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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	command_v	day_n	sabbath_n	10,415	5	9.9260	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
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

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-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-Sabbath-day neither do ye any work but hallow the sabbath-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

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

open particularly and pathetically This struck her to the Heart She falling presently into Frenzy and Despairing soon after died Which News came to the Gentleman before he reach'd Gravesend The Old Man afterwards inriched him with a great part of his Land which he enjoys saith my Author to this day Thomas Savage frequenting the House of Hannah Blan a noted Bawdy-House spending upon her such Money as he could get to satisfy his own Lust and her craving Appetite is tempted first to stealing and purloining from his Master and at length to the murthering of a Maid his Fellow-Servant for which he was afterwards brought to the Gallows and hang'd Mr. Robert Foulks of Stanton Lacy first an Adulterer and then a Murtherer of his Bastard Child ended his Days very Ignominiously at Tyburn tho Penitently John Allerion Bishop of Waterford in Ireland for unnatural Concupiscence came to a very disgraceful end being arraigned and executed at Dublin for the same Venery was the Destruction of Alexander the Great of Otho the Emperor call'd for his good parts otherwise Miraculum mundi of Pope Sixtus 4. who died of a Wicked Waste of Paul the 4th of whom it passed for a Proverb Enim per eandem partem animam profudisse per quam acceperat 'T is notoriously known how far this Sin prevailed in England amongst the lazy Monks and Nuns what Skulls of Infants were found near their Religious Houses before the dissolution of them in K. H. 8. days And much about the same time viz. at the beginning of the Reformation as I have read in a Letter writ by the Popes Notary to a Gentleman of Germany says my Author there was a Nunnery visited in the Outer Skirts of Italy and thirteen of the Nuns found with Child at the same time all by the Confessor for which cause by order of the Pope it was put down The Minister of Staunton Lacy Mr. Foulk aforementioned who was executed at Tyburn Jan. 31. 1678 for murdering his Bastard-Child being at the place of Execution he admonished the People to consider the Mischief of Uncleanness and what a Sin it was for a Member of Christ to make himself the Member of an Harlot that it was a Sin that seldom goes alone but is the Mother-Sin to a number more warning all to avoid the Snares of a Whorish Woman and to keep the Marriage-Bed undefiled and to remember his Ignominious Exit occasioned by his sinful defiling of the same Nathaniel Butler executed in Cheapside 1657 for killing his Fellow-Prentice being at the place of Execution he warned the People to beware of the Beginning of Sin saying When I was first enticed into Evil I was tender and fearful of it but not diligently hearkning to the Word of God nor the Voice and Checks of Conscience I went on so that by degrees I was emboldned in Sin and at last it became as familiar to me as my daily Food Therefore as you love your Souls take heed of the beginnings of Sin If I had so done I had escaped this Punishment and Shameful end O that I could prevail cry'd he with every young Person to cast away Sin betimes and check it in the first beginning and that I had taken the Counsel which I have now given c. Loathing my Beloved and Darling-Sin Vncleanness And admonishing all young People to watch and pray against it Hoping if he were to live as many Years as he had then but Moments to live he should through the Grace of God never commit it any more John Marketman executed in Essex for murdering his Wife April 17. 1680 confessed he had departed from his God in his Youth that he had neglected the Church and the publick Worship of God and choosing rather to spend his time in an Ale-house It brought me says he to Evil Company and so to Drunkenness which getting an habit made me a professed Enemy to God and to give my self over to Swearing and Cursing Lying Whoring and so from one Sin to another till I arrived at the height of all Impiety c. That formerly he loved to commit Sin but now hated the very thoughts of it and would not commit a Sin for a Kingdom exhorting the People to take heed of the beginnings of Sin telling them you will find if once you habituate your selves to the committing of Sin it will be very hard to root it out it must cost you many a Tear and much Bitterness in crucifying your Darling-Sins which Trouble and Expence might be sav'd if you would be careful to resist the first Temptation Bewailing his Drunkenness and Uncleanness Henry Parker Executed at Tyburn 1689 for Counterfeiting Guineas lamented much the mispending of his Time saying O the precious Time I have squandered away upon Trifles and Vanities upon my Lusts and Pleasures which I now want to make my Peace with God and purchase Eternal Life That it was not so easy to repent as he supposed It were endless to enumerate all the sad Examples of Divine Judgments that might be brought under this Head but I shall not multiply Examples but recommend these already set down to the perusal and serious Consideration of all profane lascivious incontinent debauched Persons and shall conclude and shut up all in St. Paul's Advise to them Rom. 13. 13 14. Let us walk honestly as in the day not in Rioting and Drunkenness not in Chambering and Wantonness not in Strife and Envying But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof FINIS THE CONTENTS OF THE SEVERAL CHAPTERS   Page CHAP. I. A Summary Account of the Laws made against profuse idle customary and expensive Tipling and against sinful customary and profane Drunkenness and against keeping Places or Houses of unlawful Games 9 CHAP. II. An Account of some Texts of Scripture shewing the sad Consequences and Effects that attend the customary sinful and profane practise of profuse Quaffing and Drunkenness 22 CHAP. III. Of several exemplary Judgments both Ancient and Modern Foreign and Domestick of God's severe Justice inflicted upon customary presumptuous and profane sinful Drunkards 28 CHAP. IV. A Compendium of the Laws made against profane idle customary Swearing and Cursing 44 CHAP. V. Some Texts of Scripture shewing the Odiousness and Danger of profane customary Swearing and Cursing 50 CHAP. VI. Of several signal fearful and amasing Judgments of God's severe Justice inflicted upon customary profane and presumptuous Swearers and Cursers 55 CHAP. VII An Abstract of the Laws made against the Profanation of the Lord's Day commonly called Sunday about the Sacrament disturbing Ministers absenting from the Church c. 76 CHAP. VIII Of the several Places or Texts of Scripture relating to the due Observation and Sanctifying of the Sabbath 86 CHAP. IX An Account of several Instances of God's severe Justice and Punishments that have befaln presumptuous customary Profaners of the Lord's Day commonly called Sunday 91 CHAP. X. A brief Account of the

committeth Adultery with a VVoman lacketh Vnderstanding He that doth it destroyeth his own Soul Prov. 6. 32. A VVound and Dishonour shall he get and his Reproach shall not be wiped away ver 33. The Lips of a strange VVoman drop as an Honey-Comb and her Mouth is smoother than Oil. But her and is bitter as Worm-wood sharp as a two-edged Sword her Feet go down to death her Steps take hold ●n Hell Prov. 5. 3 4 5. and 2. 18. and 7. 27. A Whore is a deep Ditch and a strange Women 〈◊〉 a narrow Pit Prov. 23.27 and 22. ●4 Such i● the way of an Adulterous Woman she eateth and wipeth her Mouth and saith I have done 〈◊〉 Wickedness Prov. 30. 20. O that I had in the Wilderness ● Lodging Pla … Way-faring Men that I might leave my People and go from them for they be all Adulterers an Assembly of Tr●acherous Men. Jer. 9. 2. Will ye steal murder commit Adultery and swear falsly and burn In●ence unto Baal and walk after other gods whom ye know not Therefore I will cast you out of my sight Jer. 7. 9 15. I have seen thine Adulteries and thy Neighings the lewdness of thy Whoredom and thine Abominations on the Fields We unto thee O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made clean when shall it once be Jer. 13. 27. Because they have committed Villany in Israel and have committed Adultery with their Neighbours Wives and have spoken lying words in my Name which I have not commanded them even I know and am a Witness saith the Lord. Jer. 29. 23. For the Land is full of Adulteries for because of swearing the Land mourneth The pleasant Places of the VVilderness are dried up and their Course is Evil and their Force is not Right Jer. 23. 10. In thee have they discovered their Fathers Nakedness in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for Pollution And one hath committed Abomination with his Neighbours Wife and another hath lewdly defiled his Daughter in Law and another in thee hath humbled his Sister his Father's Daughter Ezek. 22. 10 11. By Swearing and Lying and Killing and Stealing and committing Adultery they broke out and Blood to●cheth Blood Therefore shall the Land mourn and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish Hos 4. 2. Whoredom and Wine and New Wine take away the Heart Hos 4. 11. I will not punish your Daughters when they commit Whoredom nor your Spouses when they commit Adultery for themselves are separated with Whores and they sacrifice with Harlots therefore the People that doth not understand shall fall Hos 4. 14. I will come near unto you to Judgment and I will be a swift Witness against the Sorcerers and against the Adulterers Mal. 3. 5. A Fornicator in the Body of his Flesh will never cease till he hath kindled a Fire All Bread is sweet to a Whoremonger he will not leave off till he die A Man that breaketh Wedlock saying thus in his Heart Who seeth me I am compassed about with darkness the Walls cover me and no Body seeth me what need I to fear the most High will not remember my Sins Such a Man only feareth the Eyes of Men and knoweth not that the Eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the Sun beholding all the ways of Men and considering the most secret parts Ecclus 23. 16 17 18 19. Thus shall it go with the Wife that leaveth her Husband and bringeth in an Heir by another She shall leave her Memory to be cursed and her Reproach shall not be blotted out Ecclus 23. 22 26. Three sorts of Men my Soul hateth and I am greatly offended at their Life a Poor Man that is proud a Rich Man that is a Lyar and an Old Adulterer that doteth Ecclus 25. 2. The Whoredom of a Woman may be known in her haughty Looks and Eye-lids Ecclus 26. 9. Be ashamed of Whoredom before Father and Mother and of a Lye before a Prince and a mighty Man Ecclus 41. 18. But I say unto you whosoever looketh on a Woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his Heart Math. 5. 28. Out of the Heart proceed Evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts false Witness Blasphemies Math. 15. 19. Mark 7. 21. But that we write unto them that they abstain from Pollutions of Idols and from Fornication and from things strangled and from Blood Acts 15. 20. God gave them over to a Reprobate Mind to do those things which are not convenient Being filled with all Vnrighteousness Fornication Wickedness Covetousness Maliciousness full of Envy Murder Debate Deceit Malignity Wisperers Rom. 1. 28 29. I wrote to you in an Epistle not to company with Fornicators 1 Cor. 5. 9. Know ye not that the Vnrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Abusers of themselves with Mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Meats for the Belly and the Belly for Meats but God shall distroy both it and them Now the Body is not for Fornication but for the Lord and the Lord for the Body 1 Cor. 6. 13. Neither let us commit Fornication as some of them did and fell in one day three and twenty thousand 1 Cor. 10. 8. Having therefore these Promises dearly Beloved let us cleanse our selves from all Filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God 2 Cor. 7. 1. Now the works of the Flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness c. Of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Gal. 5. 19 21. Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto Lasciviousness to work all Vncleanness with greediness Eph. 4. 19. But Fornication and all Vncleanness or Covetousness let it not be once named amongst you as becometh Saints Neither Filthiness c. For this ye know that no Whoremonger unclean Person nor coverous Man who is an Idolater hath any Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God Eph. 5. 3 5. Mortify therefore your Members which are upon the Earth Fornication Vncleanness inordinate Affection evil Concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry For which things sake the Wrath of God cometh on the Children of Disobedience Col. 3. 5 6. For this is the Will of God even your Sanctification that ye should abstain from Fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his Vessel in Sanctification and Honour not in the Lust of Concupiscence as the Gentiles which knew not God 1 Thess 4. 3 4 5. Knowing this that the Law is not made for a righteous Man but for Whoremongers for them that defile themselves with Mankind c. 1 Tim. 1. 9 10. Lest there be any Fornicator or profane Person 〈◊〉

in them And my Sabbaths they greatly polluted then I said I would pour out my Fury upon them in the Wilderness to consume them Ezek. 20. 12 13. In those days I saw in Judah some treading Wine-presses on the Sabbath and bringing in Sheaves and lading Asses also Wine Grapes and Figs and all manner of Burdens which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold Victuals There dwelt Men of Tyre also therein which brought Fish and all manner of Wares and sold on the Sabbath unto the Children of Judah and in Jerusalem Then I contended with the Nobles of Judah and said unto them what Evil thing is that ye do and profane the Sabbath day Did not your Fathers thus and did not God bring all this Evil upon us and upon this City Yet ye bring more Wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath Nehem. 13. 15 16 17 18. Several other Places of Scripture might be here inserted to this purpose but it being plain and obvious that many Persons are so emboldned by their customary and continued Practice in the Prophanation of the Lord's Day that to the great grief of every good Christian they contemn the Law neglect God's House and despise his Holy Ordinances ridicule all good Counsel and Advice and stop their Ears to all Godly Perswasions I shall therefore for the Terror of such obstinate Sinners in this next Chapter set down several Examples of God's Indignation and Wrath poured down upon the Heads of customary and presumptuous Profaners of the Lord's Day in hopes that thereby they may be brought to take notice of that Saying of the Poet Foelix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum An happy Man is he that can beware Of others harms and of himself take care And so intitle themselves to that promise of God When the wicked man turneth away from his Wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his Soul alive Ezek. 18. 27. And by turning to the Lord and forsaking their wicked Courses prevent the like Judgments from falling upon their own Heads For to the Lord our God belong Mercies and Forgivenesses tho we have rebelled against him Neither have we obeyed the Voice of the Lord our God to walk in his Laws which be set before us Dan. 9. 9 10. CHAP. IX An Account of several Instances of God's severe Justice and Punishments that have befaln presumptuous customary Profaners of the Lord's Day commonly called Sunday IT has been observed and still taken notice of that most of those Criminals that make their Ignominious Exit at the Gallows who come to a sight and sence of their Sins and make Confession of their Wickedness and beg pardon at God's Hands for their sinful course of Life do bewail their neglect of the due Observation of the Lord's Day and warn others by their Example to forsake such Wickedness and of the sad Consequences that attend those that make a practice of prophaning the Lord's Day This is the Market-day of the Soul wherein the Lord in a more special manner useth to meet his People to dispense his Blessings and Graces in and by his holy Ordinances to those that humbly and reverently attend upon him therein The careful Sanctification of it keeps up the Power of Godliness in our Hearts and Lives and the Prophaners thereof have often been punished with signal Judgments of God's severe Justice as may partly appear by the following Examples In Bedfordshire a Match at Foot-ball being made and appointed on the Sabbath-day in the Afternoon whilst two were in the Belfry toling of the Bell to call the Company together there was suddenly heard a Clap of Thunder and a Flash of Lightning was seen by some that sate in the Church-Porch coming through a dark Lane and flashing in their Faces which much terrified them and passing through the Porch into the Belfry it tripp'd up his Heels that was toling the Bell and struck him stark dead and the other that was with him was so sorely blasted therewith that shortly after he died also At a place called Tidworth on the Sabbath-day many being met together to play at Foot-ball in the Church-yard one of them had his Leg broken which presently gangreenizing he forthwith died thereof At Alecester in Warwickshire a lusty young Women went to a Green not far off where she said she would dance as long as she could stand but while she was dancing it being upon the Sabbath day God struck her with a violent Disease whereof within two days after she died Also in the same Place not long after a young Man presently after the Evening Service was ended brought a pair of Cudgels into the Street near to the Minister's House calling upon divers to play with him but they all refusing at length came one who took them up saying tho I never play'd in my Life yet I will play one Bout now but shortly after he was jesting with a young Maid he took up a Birding Piece which was charged saying Have at thee and the Piece going off shot her in the Face whereof she immediatly died for which Act he forfeited all his Goods and Chattels and underwent the Law At Wooton in the same County a Miller going forth on the Sabbath-day to a Wake when he came Home at Night found his House Mill and all he had burnt down to the Ground And at Woolston in the same County many loose Persons kept a Whitson-Ale and had a Maurice-dancing on the Sabbath-day in a Smith's Barn to the great Grief of the Godly Minister there who used his utmost endeavour to restrain them from such Profaneness but in vain so as it pleased God shortly after a Fire kindled in that Smith's Shop which burnt it down with his House and Barn and raging furiously going some-times with the Wind and sometimes against it it burnt down many others Houses most of which were those of the prime Actors in that Profanation of the Lord's Day Anno 1634 On a Lord's Day in the time of a great Frost Fourteen young Men while they were playing at Foot-ball upon the Ice on the River Trent near to Gain●borough meeting all together in a scuffle the Ice suddenly broke and they were all drowned In the Edg of Essex near Brinckly two Fellows working in a Chalk-Pit the one was boasting to his Companion how he had angred his Mistress with staying so late at their Sports the last Sunday Night but he said he would anger her worse the next Sunday Night but he had no sooner said this but suddenly the Earth fell down upon him and kill'd him outright with the Fall whereof his Fellow's Limbs was broken who had been also Partner with him in his Jollity on the Lord's Day In the County of Devon one Edward Ameridith a Gentleman being pained in his Feet a long time and being somewhat recovered one said to him he was glad to see