest a Thief thou consented'st unto him and hast been Partaker with the Adulterers Psal 50. 18. By the means of a VVhorish VVoman a Man is brought to a piece of Bread and the Adulteress will hunt for the precious Life Prov. 6. 26. Who so