Selected quad for the lemma: rest_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
rest_n	day_n	lord_n	sanctify_v	3,947	5	10.3418	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17298	A divine tragedie lately acted, or A collection of sundry memorable examples of Gods judgements upon Sabbath-breakers, and other like libertines, in their unlawfull sports, happening within the realme of England, in the compass only of two yeares last past, since the booke was published worthy to be knowne and considered of all men, especially such, who are guilty of the sinne or arch-patrons thereof.	Burton, Henry, 1578-1648.	1636 (1636)	STC 4140.7; ESTC S115279	33,687	58

profanation of the Lords day by sports and pastimes or by servile works the Lord inflicteth and executeth many notorious and severe judgements as of late we have seene Erg. the violation profanation of the Lords day is a notorious and heinous sin and so a breach of Gods holy commandement The Major Proposition is a Maxime in Divinity God punisheth no man but for sin and sin is a transgression of Gods law 1. Ioh. 3. 4. For the Minor proposition it is so cleare as it cannot be denied except men will be senselesse and blind Atheists But they that feare God shall declare the worke of God for they shall wisely consider of his doing as Ps. 64. 9. Now if the violation or profanation of the Lords day be a sin and so a transgression of Gods holy commandement then of what holy cōmandement but of the 4. And if of the 4. then the holy keeping of the Lords day for the Christian Sabbath is grounded upon the 4. commandement and cōmanded in it as God hath abundantly testified by his many remarkable judgments even within this two yeares as hath bene shewed Ob. But here some may object God may punish men for the breach of humaine ordinances which are not the expresse commandements of God So in this instance God may punish the violation or profanatiō of the Lords day by such sportes or wakes as being a breach of a humaine ordinance or Ecclesiasticall institution Answ. I answere it is true all humaine ordinances being not against Gods word are to be observed for conscience sake of Gods commandement commanding subjection to all ordinances of men for the Lords sake And if it were a humaine ordinance to dedicate this day of holy rest to God by a perpetuall vow and Decree then the greater is their sin that devoure that which is sanctified and after the vow make inquiry how it may be violated So as they ly under the wrath of God for so doing and are lyable to the like judgements without repentance THE EPILOGVE THus have I presented you with a large scene of late severall examples of Gods judgements upon Sabbath-breakers and such disorderly people who have bene so presumptuous as to profane the Lords owne sacred day against the monitions of Gods faithfull Ministers with unnecessary labour vaine sports and idle pastimes To which I might annexmany ancient Precedents of like nature which I pretermit onley one excepted which is remarkable In the yeare of our Lord 1583. in the famous Metropolis of this our Land the City of London two Citizens the one leaving his wife the other her husband and committing adultery together on the Lords-day it pleased God to strike them dead with fire from heaven whilst they were in in the very act of uncleannes their bodies being left dead in the place halfe burnt up sending out a most loathsome savour for a spectacle of Gods avenging justice unto others to teach them both to shun the sin of adultery and of Sabbath-breaking too and to take heed how they commit any sin or wickednesse at any time and especially on Gods sacred day or how they follow dauncing may-games morisdaunces ales and such lascivious pastimes which commonly end in whoredome adultery as being strong allurements thereunto this judgment was so famous and remarkable that Laurentius Bayenlinke a forraine Historian in his Opus Chronologicum orbis universi Antwerp 1611. p. 110. hath thought good to register it to posterity if any deeme those judgements strange or that God should inflict such punishments on this sin which some now justify as a part of Christian liberty both in the Pulpit in printed works I shall only intreat such to remember that the whole Convocation house all the Archbishops Bishops Archdeacons and greatest Clerks of England in their booke intituled THE INSTITVTION OF A CHRISTIAN MAN subscribed with all their names and dedicated to K. Hen. 8. an 1537. and K. Hen. 8. himselfe in his owne booke inscribed A necessary doctrine and erudition for any Christian man set forth by the Kings Majesty of England with the advise and approbation of the Lords spirituall and temporall and Nether house of Parliament an 1543. and by the King himselfe dedicated under his name and title to all his faithfull and loving subjects and published by vertue of the Statute of 32. H. 8. c. 26. in the exposition of the 4. Commandement have in the very dawning of Reformation injoyned all Bishops and Preachers diligently to instruct and teach the people committed to their spirituall charge and I wish that some Bishops would now doe it that against this commandement generally do offend all they which having no lawfull impediment doe not give themselves upon the holy day to heare the word of God to remember the benefits of God to give thanks for the same to pray to exercise such holy works both publikely in the Church and privately in their houses as be appointed for such holy dayes but as commonly is used passe the time either in idlenesse in gluttony in riot or other vaine and idle pastime DOE BREAKE THIS COMMANDEMENT For surely such keeping of holy day is not according to the intent meaning of this cōmandement as some new Doctors now dogmatize but after the usage Custome of the Iewes though some late Rabbies would make the world beleeve that the strict sanctification of the Lords day and the restraining of vaine Sports and Pastimes on it is Iewish when Ignatius Augustine Cirillus Alexandrinus Ephraim Syrus Socrates Scholasticus Theodosius the Emperor Beda Vincentius Belvacensis and generally all authors since have branded dauncing sports and recreations on the Lords day both as jewish and heathenish and D r Iohn White in his way to the true Church defended published by his elder brother D r Fr. White now Bp. of Ely Mr Zanchie Wolfg. Musculus M r Iohn Sprint as Popish and licentious tending to the overthrow of piety and desolation of publike Governement and doth not please God but doth much more offend him and provoke his indignation and wrath towards us For as S. Augustine saith of the Iewes they should be better occupied labouring in the feilds and to be at plough then to be idle at home And women should better bestow their time in spinning of wool then on the Sabbath-day to loose their time in leaping or dauncing and other idle wantonnesse Now if the whole Clergy King State and Parliament were so quicke-sighted as in those times of darknes to see a Lords day Sabboth in the 4. commandement to be Wholly onely and intirely dedicated to God and his true worship as they there teach and so pious as to beleeve that the exercise of vaine idle sports Pastimes and dauncing on it did much more offend God then ploughing or spinning and provoke his wrath and indignation towards us no wonder if we in the cleare sunshine of the

some enemies had landed to sacke them the Pole being thus brought home and set up they began to drinke healthes about it and to it till they could not stand so steady as the pole did whereupon the Major and Iustice bound the ringleaders over to the Sessions whereupon these complaining to the Archbishops Vicar Generall then in his visitation he prohibited the justices to proceed against them in regard of the Kings booke But the justices acquainted him they did it for their disorder in transgressing the bounds of the booke hereupon these libertines scorning at Authority one of them fell suddainly into a Consumption whereof he shortly after dyed now allthough this revelling was not on the Lords day yet being upon any other day and especially May-day the May-pole set up thereon giving occasion to the profanation of the Lords day the whole yeare after it was sufficient to provoke God to send plagues and judgements among them EXAMPLE 17. In the same yeare 1634. and in the same Shire one Edward Amerideth a Gentleman having bene pained in his feet and being upon his recovery whereupon one sayd unto him he was glad to see him so nimble Amerideth replyed that he doubted not but to daunce about the May-pole the next Lords day But behold the hand of the Lord for before he moved out of that place he was smitten with such a feeblenesse of hart and dizsines in his head that desiring helpe to carry him to an house he dyed before the Lords day came so fearefull it is to fall into the hands of the living God EXAMPLE 54. Many more examples might here be added not only such as have fallen out within these two yeares last past since the sayd booke was published by the Ministers in their Churches but also since the booke was first of all printed and published the very bruite whereof without being read by Ministers was enough and to much to imbolden youth to take their liberty in profaning the Lords day but for the present I will add but one more At Chidlington upon the edge of Hertfordshire not farre from Hitchin a company of fellowes upon a holy day being to play a match at foot ball one of them was tolling the bell to assemble the rest some being come into the Church the randevoze of their meeting suddainly it thundering was seene a blacke ball come tumbling downe a hill neere by which tooke its course directly into the Church there it flew into the bell free and first slew him that tolled the bell then it flustered about the Church and hurted divers of them and at last bursting left a filthy stinke like to that of brimstone and so left a terror to all such spend thrifts of precious time and especially such as is dedicated to sacred uses who so is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving kindnesse of the Lord. Psal. 107. 43. EXAMPLE 4. Vpon May day last being the Lords day a mayd of the Minister of the Parish Cripplegate London was married to a Widower having 3. children the youngest being at Nurce in the Country upon this day they kept their feast in the Church-house joyning to the Church where they spent all the afternoone in dauncing but within one weeke after the Plague began in that Parish in the new married mans house where within a moneth it tooke away the man and his wife and his two children that were in the house And thus was the Plague brought first into that Parish this yeare To this we will adde another example because it fell within the same moneth in the same city A Minister Rector of a Church in London on the saturday would goe with two of his neighbours boon companions to be joviall the next day being the Lords day they conditioning that he should bestow a Sermon upon them They on the Lords day being now in the country spent the forenoone idly in the afternoone they goe to visit another London Minister who had another benefice there in the Country he puts his brother to preach which done invites him with his companions to a bottle of Sacke They drank so long that the two neighbours tongues began to faile them Home to their lodging within a few miles they betake them That night their Minister could not sleepe and raising early to walke abroad he returned with such a coldnesse upon him that he looked and felt like cold pale death the two neighbours much dismayd and with much adoe get him home to London where in that case continuing he dyeth before the next Sabbath day EXAMPLE 55. Vpon May-Eve Thomas Troe of Glocester Carpenter in the Parish of S. Michaell some comming unto him and asking him whether he would goe with them to fetch the May-pole he swore by the Lords woundes that he would though he never went more Now while he was working on the May-pole on May day morning before he had finished his worke the Lord smote him with such a lamenesse and swelling in all his limbes that he could neither goe nor lift his hands to his mouth to feed himselfe but kept his bed for halfe a yeare together and still goes lame to this day May 4. 1636. EXAMPLE 56. About a yeare since 1635. in Ashton under the Hill in the Parish of Beckford in the Country of Glocester the Minister there Master Blackwell having occasion in his Sermon in the afternoone on the Lords-day to reproove the profaning of that day by sports c. as soone as the Sermon was done a youngman of that place used these words Now Master Blackwell hath done we 'le begin and so taking the Cudgells playes with them and at the second or third bout he received a thrust in one of his eyes that thrust it quite out so as it hanged by and could never recover it againe THese Examples of divine justice so notorious so remarkableboth for number and variety having fallen out in so narrow a compasse of time and so dispersed over the whole Land as every particular place and country might take speciall notice thereof if they will not take and make impression in our stony hearts to moove us to speedy repentance as for many other enormities and crying sins so in speciall for this our ring-leading sinne of the heathenish profanation of the Sabbath or Lords day what plea can we make for our selves why the Lord of the Sabbath should not send some universall epidemicall sweeping calamity uponthe land sparing neither small nor great And now that the plague and pestilence begins to breake forth and spreeds itselfe much amongst us the Lord shooting these his terrible venemous arrowes from which not even Princes nor Prelates palaces can secure themselves from becoming his butts and marks What can we more impute it unto as the cause thereof then to this grand sinne of the profanation of the Sabbath or Lords day occasioned so much the more by the publishing of the late booke for sports

Gospell behold so many sad spectacles of his wrath and indignation against the offendors of this commandement in this kind to teach these blind Seers and seducing guides as Bp. Latimer long since named them that God is now as jealous for the sanctification of his day and as much offended with the profanesse of it and infringers of the fourth Commandement by unnecessary labours travell or idle pastimes as he had bene in any age if not rather much more in regard of the great light of the Gospell that hath for these many yeares so clearly shined amongst us which if they will not yet beleeve I shall at once close up their mouthes with the resolution of our Homilies ratified by Act of Parliament and the 35. Article of our Church to which these Novellers have subscribed and whose Patronage they pretend against all novell Sabbatarians But alas saith the Homily all these notwithstanding and I pray God I may not still say notwithstanding all these fresh examples it is lamentable to see the wicked boldnesse of those that will be counted Gods people who passe nothing at all of keeping and hallowing the Sunday And these people are of two sorts the one sort if they have businesse to doe though there be no extreame need they must not spare for the Sunday they must ride journeyes on the Sunday they must drive and carry on the Sunday they must come and ferry on the Sunday they must buy and sell on the Sunday they must keepe markets and faires on the Sunday finally they use all dayes alike worke dayes and holy dayes are all one The other sort is WORSE so the Homily against these new masters who make labour in mens callings on the Lords day WORSE and more unlawfull then dauncing Pastimes contrary to the judgement of S. Augustine Gregory the great Alensis and all writers since who unavoce resolve that it is better and more lawfull to plough and spin on the Sabbath-day then to daunce for allthough they will not travell and labour on the Sunday as they doe on the worke day yet they will not rest in holinesse as God commandeth but they rest in ungodlinesse and filthinesse prauncing in their pride pranking and pricking pointing and painting themselves to be gorgeous and gay they rest in excesse and superfluity in gluttony and drunkennesse as they doe at wakes Ales and May-poles like ratts and swine they rest in brawling and rayling in quarrelling and fighting they rest in wantonnes and what else is dauncing moris-dauncing maygaming c. into-ish talking in filthy fleshlines so that it doth too evidently appeare that God is more dishonoured and the devill better served on Sunday then upon all the dayes of the weeke besides And I assure you that the beasts that are commanded to rest on the Sunday honour God better then this kind of people for they offend not God they breake not their holy dayes Wherefore O ye people of God lay your hands upon your hearts repent and amend this grievous and dangerous wickednesse stand in awe of the commandement of God gladly followe the example of God himselfe be not disobedient to the godly order of Christs Church used and kept from the Apostles times untill this day feare the displeasure and just plagues of Allmighty God if ye be negligent and forbeare not labouring and travailing on the SABBATH DAY and doe not resort together to celebrate and magnifie Gods blessed name in quiet holinesse and godly reverence I shall conclude all with the words of the Councell of Paris under Lewis and Lotharius Anno 829. li. 1. c. 50. li. 3. c. 5. 19. Multa alia terribilia judicia c. Many other terrible judgments have bene and hetherto are whereby is declared how much God is offended with the dishonour of this day Wherefore the Imperiall highnesse is specially to be implored of the Preists that this power ordained of God for the honour and reverence of so great a day may put a feare into all men least none of what condiō soever presume on this holy and venerable day to use these and the likesports dauncings and leapings hereafter because while they doe these things they both darken the glory of Christianity and give occasion to the blasphemers of Christs name the more to dishonour him We require also and earnestly intreat that in the observation of the Lords day as we have a longe time beseeched you you use due care that unlesse great necessity constraine you free your selves on that day as much as may be from worldly cares and sollicitousnesse And that which becometh the honour of so great a day that both you your selves doe it and by your example doe teach and compell yours to doe it We wholsomly admonish all faithfull people that they give due honour and reverence to the Lords day because the dishonour of this day doth both much swarue and abhorre from Christian religion and doth without doubt procure the perill of soules to the violaters thereof And with that of the Councell of Burges an 1582. apud Bachellum Decreta Ecclesiae Gall. l. 4. Tit. 7. c. 21. Allthough Lords dayes and holy dayes are instituted only for this purpose that faithfull Christians abstaining from externall and gainfull works might more freely and with greater piety give themselves to divine worship and to the meditation of the infinite benefits of Gods goodnesse towards mankinde and so being WHOLLY taken up with the wholsome duties of religion should diligently beware as Ignatius admonisheth the Philippians that they should not abuse holy dayes with any disgrace or injuries yet notwithstanding in our times it preposterously and usually comes to passe that both solemne and religious dayes are not only spent in transacting unlawfull and secular businesse but likewise in luxury lasciviousnesse prohibited sports and pastimes Revells and the exercising of other wickednesses whereupon it is not to be doubted that for the greatest part so many calamities wherewith we are so long since consumed are justly inflicted on us by God who is incensed against us by so great wickednes To appease whose present anger and likewise to avert his greater indignation hanging over our heads we command all Parish Priests of our Province that they frequently and seriously admonish the people that on Lords dayes they not only keepe themselves from all prohibited works but likewise that they be ex animo cordially and religiously present at all sacred misteries of the Church and at the preaching of Gods word and that they pretermit not the works of piety in releiving the poore comforting the afflicted and in doing other pious things wherein Christian profession and charity do most of all shine forth And we exhort all Magistrates according to their and our duety as farre as possibly we may that they would take care that those holy and solemne dayes should be holily and piously celebrated this being principally in their power and