but turn again to their Vomit and trample the Pearls of all Admonition under feet yea turn again and rend their Reprovers with scoffs and scorns making Jests and Songs on their Ale-bench Yet may some young ones be deterred and some Novices reclaimed some Parents and Magistrates awakened to prevent and suppress the spreading of this Gangrene And God have his work in such as belong to his Grace And what is impossible to the work of his Grace Go to then now ye Drunkards listen not what I or any ordinary Hedge-Priest as you style us but that most wise and experienced Royal Preacher hath to say unto you And because you are a dull and thick eared Generation he first deals with you by way of Question a figure of force and impression To whom is woe c You use to say Woe be to Hypocrites It 's true wo be to such and all other witting and willing Sinners but there are no kind of Offenders on whom Woe doth so palpably inevitably attend as to you Drunkards You promise your selves Mirth Pleasure and Jollity in your Cups but for one drop of your mad Mirth be sure of Gallons and Tons of Woe Gall Wormwood and bitterness here and hereafter Other Sinners shall taste of the Cup but you shall drink off the dregs of God's Wrath and Displeasure To whom is Strife You talk of good fellowship and friendship but Wine is a rager and tumultuous a mocker a make-bate and sets you a quarrelling and medling When wit 's out of the Head and strength out of the Body it thrusts even Cowards and Dastards unfenced and unarmed into needless Frayes and Combats And then to whom are Wounds broken Heads blew Eyes maimed Limbs You have a drunken by-word Drunkards take no harm but how many are the mishaps and untimely misfortunes that betide such which though they feel not in drink they carry as marks and brands unto their Grave You pretend you drink Healths and for Health but to whom are all kind of Diseases Infirmities Deformities pearled Faces Palsies Dropsies Head-aches if not to Drunkards All Interpreters agree that he means some most virulent Serpent whose Poyson is pleasant and deadly All the woes he hath mentioned before were but as the sting of some Emmet Wasp or Nettle in comparison of this Cockatrice which is even unto death death speedy death painful and woful death and that as naturally and inevitably as Opium procureth Sleep as Hellebore Purgeth or any Poyson killeth Three forked is the Sting and threefold is the Death it procureth to all that are stung therewith The first is the Death of Grace the second is of the Body the third is of Soul and Body eternal All sin is the Poyson wherewithall the old Serpent and red Dragon envenomes the Soul of Man but no sin except it be that which is unto Death so mortal as this which though not ever unpardonably yet for the most part is also irrecoverably and inevitably unto death Seest thou one bitten with any other Snake there is hope and help as the Father said of his Son when he had information of his Gaming of his Prodigality yea of his Whoring but when he heard that he was Poysoned with Drunkenness he gave him for dead his case for desperate and forlorn The Adulterer and Usurer desire to enjoy their Sin alone but the chiefest pastime of a Drunkard is to heat and overcome others with Wine that he may discover their nakedness and glory in their Foyl and folly In a word excess of Wine and the spirit of Grace are opposites the former expells the latter out of the Heart as Smoak doth Bees out of the Hive and makes the man a meer Slave and Prey to Satan and his snares when by this Poyson he hath put out his Eyes and spoyled him of his strength he useth him as the Philistines did Sampson leads him in a string whither he pleaseth like a very drudge scorn and make-sport to himself and his Imps makes him grind in the Mill of all kind of Sins and Vices And that I take to be the reason why Drunkenness is not specially prohibited in any one of the Ten Commandments because it is not the single breach of any one but in effect the violation of all and every one It is no one sin but all sins because it is the In let and Sluce to all other Sins The Devil having moistened and steeped him in his Liquor shapes him like soft Clay into what mould he pleaseth having shaken off his Rudder and Pilot dashes his Soul upon what Rocks Sands and Syrts he listeth and that with as much ease as a man may push down his Body with the least thrust of his Hand or Finger He that in his right Wits and sober mood seems Religious modest chast courteous secret in his drunken fits swears blasphemes rages strikes talks filthily blabs all secrets commits folly knows no difference of Persons or Sexes becomes wholly at Satans command as a dead Organ to be enacted at his will and pleasure Oh that God would be pleased to open the Eyes of some Drunkard to see what a Dunghill and Carrion his Soul is become and how loathsome effects follow upon thy spiritual death and sting of this Cockatrice which is the Fountain of the other two following temporal and eternal death How terrible a Theater of God's Judgments against Drunkards such as might make their Hearts to bleed and relent if not their Ears to tingle to hear of a taste of some few such noted and remarkable Examples of God's Justice as have come within the compass of mine own notice and certain knowledge I think I should offend to conceal them from the World whom they may happily keep from being the like to others themselves Here followeth above one Hundred and twenty various sad and fearful Examples of Gods Judgments on notorious Drunkards and Health-Drinkers in England and Foreign Countreys with the places they Lived in twelve of the chief are Graved on Copper Plates to deterr all others from the like Provoking Sins least the like Judgments do befall them 1. AN Alewife in Kesgrave near to 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 first that is Wit out of the Head Money out of the Purse Ale out of the Pot as she was coming towards them with the Pot in her Hand was suddenly taken speechless and sick her Tongue swoln in her Mouth never recovered Speech the third day after died This Sir Antheny Felton the next Gentleman and Justice with divers other Eye-witnesses of her Sickness related to me whereupon I went to the House with two or three Witnesses and inquired the truth of it 2. Two Servants of a Brewer in Ipswich drinking for a Rump of a Turkey strugling in their drink for it fell into a scalding Cauldron backwards whereof the one died presently the other lingringly
in this sense that when they were in affliction they besought the Lord God and humbled themselves greatly before the God of their Fathers For this great Offendor could often say He could never be humbled enough Upon the 13 of August when he was arraigned at the Sessions in the Old-Baily he pleaded Guilty to the Indictments with very much shame confusion of face and sorrow of heart And on Friday the 15 of August he demeaned himself very humbly before the Bench heartily submitting to the Sentence of death that then passed upon him saying He had destroyed the Image of the Eternal GOD alluding as I verily believe to those words in Gen. 6. 9. For in the Image of God c. After his Sentence he was conveyed back to prison penitently acknowledging that he had neglected the good Word of God and therefore was the longer kept off through ignorance of the Gospel from closing with Christ Jesus But after a few dayes discourse with several Ministers and others who opened the Scriptures to him he began to understand through the Grace of God the Word of Grace And though he had many good Books brought to him by divers visiting Friends yet he chiefly looked into the holy Scriptures themselves and found very much advantage light and peace by these following passages out of the Old Testament viz. 2 Sam. 12. 9. Where Nathan spake sharply to David for despising the Commandment of the Lord to do evil in the sight of the Lord in killing Uriah the Hittite with the Sword vers 13. David said to Nathan I have sinned against the Lord and Nathan said to David The Lord also hath put away thy sin From hence he understood the readiness of God to forgive confessing repenting sinners though they are guilty of innocent blood Job 33. 27 28 He the Lord looketh upon men Oh that men would look after the Lord and if AN T say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not he that is the Lord will deliver his Soul from going into the pit and his life shall see the light Isa. 45. 18 19. I said not unto the seed of Jacob Seek ye me in vain Isa. 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord and he will ABUNDANTLY pardon The word abundantly he used to pronounce with an emphasis for he saw his eyes being now anointed with spiritual Eye salve that he had multiplied sins exceedingly and that he stood in absolute need of the Lords abundant multiplied pardons whereof he had good hope through this good word of Isaiah Ezek. 18. 23. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die saith the Lord God and not that he should return from his wayes and live 30. Repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions So iniquity shall not be your ruine 31. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die O house of Israel 32. For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth wherefore turn your selves and live ye Ezek. 33. 11. Say unto them As I live saith the Lord here the poor Prisoner would note to his comfort that a repenting sinner had not onely the Word and Promise of God for forgiveness but the Oath of God to give such a sinner the greater assurance of pardon I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his wayes and live Turn ye turn ye see the importunity of God with poor sinners for the good of their souls from your evil wayes For why will ye die O house of Israel Micah 7. 18. was a place pleasant to his Soul Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage He retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy Vers. 19. He will turn again as one doth when his anger is gone he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast ALL their sins into the depth of the Sea Now I shall give you a short List of some New-Testament Texts whereby the Lord conveyed Counsel and Consolation to this doubting staggering poor Wretch Mat. 18. 11. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost Joh. 3. 14 15 16. And as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life for God SO loved the WORLD that whosoever this word whosoever he spake with joy believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Now saith Nathaniel Butler I am one to whom this word speaketh and therefore God gave the Lord Jesus Christ for my Soul I believe in him and therefore I trust to live eternally through him according to the gracious terms of the Gospel John 6. 37. And him that cometh to me I will in no wise here he would repeat and reiterate these words in NO WISE CAST OUT in NO WISE in NO WISE cast out 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief 1 Tim. 2. 5 6. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time In hearing reading and conferring upon these and many more Scriptures he would often say to me and others These are good Scriptures brave Scriptures are they not brave Scriptures He would make very diligent and frequent search into his Soul concerning the sincerity of his Sorrow and would not easily believe that his Repentance was true or that he had right to the precious Promises of the Gospel But by much speaking to him by many good people that he would apply Christ and also by seeking unto God for a spirit of Faith for him he did begin to act a faith of recumbency and adherence being as he often said perswaded the Lord Jesus Christ was able to save to the uttermost and willing to save such as come unto God by him yet he could not come up to that full assurance of hope and confidence as he desired and we also desired heartily on his behalf Yet for some certain dayes before his suffering death it pleased the God of all Comfort to give him Joy and Consolation and sometimes strong consolation insomuch that he would at times express very great inward gladness which all that knew his former mournings were glad to see and glorified God for giving him the Joy of his Salvation for he was so satisfied concerning the favour and mercy of God towards him in Jesus Christ that he rather now desired Death then feared it as seeing death through Jesus Christ without
a Sting He was executed in Cheapside against Milk-street end and died penitently See more at large in the Books of Nathaniel Butler and William Rogers Here followeth a True Relation of the Wicked Life and Shameful-happy Death of Thomas Savage Imprisoned Justly condemned and Twice Executed at Ratcliff for his Bloody Fact in Killing his Fellow-servant on Wednesday Octob. 28. 1668. THomas Savage born in the Parish of Giles in the Fields he was put out Apprentice to Mr. Collins Vintner at the Ship-Tavern in Ratcliff where he lived about the space of one year and three quarters in which time he manifested himself to all that knew him to be a meer Monster in sin in all that time he never once knew what it was to hear one whole Sermon but used to go in at one door and out at the other and accounted them fools that could spare so much time from sin as two or three hours on a Lords day to spend in the Lords service He spent the Sabbath commonly at the Ale-house or rather at a base house with that vile Strumpet Hannah Blay which was the cause of his ruine he was by a young man now gone to Sea first enticed to go drink there and after that he went alone and now and then used to bring her a Bottle or two of Wine which satisfied not her wicked desires but she told him if he would frequent her house he must bring money with him he told her often he could bring none but his Masters and he never wronged his Master of two-pence in his Life still she enticed him to take it privately He replyed he could not do it because the Maid was alwayes at home with him Hang her Jade saith this impudent Slut knock her brains out and I will receive the money this she many times said and that day that he committed the murther he was with her in the morning and she made him drunk with burnt Brandy and he wanted one Groat to pay of his reckoning she then again perswaded him to knock the Maid on the Head and she would receive the Money he going home between twelve and one of the clock his Master standing at the Street-door did not dare to go in that way but climbed over a back door and cometh into the Room where his Fellow-servants were at dinner O saith the Maid to him Sirrah you have been now at this Bawdy-House you will never leave till you are undone by them He was much vexed at her and while he was at Dinner the Devil entred so strong into him that nothing would satisfie him but he must kill her and no other way but with the Hammer to which end when his Master was gone with all the rest of his Family to Church leaving only the Maid and this Boy at home he goeth into the Bar fetcheth the Hammer and taketh the Bellows in his hand and sitteth down by the fire and there knocketh the bellows with the Hammer the Maid saith to him Sure the boy is mad Sirrah what do you make this noise for He said nothing but went from the Chair and lay along in the Kitchin Window and knocked with the Hammer there and on a sudden threw the Hammer with such force at the maid that hitting her on the head she fell down presently screeching out then he taketh up the Hammer three times and did not dare to strike her any more at last the Devil was so great with him that he taketh the Hammer and striketh her many blows with all the force he could and even rejoyced that he had got the victory over her which done he immediately taketh the Hammer and with it strikes at the Cupboard-Door in his masters Chamber which being but slit Deal presently flew open and thence he taketh out a Bag of Money and putting it upon his arm under his Cloak he went out at a back-door straightway to this base house again when he came thither the Slut would fain have seen what he had under his Cloak and knowing what he had done would very fain have had the Money he gave her half a Crown and away he went without any remorse for what he had done Going over a Stile he sat down to rest himself and then began to think with himself Lord what have I done and he would have given ten thousand worlds he could have recalled the blow After this he was in so much horrour that he went not one step but he thought every one he met came to take him He got that Night to Greenwich and lay there telling the people of the house that he was to go down to Gravesend that night he rose and walked about and knew not what to do Conscience so flew in his face The Mistress of the house perceiving the Lad to have Money and not sealed up said I wish this Lad came by this Money honestly The next morning he going away towards Woolliedge the Mistriss of the house could not be satisfied but sent for him back and told him Sweet heart I fear you came not by this Money honestly Yes indeed Mistris saith he I did for I am carrying of it down to Gravesend to my Master a Wine-Cooper We live upon London-bridge and if you please to send any one to my Mistris I will leave my Money with you So there were some people going to London and he writ a Note to send to his Mistris and he left the Money with the woman of the House and went his way wandring toward Woolliedge and there was in the Ship-yard about which time news came to Greenwich of the Murther that was committed at Ratcliff by a Youth upon his Fellow-servant and that a Bag of Money was taken away the Mistris of the House forthwith concluded that sure it was the same Youth that was at her house and that was the Money whereupon she sent men out presently to seek him who found him in an Ale-house where he had called for one pot of Beer and was laid down with his head on the Table and faln asleep One of the men calling him by his name Tom saith he Did you not live at Ratcliff He said Yes And did you not murther your fellow-servant He confessed it And you took so much Money from your Master he acknowledged all then said they You must go along with us He said Yes with all my heart So they went forthwith to Greenwich to the house where he lay that night where when he came he met his Master with some Friends and when his Master spake to him of it he was not much affected at first but after a little while burst out into many tears thence he was conveyed to the Justice at Ratcliff where he fully confessed the Fact again and by him was committed close Prisoner in the Goal of Newgate where Mr. H. B. who after some acquaintance with him had this preceeding Narrative from his own Mouth came to see and speak with him and he seemed but