HELL OPEN'D OR The Infernal Sin of Murther Punished BEING A True Relation of the Poysoning of a whole Family in Plymouth whereof Two died in a short time For which horrid Fact the Malefactors were Condemned before the Lord Chief Justice North at Exceter the last Lent Assizes The one to be Burnt the other to be Hanged WITH An Account of the several Discourses and Religious means used by divers godly Ministers to bring them to Repentance Published for a warning to both Young and Old to flie Iniquity and exercise themselves in the practice of Godliness By J. Q. Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed for Francis Eglesfield at the Sign of the Marygold in St. Pauls Church-Yard 1676. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death Prov. 14.27 A Man that doth violence to the Blood of any Person shall flee to the Pit let no Man stay him Prov. 28.17 The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Psal 9.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without the Gates of Heaven are the Dogs and the POYSONERS Rev. 22.15 And they became a Sign Numb 26.10 And Israel shall hear and fear and do no more such wickedness Deut. 13.11 To the Right Worshipful John Dell Major and to the Worshipful William Weeks William Jennings and John Martyn Justices of the Peace together with their Brethren the Magistrates of the Town of Plymouth And to my very Honored Friend John Harris of Manniton Esquire Sirs I Have real somewhere of an Hermite who being guided by an Angel unto two Cities saw the Gates of the first close shut and a Devil having the Keys thereof at his Girdle in a deep sleep and snorting From thence he is led unto the other which was fair and spacious and finds the Gates wide open innumerable Devils crouding and thronging in multitudes climbing over the walls and whole swarms of them in the Churches Streets Houses Shops walks and all other Avenues and places of concourse exceedingly employed busying and bestirring themselves to the utmost for the ruine of it and her Inhabitants At which wondring beyond measure the Angel told him yonder City is the worst of the Two ingulpht in all wickedness and irreligion so that Beelzebub hath no fear of loosing it and therefore there is but one Devil to guard it and his work so little that he sleeps But as for this wherein now we are here are many Souls fearing and serving God Religion is professed and Religious Worship countenanced and incouraged and the Holy Angels of God are watching over these precious Saints and their Habitations to preserve them This hath caused Hell to break loose and to endeavor by all means and arts imaginable their ruine and its destruction Sirs I think this be no unfitting Emblem of our Plymouth wherein I trust there are multitudes of Gods dear Servants as well as Sinners But I fear me multitude of Devils also that walk in Temples and Congregations in Streets and Houses in Chambers and Closets in Ships and Shops upon Keys and Exchange The over abounding of Sin among us and of late of that hainous and crying sin of Blood and Murther for which Two of the prime Actors and God knows whether there be any other have suffered condign punishment is too sad and clear an instance hereof When Hannibal was at the Gates of Rome it was more than time for the Consuls and Senate to look about them Woe Woe Unto the Inhabitants of the Earth saith an Angel from Heaven Because the Devil is come down among you having great wrath for his time is short He doth not appear in a visible shape at noon day but walks as his younger Son the Jesuite in all sorts of Masques and disguises in every habit and fashion and among Persons of every Trade Calling Quality and Condition Now Sirs God having constituted you the Angel-Guardians of our Plymouth and made you Gods unto it there is all reason you should be awake and do your utmost to prevent the Stratagems and attempts of Hell against it I know no other way or means that you have than by an exemplary Holiness in your lives than by walking with God in your respective Families and Callings than by a couragious zealous activity for God and Godliness and a vigorous suppression and impartial punishing of all Vice and Impiety Would you but continue your great respects and incouragements to your Reverend and Learned Ministers and joyn both Swords together Temporal and Spiritual I am confident the designs of Hell against you would be broken frustrated and rendered ineffectual Honored Sirs My hearts desire and Prayer for you is that you may do worthily in your Ephrata and Famously in your Bethlehem that you may glorifie God in your Station and that God may reflect rays and beams of Glory upon you For such as Honor him God will Honor them but they that despise him shall be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2.30 Sirs if you will suppress all prophaneness and by your Authority put out the Fire of uncleanness if you will stop the Mouth and Gag the Tongue of the Swearer that the Roaring of Oaths and Curses be not heard in our Streets if you will promote true practical Piety and persevere as you have begun in the conscientious discharge of your Magistratical Duty the God of blessings will bless your persons and Families and Plymouth shall never be a Sodom but Zion shall ever be a Jerusalem for Gospel-priviledges a Pillar and Ground of Truth rich and flourishing as Tyre for Trade and Traffick and as formerly so in after-times a Zoar for Divine safety and wonderful preservations That endeared affection I have for the Town of my Nativity where I first drew my breath and where I had my School-Education moveth me to speak and write so freely And your true goodness cannot but make a candid interpretation thereof May Plymouth her Magistrates and Government ever live before God! May this Famous Town be called Hephzibah and Beulah the Delight of God and Married unto God! Let her be called the Righteous the Holy City And may this be her name unto Posterity Jehovah Shamma The Lord is there So prayeth Right Honored Sirs From my Study in Plymouth April 7. 1676. Your most humble and unfeigned Sevant in our Lord Jesus John Quicke THE PREFACE THe Devil is stiled by our blessed Saviour A Murderer from the beginning Having destroyed himself by his willful A postacy from God and being justly banished the Glories of the celestial Paradise for his Voluntary Rebellion he turned about him seeking how and in what manner he might be revenged on his Judg. And after all his rueful thoughts and consultations could find no expedient more likely to succeed and take than the working mischief on mankind Our first Parents a Compendium of both Worlds Sublunary and Aetherial the Crown of Gods Creation but a little lower than the Angels
and rests upon it and trusts unto it that Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners Of whom she is chief Thou art willing that all should be saved Therefore thou art willing she should be saved also Thou hast put these words into her mouth and into our mouths for her That if Jesus Christ hath not merits enough to save her she and we also will be contented that she should be Damned for ever But Blessed be our God! The merits of our Saviour are Infinite Oh! Lord make application of them unto her poor Soul Oh! Take away for Christs sake all her sins Blot out her iniquities at a Cloud and her Transgressions as a thick Cloud Though her sins have abounded unto her Condemnation yet let thy grace much more infinitely more abound unto her justification Enter not into judgment with her Oh Lord Deliver her from blood guiltiness Oh God thou God of her salvation And her Tongue and our mouths shall sing aloud of Christs Righteousness and of thy Faithfulness Oh take away whatsoever may hinder the Communications of thy Love favor and salvation unto her Purge sin out of her Give a broken contrite and truly Peritent heart unto her She is Mourning for her sin and misery Oh wash her in the blood of the Lamb in that Fountain opined for sin and for Uncleannesses in the lavor of Regeneration Oh sanctifie and renew her by thy Holy Spirit Take away all the spots and blots of her sin Though she be defiled and deformed with innumerable and those the most abominable yet canst thou rense and cleanse her in a moment No unclean thing shall enter into thy Kingdom Without Holiness none can see the Lord. Now the Lord Sanctifie her throughout in her whole Soul Body and Spirit And though she hath been by the wiles of the Devil cheated of her life and is now to suffer Justly for her evil deeds give her to bear patiently the indignation of her God because she hath sinned against thee and to accept of the punishment of her iniquity Though she must burn in Temporal flames yet let her not burn in Everlasting flames Oh Let the streams of Christs blood quench out the flames of thy wrath Though she die in Earth Lord Save her from Hell Oh Give her Faith the Faith of Gods elect And the Lord strengthen her Faith Oh Confirm her hope Oh Give her to abound in hope through thy Holy Ghost given to her Oh Grant that Faith Hope and patience may have their perfect work in her Give in some token some pledge of thy good will unto her if it be thy good pleasure Oh revive support and comfort her drooping Spirits Though she be in the Valley and shaddow of death do not forsake her Oh do not forsake her Say unto her thou art her Salvation Tell her that after she hath suffered a little while she shall be with thy self in Heaven perfect with thee in Glory Say unto her as unto the Thief upon the Cross this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise Oh keep off Satan from her He is never more busie â—han when thy poor Worms are weakest and least able to defend themselves from him Lord Jesu Fight for her against him Keep her pretious and immortal Soul from him Oh Be with her now in these her last agonies Give thy Holy Angels to wait upon her and in that very moment that her Soul shall go out of her Body let those Glorious Angels carry it into Abrahams bosome Into thy hands do we commend her Into thy hands doth she commit her Spirit Dear Jesu Save it For thou hast loved redeemed and died for it And now Lord though earth will loose a bloody Sinner yet let Heaven be augmented by one saint more O Look down from Heaven the Habitation of thy Holiness and Glory upon this numerous Assembly Oh let them not be idle Spectators of these dreadful Providences Oh That they may be Ordinances for this good for their Conversion and Reformation Oh That every Soul that is gazing here may smite upon his Breast and lament that Universal corruption which is in our nature and the woful effects of our sin Sin having once conceived bringeth forth death We have the root of the matter in us the very causes of those sins for which these Malefactors suffer had we the same temptations we might be Guilty of the like transgressions And were it not for the Cords and Curbs of thy Restraining Grace we should be in their Condition Blessed be God we are not 'T is thou only that hast made us to differ Oh That all Masters of Families Parents of Children would see that they in their own Persons and with their Families do serve the Lord Oh Let there be no ' Prayerless Families no uncatechized Children in this Place Look once more we pray thee with mercy upon this thy poor Creature She is very low very miserable yearn upon her with bowels of compassion and embrace her with arms of everlasting lave Be her God and her Guide unto death and her Saviour from everlasting death And all we beg in and for the sake of our dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who sits on the Right hand making intercession for her and for us Hear us for his sake and gratiously answer us and do abundantly for her and us beyond what we can ask or think To him with thy self Holy Father and Eternal Spirit be Everlasting Glory Dominion Praise and Thanksgiving Amen Prayer being ended I lifted up my hands over her and said Anne the Lord bless thee and keep thee The Lord make his Face to shine upon thee and be gracious to thee The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon thee and give thee Peace And if thy Repentance be true and thy peace made with God and our Prayers heard as I hope they all are death wont be terrible unto thee Now Farewel Life welcome Death God will send his Holy Angels in a Fiery Chariot to Convey thy Soul into Heaven THis poor wretch weeping and wringing me by the hand Sir saith she I am never able to requite you for all your labor of love care and pains about the Salvation of my pretious Soul but the Lord. will I hope The Lord reward you The Lord recompense you for all these kindnesses I thank you with all my Heart And as I was departing from her she helpake me Sir pray intreat for me that I may not be put to too much torture I answered her in broken words and tears for few there refrained That I would do my utmost endeavor to prevent it And turning my self to the Gentlemen in Authority Gentlemen the English temper abhors Cruelty show same Bowels to this poor Creature I need not intreat it there was such a Clowd of grief sitting upon all their Faces and so much tenderness and companion that they would have done their utmost to have hindred it Two went to the Maid and
are become the objects of his rage and fury Satan had lost Heaven and he envies them Earth Their habitation in an Earthly Heaven displeaseth him because it pleaseth God They just now came out of their Creators hands endowed with a double Portion Holyness and happiness But he resolves they shall not long enjoy either Hence in the very first dawn of their Creation he contrived and accomplished their destruction He subtilly insinuates the poyson of sin by his conferences with and suggestions unto Eve and she having once tasted of the dose and allured with the deceitful pleasantness thereof to her sensual appetite communicates it to her Husband and they both derive it down unto all their natural posterity Ah! How many Murders were in this One Mankind made and ruined altogether Certainly they who plotted the blowing up of King and Kingdom in One hour they who effected the Sicilian Vespers Parisian Mattins and Irish Massacres had been all trained up and Educated in the Schools of this this old and Grand Abaddon Adam being in Honor continued not a day in it His glorious state did shine and set with the same Sun In the Morning it flourished and grew up in the Evening it was cut down and withered like the Grass He played away as a besorted Gamester his whole and all present and to come what he had in possession what he might have in Reversion at one cast Nothing was left him but his sin and curse and this he propagates unto all his Children A most sad Portion to be inherited by us Sin being now conceived doth prodigiously spawa and swarm The Old Serpent is not idle His boiling malice gives him no rest His first born like the Plague spreads its venom universally and new Monsters are hatched and produced by it every day New sins in new shapes in odious and hideous colours shew forth their heads Grace is modest Sin impudent and shameless It seeketh no disguise nor putteth on a Vizard but for its own security and in order to further mischief to perpetrate some greater Villany The Devil having set variance between God and Man will give another cast of his Office He throws a Bone of contention between Man and Man The nearest Relations the dearest Friends they that had the same flesh in their Bodies the same blood in their veins that if not Twins yet scarce divided in their age that were Nurst Fed and Educated together both alike tendered by their Indulgent and Religious Parents shall yet through his subtilty and cruelty be sundered and divided one from the other And if he cannot drag them both with himself into Hell yet will he precipitate the one by a bloody and Barbarous death into his untimely Grave and the other by a sin like his own into the bottomless Pit of destruction ere he is aware of it Cain by the instigation of the wicked one upon no provocation no offence given unless Gods gracious acceptance of Abel for his Faith and Holiness be a crime Murthers his own his only and dearest Brother Bloody Villain Thou choppest off thy right hand with thy left thou dashest out thine own Brains in dashing out his Thou destroyest his body but damnest thine own Soul Ah what grief it this to Pious Adam Oh what joy and Musick unto Hell Revenge is sweet But it s a poor revenge Satan Which ends hi thine own in thine endless destruction However the Devil hath shown the way of Murthering and bad Arts are soon learnt Any one may be an easie and early proficient in Ungodliness the whole and old World soon got the skill of it God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually The Earth also was corrupt before God and filled with Violence All flesh had perverted its way and blood touched blood There was no fair and gentle means left unessayed by God to reclaim sinners to dam up if possible the torrents of their ungodliness to stench those foul issues and frequent effusions of Innocent blood Adam and the Holy Patriarks decry it down in their Lives and Sermons Enoch the Phoenix of his Age for the life and power of Godliness shining most illustriously in his Conversation Thunders out Prophesies of dreadful Judgments against the irreligious Cainites Behold saith that Glorious Saint The Lord cometh with Holy Myriads of Angels to Execute vengeance upon all the ungodly and to convince you of your ungodliness in flames of Fire who will not be convinced by our Ministry Upon the wicked he shall Rain Snares Fire and Brimstone and an horrible Tempest This shall be the Portion of their Cup. But the Prophet is counted a Fool and the Spiritual man Mad and his Menaces of approaching wrath idle Dreams melancholly thoughts bugbears to fright Children and bublings up of his envy and malice against them Thus he and his Prophecies are despised and scornfully rejected At last fair warning and loud calls and Summons unto Repentance having been long afforded them and not accepted nor in the least improved the patience of God is tired mercy finally departs from them and Divine Justice sweeps away the Habitations and persons of those Scarlet Sinners with a deluge of Waters One would have thought that such a fearful Judgment should have cautioned afterages from ever treading in their steps But alas Posterity is grown stupid and Judgment-proof As for Gods Judgments the wicked makes a puff at them they are afar off above and out of his sight he forgets and makes no reckoning nor account of them God hath Hanged up some in Chains before their eyes Executed a whole World of Malefactors and made them an everlasting Sign and Example to them yet they willfully shut their eyes that they may not see and lock up the Doors of their hearts that they may not consider for what causes this great wrath is come upon them So that we need not wonder at Gods plaguing such willful blind Souls It is but a righteous Retribution that his Justice oweth them In as much as they regarded not the works of the Lord nor took notice of the operation of his hand he could not build them up he must totally and utterly destroy them Sinners ate the Voluntary Carvers of their own misfortunes They choose and Create unto themselves their own bane and destruction Temporal and Eternal The reading of this ensuing Narrative will be a clear proof and evidence hereof Books Printed for and are to be Sold by Francis Eglesfield at the Marygold in St. Pauls Church-Yard DIvi Britannici being a Remark upon the Lives of all the Kings of this Isle from the year of the World 855. Unto the year of Grace 1660. By Sir Winston Churchill Knight in Folio The Works of that Famous Mathematician Master Edmond Gunter somtimes Professor of Gresham Colledge London Reprinted Corrected and much enlarged in this Fifth Edition in Quarto The whole Art of Dyalling By
they Plow the Rock they do her no good their labor of love is lost their Prayers return into their own bosoms The Relator having visited them several times while they were in the High Goal at Exon thought it convenient to subjoyn the substance and effect of his conferences with them Possibly it may not be displeasing unto his Reader Coming into the Prison early in the Morning he had the Four condemned Persons brought unto him and bespeaks them in these words Miscrable Souls I am heartily sorty to see you in this place and to find you in this Condition You are here Judged of man and you must die but what also if you are Condemned of God and must to Hell for ever You are Sinners are you not You are Guilty of those Crimes for which Sentence is past upon you Three had so much Ingenuity as with Weeping and Trembling to acknowledge it Alas Poor wretches you are weeping because you have offended man and brought your selves to destruction Ah! what a mercy would it be if you could weep unfeignedly for your offences against God and because you have lost his Image and favor which is the greatest Blessing and deserved his wrath and Curse which is the greatest misery What think you of Sin Is it as sweet and pleasing to you now you must die for it as when at first you did commit it Here they were silent and Confounded Ah! Now you see what it is not to believe God speaking to you from his Word and by his Ministers you were told that sin would bring sorrow and shame wrath and death sooner or later The Devil and your own corrupted heart rose up against this Discovery of his will and you made light and slight of it and what have you got by it All the Fruit of your sin is that you are ashamed of it and grieved for it its wages is the loss of Earth Life and Heaven and these you are expecting every moment Man hath cast you off for your sins you cannot stand before your earthly Judge And if God shall cast you out of his blessed presence for ever among the Devils and the Damned Spirits how would you be able to bear it They being somewhat moved he askt them How think you to escape the dreadful wrath of God What means have you to save your pretious Souls from Hell What First do you believe you have Souls to save a being in your Body that doth not that cannote die with your Bodies Do you believe there is a God and Devil a Heaven and Hell and that all the wicked shall be turned into Hell and that you all of you shall be flung into it for your sins against God At this they shrugd up their shoulders and had nothing to answer but their Repentance Your Repentance said I what is that Why our sorrow for our sins we would not commit them again if they were now undone Yea indeed so you say and possibly think you would not but you do not know the wickedness and deceitfulness of your own hearts if you were now as heretofore and under the same temptations I know nothing to the contrary but that you would be Guilty of the same transgressions of as bad or worse Besides suppose your Repentance were true and real what amends is that unto God for the manifold dishonors you have done him You have broken every command of God you are Guilty of innumerable sins your very birth and nature is horribly corrupted and all your life long you have been Rebels against God and you think to put off Gods wrath with your pittiful Repentance a late Repentance and it may be no other than the very Reprobates have that are now in Hell Is this all the satisfaction you can make to God They knew no other Then it was told them that God was a great and terrible God that would not put up the affronts and wrongs had been done him without satisfaction that he would by no means acquit the Guilty That they had sinned and must die eternally and if ever they were redeemed from Eternal wrath they must make God full a mends and bring him a Ransome and if they had none nor knew where it was to be had they must expect as soon as they died to be damned for ever I asked of them in particular who or what Jesus Christ was and what it was he had done for them To which there was this answer made they could not tell None that knows a Goal will conceive this a Fable Hardly any but Atheists and the most ignorant wretches in the whole County are clapt up there and for one sin they brought with them into it they carry away Cart-loads out of it Our County Prisons being the Common Sinks of the Country and a Shop wherein all impiety is soonest learned and attained Their ignorance of Christ his Person Natures Offices and Undertakings for poor Souls made me to aggravate their wickedness and to tell them they had wretchedly mispent their time and that now they were going out of the World they must learn the Principles of Christian Religion and I questioned whether they had any Repentance that was pleasing unto God for they had no Faith nor knowledge even of the most necessary Truths without which they could not be saved And for my part I must not flatter you you are nearer Hell than Heaven Upon this there was a discourse made of Christ adapted to their capacities as also of his wonderful love and condescension in becoming man and dying for sinners and satisfying the Justice of God and holding forth his death as the price of Redemption unto all Penitent believers and that this was now offered unto them upon these terms of confessing and abhorring their sins and themselves for their sins and that if they came to God with a sence and feeling of the insupportable burden of the horrid nature and infinite number of their sins and threw themselves at his feet prostrate before him imploring his mercy for the passion of his dear Son the Lord would be merciful to them and he would not cast them off but would pardon and forgive their hainous and grievous offences In the close of this conference Master Holmes Chaplain to the High Sheriff came into the Chamber and after some words with the Malefactors we joyntly parted the Prisoners I withdrawing into another Room with the Nurse and Maid and having pressed them to a free ingenious confession of their Guilt the Girl with tears in her eyes gave me for substance the same confession and not varying in a circumstance from that which at her first apprehension she had made unto the Major and Justice of Plymouth I adjured her in the name of the All-seeing and heart-searching God who hated a Lye and would cast all Lyars into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone for ever to declare nothing but the Truth That she had sinned enough already and had been Guilty of two