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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
hand_n	day_n	lord_n	soul_n	5,145	5	4.8761	4	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

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-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

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-day to sanctify it as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee six days thou shalt labour and do all thy Work but the seventh Day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any Work thou nor thy Son nor thy Daughter nor thy Man servant nor thy Maid-servant nor thine Ox nor thine Ass nor any of thy Cattel nor thy Stranger that is within thy Gates that thy Man-servant and thy Maid-servant may rest as well as thou Deut. 5. 12 13 14. Six days shall Work be done but on the seventh day there shall be to you an Holy day a Sabbath of Rest to the Lord whosoever doth work therein shall be put to death Exod. 35. 2. Blessed is the Man that doth this and the Son of Man that layeth hold on it that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and keepeth his hand from doing any Evil. Isa 56. 2. If thou turn away thy Foot from the Sabbath from doing thy Pleasure on my Holy day and call the Sabbath a Delight the Holy of the Lord Honourable and shalt honour him not doing thine own ways nor finding thine own pleasures nor speaking thine own words Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the Earth and feed thee with the Heritage of Jacob thy Father for the Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Isa 58. 13 14. And on the seventh day ye shall have an holy Convocation ye shall do no servile Work Num. 38. 25. Thus saith the Lord Take heed to your selves and hear no Burden on the Sabbath day nor bring it in by the Gates of Jerusalem Neither carry forth a Burden out of your Houses on the Sabbath-day neither do ye any work but hallow the Sabbath-day as I commanded your Fathers But if you will not hearken to me to hallow the Sabbath-day and not to bear a Burden even entring in at the Gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath-day Then will I kindle a Fire in the Gates thereof and it shall devour the Palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched Jer. 17. 21 22 and 27. Thou hast despised mine Holy things and hast profaned my Sabbaths Ezek. 22. 8. Moreover this they have done unto me they have defiled my Sanctuary in the same day and have profaned my Sabbaths Ezek. 23. 38. And the Lord said unto Moses How long refuse ye to keep my Commandments and my Laws See for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the Bread of two days abide ye every Man in his place let no Man go out of his place on the seventh day So the People rested on the seventh day Exod. 16. 28 29 30. Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them But the House of Israel rebelled against me in the Wilderness they walked not in my Statutes and they despised my Judgments which if a Man keep he shall even live

him so nimble Mr. Ameridith replied he doubted not but to dance about the May-Pole the next Lord's Day but before he moved out of that place he was smitten with such a Feebleness of Heart and Dissiness in his Head that desiring help to carry him to a House he died before the next Lord's Day came At Walton in Surrey upon the Thames there in a great Frost Anno 1634 Three young Men on the Lord's Day after they had been at the Church in the Forenoon where the Minister pressing the words of his Text out of 2 Cor. 5. 10. That we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ c. They the while whispered as they sate And in the Afternoon they went together over the Thames upon the Ice unto a disorderly House of Gameing c. where they spent the remainder of the Lord's Day and part of the Night also in Revelling one of them in a Tavern merrily discoursing the next Day of his Sabbath Deeds and of his Voyage over the Ice but on the Tusday after these three returning homewards and attempting to pass over the Ice again they all sunk down to the bottom like Stones whereof one only was miraculously preserved but the other two were drowned Anno 1598 the Town of Teverton in Devo●shire was often warned and advised and told by the Godly Pastor thereof that God would bring some heavy Judgment upon the Inhabitants of that place for their horrible Profanation of the Lord's Day occasioned chiefly by reason of their Market-day being on the Monday and accordingly not long after their Minister's death in the said Year God sent a terrible Fire which in less then half an Hour consumed the whole Town except the Church the Court-house Almes-houses and a few poor People's Dwellings and above 50 Persons were consumed and perished in the Flames Also Anno 1612 it was again wholly burnt down except a few poor Houses they not being warned by the former Judgment but continuing in the same Sin In the Year 1635 A Profane Company of young Men went as Mr. Faucnor relates on the Lord's Day early in the Morning to Clarendon-Park to cut down a May-Pole and having loaden the Cart with it at Miln●rs-Barn entring into Salisbury one of the Cart Wheels falling into a Rutt made the young Tree in the Cart which they had stoln for a Pole to give a great shugg on one side which struck one of the Company such a blow on the Head that it beat out his Brains so that he presently died in the place and there lay a fearful Spectacle of God's Wrath both against that idle Sport and wilful prosaning of the Sabbath whilst he makes the very thing they had chosen for their Sport and Pastime to be the Instrument of executing his Fury And Dr. Teate gives a second Example of this Nature in the Year 1626. We read that Mr. Abberley a Godly Minister in Burton upon Trent did often take occasion to reprove and threaten Sabbath-breakers especially such as sold and bought Meat upon the Sabbath-day Mornings a Practice too common it seems in that place nevertheless there was a Taylor in the Town a very nimble active Fellow dwelling at the upper end of the Town who would go through the long Street as it were in Bravado to the other end of the Town and fetch home Meat on the Lord's Day before Morning-Prayer But as he came back with both his Hands full in the midst of the Street he fell down stark dead which as it pleased God says the Doctor did work some Reformation both amongst the Butchers and others When I was in Cheshire says my Author there was one Sir T. S. a Papist and at that time in favour at the Court who coming into his Country was much feasted and followed by the Gentry and upon a Sabbath day was entertained and feasted at a Knight's House where many others were present towards Evening they went to Dancing and in the midst of their Sports there was one Sir J. D. that had a great Blow given him on his Leg by an invisible Hand which made him lame for a long time after Thomas Savage a young Man who was Executed at Ratcliff Octob. 28. 1668 for Murthering his Fellow-Servant whilst he was in Newgate cryed out thus to some that came to see him O Wretch said he that I was 〈◊〉 studied how I might spend the Lord's Day in the Devil's Work I thought I could never dishonour God enough and that time I should have served God in I did most for Satan in it on the Sabbaths I used to play my Prancks I sometimes went into the Church indeed but I may speak it to my Shame and deep Sorrow I never heard one whole Sermon all the while I was with my Master and indeed I laughed at those that spent the Sabbath in Hearing and Praying and looked upon them as the veriest Fools in the World I was glad when the Sabbath came that I might have time to run to my Vile Comrades I rejoiced that then I could go to satisfy my cursed Lusts with Wherish Women O tell young Men from me that the breaking of the Sabbath is a dangerous and costly Sin Also while he was in Newgate one Sabbath day his Fellow-Prisoners being at Cards asked him to join with them O said he you and I have something else to do with our Time than to play at Cards is it now a time for us to be sporting away the Sabbath when we have but one poor Sand left us to work for Eternity A Minister on a time preaching and pressing the Sanctification of the Sabbath had occasion in his Sermon to make mention of that Man that by the special Command of God was stoned to death for gathering Sticks upon the Sabbath day Whereupon one in the Congregation stood up and laughed and made all the haste that he could out of the Church and went to gathering of Sticks the he had no need of them but when the People came out from Sermon they found this Man stark dead with the bundle of Sticks in his Arms lying in the Church-Porch Gregory Tomonensis reports that an Husbandman who upon the Lord's Day went to plow his Field as he cleansed his Plow-share with an Iron the Iron stuck so fast into his Hand that for two Years he could not be delivered from it but carried it about continually to his exceeding great Pain and Shame Another Profane Fellow without any regard to God or his Service made no Conscience to lead his Corn out of the Field on the Lord's Day in Sermon time but he was well rewarded for his ungodly Covetousness for that Corn which with so much care he gathered together was consumed with Fire from Heaven with the Barn and all the Grain that was in it And a certain Noble-man every Lord's Day using to go a Hunting in the Sermon time the Lord punished his Impiety with this Judgment he caused his Lady to

to look upon the Wine when it is red when it sparkles in the Cup or to rise up early in the Morning to follow drink that is strong as appears by the places of Scripture beforecited in the last preceding Chapter And we read that Pitticus the Mitelenian Philosopher and one of the seven wise men of Greece made a Law that whosoever committed a Crime when he was drunk should be punished double both for the Offence committed and also for being drunk And Solon another of the seven wise men of Greece and the famous Law-giver to the Athenians ordained that if any Prince were taken drunk he should be put to death Noah that Holy Patriarch drinking too much Wine not only discovered his own shame but also was the occasion of the cruel Curse which the Lord sent upon the Posterity of Cham which even to this day lieth hard upon them And Lot though he hated the Sin of Sodom and escaped the Punishment thereof yet being overcome with the Wine of the Mountains he committed Incest with his own Daughters and made a new Sodom of his own Family Balthasar rioting and revelling amongst his Whores had the end of his Life and Kingdom denounced against him by a bodiless Hand writing upon the Wall the Lord's Decree And whilst Holofernes besotted his sences with excess of Wine and good Chear Judith found means to cut off his Head Alexander the Great having invited many of his Favourites and Captains to a Supper propounded a Crown in reward to him that should drink most so one in the Company swallowed up four Steans of Wine being in value worth six hundred Crowns and so won the Prize but lost a greater Prize viz. his Life for he survived not three days after and one and forty of the rest that did strive with him for Conquest dyed also to bear him Company at his Death as they had done in the Frolick Alexander also himself was so addicted to the excess of drinking Wine and was oft-times so distempered therewith that sometimes he kill'd his Friends at the Table in his drunken fits whom in sobriety he loved dearest Cyrillus a Citizen of Hippon had a drunken Son who in the midst of his Drunkenness kill'd his own Mother great with Child and his Father also that endeavoured to restrain his drunken Fury and would have ravished his Sister had she not strugled sore and made her escape not without many wounds Three not far from Huntington to my own knowledg saith my Author being overcharged with Drink perished by Drowning when being not able to rule their Horses they were carried by them into the main Stream from whence they never came out again alive but left behind them visible marks of God's Justice for the Terror and Example of others Upon the Coasts of Bohemia Anno 1551. five drunken men quaffing together with horrible Blasphemies profaned the Name of God and the Picture of the Devil being painted on the Wall they caroused Healths to him to which the Devil answered immediately and the next Morning all five were found dead their Necks being broken and squeez'd to pieces as though a Wheel had gone over them Blood running out of their Mouths Nostrils and Ears to the great Astonishment of the Beholders An Alewife in Kesgrave near Ipswich who would needs force three Serving-men that had been drinking in her House and were taking their leaves to stay and drink the three Ou ts before they went that is Wit out of the Head Money out of the Purse and Ale out of the Barrel as she was coming towards them with the Pot in her hand was suddenly taken speechless and sick and her Tongue swoln in her Head and never recovered her Speech but di●d the third day after Two Servants of a Brewer in Ipswich drinking for the Rump of a Turkey and strugling in their Drink for it fell into a scalding Caldron backwards whereof one died presently and the other lingringly and painfully since my coming says Mr. Ward to Ipswich A Man coming home drunk would needs go and swim in the Mill-pond his Wife and Servants knowing he could not swim perswaded him and once got him out of the Water but he going in again was drowned in the Pond In Barnwel near Cambridg a lusty young man living at the sign of the Plough with two of his Neighbours and one Woman in their Company agreed to drink up a Barrel of strong Beer and drinking up the same three of them died within four and twenty Hours and the fourth hardly escaped after great Sickness A Butcher in Haslingfield hearing the Minister inveigh against Drunkenness being at his Cups in the Alehouse fell a scoffing at the Minister and his Sermons and as he was drinking the Drink or something in the Cup got into his Throat and stuck so there that he could neither get it up nor down but was choaked therewith presently At Tillingham in Dengy Hundred in Essex Three young men meeting to drink strong Waters fell by degrees to half Pints and one of them fell down dead in the Room and the other two prevented by Company coming in escaped not without much Sickness At Bungy in Norfolk three coming out of an Ale-house in a dark Evening swore they thought it was not darker in Hell it self one of them fell off the Bridg into the Water and was drowned the second fell off his Horse and the third sleeping on the Ground by the River side was frozen to Death A Bailiff of Hedley being drunk upon the Lord's Day at Melford would needs get upon his Mare to ride through the Street affirming as the report goes says my Author that his Mare would carry him to the Devil and his Mare casting him off broke his neck Company drinking in an Alehouse at Harwich in the Night over against one Mr. Russels Mayor of the Town was by him once or twice desired to depart and at length coming down he took one of them making as if he would carry him to Prison who drawing his Knife fled from him and was three days after taken out of the Sea with the Knife in his hand At Tenby in Pembrokshire a Drunkard being excessive drunk broke himself all to pieces from an high and steep Rock in a most fearful manner and yet the occasion and Circumstances of his fall so ridiculous as I says my Author think not fit to relate lest in so serious a Judgment I should move laughter to the Reader A Glasier in Chancery-lane in London fell to a common course of Drinking and being admonished by his Wife and many of his Friends to leave off his sinful Course yet he presuming much of God's Mercy continued in his sinful practise till upon a time having overcharged his Stomach with Drink he fell a vomiting broke a Vein lay two days in extream pain of Body and sorrow of Mind till in the end recovering a little Comfort he died Four sundry instances of Drunkards wallowing and tumbling in their

Essex Monster upon the Body of his Mother whom he likewise slew In the Parish of Castle-Terra in the County of Cavan in Ireland a Gentleman when he met with jovial Company used to drink Healths and throw the Glasses against the Walls he delighted also to contradict what Ministers delivered in their Sermons and having heard one preach of the Benefits and Trial of a justifying Faith after Sermon he demanded of the Preacher whether he could remove Mountains if I could see you do that then said he I would believe you had Faith otherwise not for does not the Gospel say If a Man have Faith but as a Grain of Mustard seed he shall say to Mountains be removed hence and it shall be done But at length this Gentleman was strucken with the Small-pox which got into his Throat in such manner that he could not swallow nor let down a little Beer to cool his excessive internal Heat wherewith being sore tormented he broke out into these Expressions to an honest man that stood by O Thomas would I could now receive one of those Glass-fulls of Drink which formerly I have thrown against the Wall in a Frolick and afterwards when he saw there was no Remedy but die he must he said again O that I now had Faith like a Grain of Mustard-seed and a little after he deceased in the fifty seventh year of his Age. We read of a Drunkard says Mr. Clark who in the midst of his Cups sold his Soul to the Devil for a Tankard of Wine and the Devil forthwith had his Bargain A certain young man that had devoted himself to a pious and retired course of Life was much assaulted by the Devil by sundry Temptations and pressed to make choice of one of these three Sins once to be drunk or to lie with his Neighbours Wife or to kill his Neighbour and the Temptation so far prevailed that at last he chose the first viz. once to be drunk as deeming it the least Sin but when the Devil had drawn him to that at the same time both the other Sins were committed by him For as St. Bernard observes Ad universa vel crudelitatis vel turpitudinis facinora perpetranda facilis invenitur via cui nulla sobriae mentis ratio sed ebrietas dominatur When Drunkenness gets rule and dominion over a man he is then easily drawn to commit any sort of Villany so when the young man was gotten drunk he then did not scruple to lie with his Neighbour's Wife and to kill his Neighbour too A certain Drunkard whom I says a godly Minister knew very well when he was in drink quarrelled with his fellow-Servant and after a few words knock'd him down with his Flail and kill'd him at one blow yet when he came to his Trial by the help of his Friends he made a shift to escape the Halter and came home again and there he used to swear and curse and drink at as high a rate as ever but at last when he was in the same Yard where he committed the aforesaid Murder he fell down dead in a moment and I was saith the same Minister one of the first that saw him Mr. Baxter tells us a Story for a certain Truth There is in London saith he an understanding sober pious man oft one of my Hearers who hath an elder Brother a Gentleman of considerable Rank who having formerly seemed pious of late years doth oft fall into the Sin of Drunkenness he oft lodgeth long together here in this his Brothers House and whenever he is drunk and hath slept himself sober something knocks at his Bed-head as if one knocked on the Wainscot when they remove the Bed it followeth him besides loud noises in other parts where he is that all the House heareth They have oft watch'd and kept his Hands lest he should do it himself and his Brother has often told me and brought his Wife a discreet Woman to attest it who averreth moreover that she watching him has seen his Shoes under the Bed taken up and nothing touch them they brought to me the man himself and when we asked him how he dared to sin after such a warning he had no excuse but being a person of Quality for some special reason I says Mr. Baxter must not name him Nathaniel Butler was first addicted to Drunkenness Gaming Purloining and Fornication before he committed that murder upon his Friend John Knight in Milk-street London 1657. for which he was afterwards condemned to the Gallows and executed Mr. William Rogers an Apothecary in Crane-brook in Kent exceedingly much given to Drinking and Sabbath-breaking tho a young man of a pleasing sweet Temper was often admonished and perswaded by Mr. Robert Abbot Minister of the place to come to Church but had often promised and failed But one Lord's-day in the morning when he said he was ready to come he was taken sick and betook him to his Bed but it proving only an Ague next morning he betook him to his old course again next Week after the Messenger of Death came in earnest Mr. Abbot addressed himself to him in his Chamber with these words O how often have you deceived God your own Soul and me and what is now to be done I fear you will die and then what will become of you his Sickness prevailed and there was too great a Fire kindled in his Breast to be smothered it burned in his own Soul and it lightned from his Heart and Lips into the Ears and Hearts of those about him one while he cries out of his Sins saying I have been a fearful Drunkard pouring in one draught after another till one draught could not keep down another I now would be glad if I could take the least of God's Creatures which I have abused and have neglected my Patients which have put their Lives into my hands and how many Souls have I thus murdered I have wilfully neglected God's House Service and Worship and tho I purposed to go God strikes me thus before the day of my promise comes because I am unworthy to come amongst God's People Again another while he falls to wishing O that I might burn a long time in that Fire pointing to the Fire before him so I might not burn in Hell O that God would grant me but one year or a month that the World might see with what an Heart I have promised to God amendment O that God would try me a little but I am unworthy Another while to his Companions Beware by me to forsake your wicked ways lest you go to Hell as I must do calls his young Servant tells him that he had been a wicked Master to him But be warn'd by me says he you have a Friend that has an Iron Furnace which burns hot and long but if you give your self to my Sins you shall be burned in the furnace of Hell an hotter Furnace millions of millions of Ages The Minister propounding the Gospel-promises of the largest

and a Kinswoman into a Garden he had and the Ministers coming to admonish him and exhort him to Repentance he was so far from being touched in Conscience or any ways moved with their godly Admonitions that he strove rather to harden himself more and more in his Wickedness And being one day swearing and denying God and giving himself to the Devil and calling for him with vehemency the Devil came and snatched him up presently and heaved him up into the Air his Wife and Kinswoman looking on and seeing him fly over their Heads he was never afterwards seen any more A Popish Priest on a time thundring out bitter Curses in the Pulpit against Luther wished if Luther's Doctrine was true that a Thunder-bolt might strike him to death three days after a mighty tempest of Thunder and Lightning arising the Priest ran to the Altar into the Church and fell to his Prayers but the Vengeance of God found him out and his Hypocrisy so that he was strucken in a manner dead with the Lightning but coming to Life again as they led him homewards through the Church-yard another flash so scorch'd him that he was burnt from the crown of his Head to the sole of the Foot as black as a Shoo so that he died with the manifest mark of God's Vengeance upon him Beza reports that he knew a man in France of good parts well instructed in Religion and a Master of a Family who in his anger Cursing and bidding the Devil take one of his Children had presently his wish for the Child was possessed immediately with a Spirit from which tho by the frequent and continual Prayers of the Church he was at length released yet before he came to his perfect Health he died The like hapned to a Woman whom her Husband in anger devoted to the Devil with bitter Curses whereupon Satan assaulted her presently and deprived her of her Wits so that she could never be recovered Another example saith the same Author hapned to a Perjurer that wittingly and wilfully forswore himself to the end to prejudice and deceive another but he had no sooner made an end of his false and wicked Oath but a grievous Apoplex seized him so that without speaking any one word afterwards he died within a few days A decrepit Romish Priest being by the help of others heaved and lift up into the Pulpit and choosing the Text out of 1 Cor. 11. concerning the Lord's Supper and taking occasion to defend the Papistical errors of the Mass he used these or the like blasphemous Speeches O. Paul Paul if this Doctrine touching the receiving the Sacrament in both kinds be true and if it be a wicked thing to receive it otherwise then I wish the Devil would come to take me and then turning himself to the People if the Pope's Doctrine concerning this point be not true then I am the Devil's bond-slave neither do I fear to pawn my Soul upon it These and many other blasphemous words he used till the Devil came indeed in the likeness of a tall man black and terrible sending before him such a fearful noise and such a wind that the People fearing the Church falling on their Heads were greatly amazed but he not able to hurt the rest took away the old lame Priest being his devoted Bond-slave and carried him so far that he was never after heard of In the year 1556. at St. Gallus in Helvetia a certain man that earned his living by making clean rough foul Linen against the Sun entring a Tavern tasted so plentifully of the juice of the Grape that he vomited out terrible Curses against himself and others amongst the rest he wished if ever he went into the Fields to his old Occupation that then the Devil might come and break his Neck yet notwithstanding his late words and this his profane and wicked Execration after sleep had conquer'd his drink and sobriety restored his Senses he went again to his Trade remembring his late words but little regarding them but however the Devil attended him at his appointed hour in the likeness of a big swarthy man and asked him if he remembred his promise the Vow which he made the day before and if it were not lawful for him to break his Neck and so struck the poor trembling man over the Shoulders that his Feet and his Hands presently dried up and there he lay not able to stir till by help of men he was carried home the Lord not giving the Devil so much power as he wished himself but yet permitting him to plague him on this sort for his Amendment and our Example Henry Earl of Schwartburgh through a corrupt custom used commonly to wish that he might be drowned in a Privy and as he wished so it hapned unto him for he was so served and murdered at St. Peter's Monastery in Erford in the year of our Lord 1148. The like befel a young Courtier at Mansfield whose custom was in any earnest Asseveration to say the Devil take me if it be not so so the Devil took him indeed whilst he slept and threw him out at a high Window where tho by the goodness of God he caught no great harm yet he learnt by experience to bridle his Tongue from all such cursed Speeches this being but a taste of God's Wrath that is to fall upon such wretches A Woman giving her self to the Devil both Body and Soul did use most horrible Cursing and Oaths both to her self and others usually at all times and in a more effectual manner at a certain Wedding and the People exhotting her to leave off her sinful course of Life yet she not regarding their advice continued in her profane wicked progress till all the People were set at Dinner and very merry and then the Devil came in Person and transported her into the Air before them all with most horrible outcries and roarings and in that manner carried her round about the Town so that the Inhabitants were very terribly afraid and then he tore her in four pieces leaving in several Highways a quarter that all that came by might be witnesses of the Punishment and then returning to the Marriage threw her Bowels on the Table before the Mayor of the Town with these words Behold these dishes of Meat belong to thee whom the like destruction awaiteth if thou dost not amend thy wicked Life There is mention made in Luther's Conferences that divers Noble-men being striving together at an Horse-race in their Course cried The Devil take the last and the last being a Horse that broke loose the Devil hoisted him up into the Air and took him clean away We read of a certain man that provided a sumptuous Supper and none of his invited Guests coming to it he in a great Passion and Heat said If none of them will come then let all the Devils in Hell come and presently came a number of those hellish Fiends whom he not discerning from men coming to welcom and

to Prison about them she began there to rot and stink so that they were forced to thrust her out of Prison into an Hospital where she in great Misery repented of her foul Sin Also one John Duncalf of Kings Swinford in January 1677. coming to the House of one Humfry Baby at Grangewell about three miles from Woolverhampton he begg'd of the Woman there Victuals and Drink who formerly knowing him and compassionating his Condition freely gave him some but while she was stooping to draw him some drink he stole her Bible and sold it afterwards fort three Shillings to a Maid not far off whereby the Woman came to hear-of it and paying her the Money received it again but could not hear what was become of the man But a while after John Duncalf hearing it discoursed that he stole a Bible grew very angry and gave out threatning words against a young man that reported it but being severely charged with it he did not only deny it with some fierceness but execrated and cursed himself wishing his Hands might rot off if it were true which words he had no sooner uttered but by his own Confession to divers that came to see him in his miserable Condition he said that immediately thereupon he had an inward Horror and Trembling upon him a dread and fear of the Divine Vengeance of God and the Justice of him from whom no secrets are hid and that within a few days after his Cursing himself his Flesh began to look black at the wrists of his Hands and he continued divers Weeks with Faintness and fearing an Ague was going for his Acquaintance but not being able to go further he laid himself down in a Barn and there continued two days and nights before he was found from whence he was removed to another Barn near Woolverhampton and had a Keeper appointed him his Flesh began first to rise in great knobs at his Wrists and Knees and to break and run with putrid Matter the Flesh shrunk from the Bones his pain was exquisite the smell very offensive Worms bred in the putrid Flesh and his Hands and Legs fell off And thus continued he begging the Prayers of those Divines that came to visit him and acknowledging the just Judgment of God for his Stealing Lying and Cursing c. for some Weeks a dreadful spectacle of the Divine Vengeance Anno 1677. At Atherbury in Oxfordshire a Woman that kept a petty Alehouse having much addicted her self to Oaths and Curses and one Morning a neighbouring Woman coming thither for some strong Drink she had occasion for and offering a piece of Money she would have two pence or three pence more for a former Debt which the other resolutely denied The Hostess began to swear and use several profane and abominable wishes and imprecations as God damn me and the Devil burn me if it be not so which last words she often repeated thrusting the other Woman violently out of her House shutting the Door and locking it against her Her Husband not long after coming home wondered to find the Door fast but at last with one or two of his Neighbours he forced it open and to his great surprizal finds in the midst of the Floor the Relicks of his Wife one side of her Body and the Clothes on it from the sole of her Foot to the crown of her Head burnt to ashes and nothing left but the Skeleton or part of the Bones whereas the other side remained whole and the Clothes not so much as touch'd or sing'd tho it was observed that the Flesh and Skin was all turned black Much the like Story as Reverend Mr. Turner tells us was published not many years ago concerning a Maid in Dublin A dissolute young man Servant to a Gentleman who was much given to beastly Drunkenness meeting with some of his Companions at Sangall in Switzerland to be merry when they had drunk freely and extravagantly he began to rail at and quarrel with his Companions and using many blasphemies against God he added this execration also If I serve my Master any longer I give my Body and Soul to the Devil and staying there all night in the morning he began to think of what he had said the night before yet having no other means of subsistence he resolved to return to his Master's Service but at his return when he was not far from his Masters House a man met him clad in black and fearful to behold who said to him Come fellow I am now ready to take that which is my right and which thou gavest me yesterday and so taking him by the Hand to his great Horrour and Amazement the Devil threw him to the ground and so vanished and not long after this miserable young man being found by some of his Neighbours his Hands and Feet were drawn together and being brought to a Lodging he had the use of all his Limbs taken from him and so continued till he died miserably A Serving-man in Lincolnshire for every trifle used to swear by God's blood and would not be warned by his Friends till at length falling into a grievous Sickness he was again much perswaded by his Friends to repent which counsel he still rejected and hearing the Bell toll in the very pains of Death he started up God's wounds the Bell tolls for me but he shall not have me yet whereupon the Blood issued out in a most fearful manner from all the joints of his Body from Mouth Nose Wrists Knees Heels and Toes and other parts of his Body and so he died as Mr. Perkins relates Another example of like Punishment befel one Mr. Barrington a great Swearer who going forth a Hunting or Hawking on the Lord's-day or a Festival and not finding game and speeding to his mind he went to an Ale-house at Puckeridg five miles from Ware in the way to Cambridg and call'd for drink beginning to swear after his unhappy Custom saying By God's blood this is an unlucky day and presently after he bled at the Nose which so vexed him that he began to rail and blaspheme the Name of God swearing Passion Wounds Nails Flesh Blood c. till at last he proceeded further to bleed at the Ears Eyes Wrists joints of his Hands and of all his Body at the Navil and Fundament in a wonderful great quantity and streams of Blood blaring out his Tongue in a fearful manner as black as Pitch so that no Person durst come near him this continued till the Devil and Death made an end of him next day says the Publisher hereof the Body was laid in a Cart carried to Standon and buried in the Highway Michael a Jewish Rabbin as he was swearing and blaspheming the Name of Jesus fell down and broke his Neck Three Soldiers passing through a Wood in the Country of Samurta there arose a tempest of Thunder and Lightning and one of them to shew his contempt of God and his Judgments burst forth into swearing and blasphemy