hell he could have despaired no more of his salvation in which condition although he neither had nor could have any joy of his meat yet he did eate against his appetite to deferre the time of his damnation so long as he might thinking that he must needs be thrown into hell so soon as the breath should depart out of his body yet the Lord who graciously preserved him all that while not onely at last did rid him out of all discomfort but also framed him thereby to such mortification of life as the like hath seldome been seen in such sort as he being like one already placed in heaven and dead in this world both in word and meditation led a life altogether celestial abhorring in his minde all profane doings Act. Mon. Mr. John Holland a faithfull Minister of Gods Word the day before his death calling for a Bible continued his meditation and exposition upon the 8. to the Rom. for the space of two hours but on a sudden he said O stay your reading what brightnesse is this I see have you light up any candles A stander by said No it is the Sun-shine for it was about five a clock in a clear Summers evening Sun-shine saith he Nay it is my Saviours-shine now farewell world welcome heaven the day-star from on high hath visited my heart O speak it when I am gone and preach it at my Funeral God dealeth familiarly with man I feele his mercy I see his Majesty whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell God he knoweth But I see things that are unutterable And being thus ravished in his spirit he roamed towards heaven with a chearful look and soft sweet voice but what he said was not understood with the Sunne in the morning following raising himself as Jacob did upon his staffe he shut up his blessed life with these blessed words O what an happy change shall I make from night to day from darknesse to light from death to life from sorrow to solace from a factious world to an heavenly being Oh my dear brethren sisters and friends it pitieth me to leave you behinde yet remember my death when I am gone and what I now feele I hope you shall feele ere you die that God doth and will deale familiarly with men and now thou fiery Chariot that cam'st down to fetch up Elijah carry me to my happy hold and all you blessed Angels that attended the soul of Lazarus to bring it to Heaven bear me Oh bear me into the bosome of my best beloved Amen Amen Come Lord Jesus come quickly And so he fell asleep Leigh Luther who had the Devill the Popes the Emperour and almost all the Christian World against him both by open force and secret fraud seeking his destruction yet the Lord miraculously preserved him for the space of about thirty years in despite of them all and at last he died in peace in his bed at which time he made this heavenly Prayer My heavenly Father Eternall and Mercifull God thou hast manifested unto me thy deare Son our Lord Iesus Christ I have taught him I have known him I love him as my Life my health and my Redemption whom the wicked have injured persecuted maligned and afflicted Draw my soule unto thee for though I must lay down this frail body yet I certainly know that I shall live with thee eternally and that I cannot be taken out of thy hands I commend my spirit into thy hands thou hast redeem'd it O Lord God of truth God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that all that believe in him should have life everlasting which he repeated thrice and so as one falling asleep without any bodily pain that could be discerned he departed this life 1546. See his life in my first part Mr. Bolton upon his death-bed speaking to his Children told them That he verily believed that none of them durst thinke to meet him at the great Tribunall in an unregenerate state and to some of his Parishioners desiring him that as he had by his doctrine discovered unto them the exceeding comforts that were in Christ so he would now tell them what he felt in his soul he answered To give you satisfaction though I want breath to speake I am by the wonderfull mercies of Christ as full of comfort as my heart can hold and feels nothing in my soule but Christ with whom I heartily desire to be See his life in my first part Zuinglius being slaine by his Popish enemies they cut his body into foure peeces and then burnt it in the fire but three dayes after some of his friends coming to the place found his heart in the ashes whole and untouched with the fire The like also was observed of Bishop Cramner See his life in my first part Henry Henry Voes and John Esch when they came to be burnt for the truth of the Gospell joyfully embraced the stake continuing singing of Psalms and when the fire was kindled at their feet one of them said Me thinks you do strew Roses under my feet See my General Martyrology George Scherter being for Religion condemned first to be beheaded and then burnt he told the people that he would give them a signe that he died a true Christian and when his head was cut off his body falling upon the belly lay still whilest one might leasurely eate an Egge and then turned it selfe softly upon the back and crossed the right leg and right arme over the left whereby many of the spectatours were induced to believe the Gospel Act. Mon. Two godly Virgins in Flanders being condemned to be burnt and had the sentence accordingly executed yet could not the Executioners by any means consume their bodies with fire but still they remained white and unhurt Act. Mon. Domicillus being condemned to be burnt for Religion when he was at the stake and the fire kindled the winde so drove away the flame that he continued by the space of an houre untouched by it exhorting and instructing the people that stood by whereupon they brought more wood and vessels of Oile yet neither could he therewith be burnt which the executioner seeing struck at his head with a staffe to whom the holy Martyr said I am condemned to be burned and do you beat me with staves with that the Hangman thrust him through the belly and guts with his Pike and so slew him Act. Mon. Bergerius at Lyons in France being accused and apprehended for Religion was cast into a loathsome dungeon wherein was a thief who had laine there by the space of seven or eight moneths who by reason of his paine and torment blasphemed God and cursed his parents that begat him being almost eaten up with Lice and fed with such bread as Dogs and Horses refused to eate but through the preaching and prayers of Bergerius he was brought to repentance of which he wrote a sweet letter to some of his friends
heart of flesh then holding it forth to the spectatours he was forced to say Except you see signes and wonders you will not believe And throwing the stone amongst them he said Lo here is my heart of stone Then was he cast upon his back on the ground and the voice said Thou shalt have two Angels to keep thee and immediately two swallows came down the Chimney and sat on a shelfe neere him whereupon he cried My Angels my Angels and withal he held out his hand to them expecting they should have come to him but they flew up the chimney again though the doore and windows were open Then was he carried upon his hands and knees out of the doores into the street and when his wife would have stopped him he said he must not be stopped he must forsake wife children and all to follow Christ. Thus went he up the street thinking that he bore a crosse upon his neck till some pulled him out of the mire and dirt and by force carried him into his house whereupon pointing at one of them he said Christ points at thee thou art a wicked woman and hast hindred the work of the Lord. Then the voice asked him Where is thy crosse upon which he thought he saw a visible crosse hanging in a thread which with his hand he put behinde his neck Thus he continued till the evening when many of the Quakers coming to him said Be lowly minded and hearken to the voice within thee and so they left him his strength being almost quite spent with his restlessenesse His wife and family going to bed he remained alone when he began to question whether these strange actions were Divine or Diabolical whereupon he trembled and his hand was forced to take up a knife which lay by and to point it to his throat and the voice said to him Open a hole there and I will give thee eternal life But he threw away the knife and his wife coming to him at her perswasion he went to bed and all the night after he assured himself that he was possessed by the devil and in the morning he roared and cried out Now the devil is gone out of me at which instant he and his family heard it thunder though no others heard it Shortly after the devil came to him again and told him that it was Satan that had possessed and seduced him hitherto but now Christ was come and had cast out Satan and told him also that what he had done the day before was in obedience unto Satan and that as he had served Satan the day before in his cloathes so now this day he must undo all that he had done in his shirt in obedience to Christ whereupon he rose out of his bed went into the street in his shirt but some stopped him whereupon the devil within him told him that he must be carried into the house by four women or else that he should for ever stand there like a pillar of salt as Lots wise did Then foure women carried him into his bed whereupon he told them that the day before he had been doing the devils work but now he must do Christs work c. Then he fell to acting in his shirt upon the bed as he had done the day before upon the floor playing topsey turvey from one bed to another the devil bidding him not to fear for saith he I will give thee strength then it told him that the day before the devil bade him bear his crosse but now Christ bade him lay it aside for Christ takes no pleasure in Crosses nor will be worshipped as yesterday he had done It said farther Yesterday the devil made thee lie all day on the ground but now I have provided a bed for thee For my yoak is easie He promised also to give him bread of life to eat and water of life to drink and that out of his belly should flow rivers of living water Then were his teeth moved as if he was eating and he thought that he felt in his belly a flowing up and down of waters he was told also that yesterday the devils Angels waited on him but now Christs Angels should guard him hereupon he saw two Butterflies in the window and his hand was forced to take one of them and to put it into his mouth which he swallowed down then he was moved to take the other and put it to his throat and he was told that it should enter in there for saith the voice nothing is impossible to him that beleeveth then he was forced to make circles on the bed whereupon he began to supect that he was acted by Satan and thereupon in great fear cried out Lord what wilt thou have me do But the devil answered It 's too late to cry unto God for sentence is already passed against thee Hereupon he lay down in despaire but presently the devil told him the third time that it was a while devil that had deluded him this second time but that now Christ was come indeed and would cast him out and accordingly he thought the devil was ejected But then all his members fell on working as if the pangs of death had been upon him the voice teling him that they were the pangs of the New-birth and that now Christ was new-borne in him Thus he continued a whole day and the devil told him that now he should work wonders and cast out devils in Christs Name Then came in two of the Quakers to whom he said I have two devils cast out of me but now Christ is in me of a truth Then said the devil to him I was crowned with a crown of thornes but I will crown thee with a crown of glory and bade him set his fist upon his head which saith he to the standers by shall appear as a glorious crown when he did this he asked them what they saw they answered nothing whereupon the devil told him that they saw the crown on his head but were so stricken with admiratien that they could not expresse what they saw Then the devil bade him tell one of the Quakers that he had a devil in him but he should east it out and that he should quake and tremble which accordingly he did then the devil bade him to speak to him to fall flat on the ground which he did and presently rose againe whereupon Gilpin asked him whether now the devil was gone out of him to which he answered not but the devil told him that he was now ejected c. A while after he began again to question whether in all this he were not deluded by Satan which made him fall into a great fear and then the devil told him that all this while he had been serving him and blaspheming God and that now it was too late to repent Hereupon he fell into despaire for a time thinking that every thing which he either heard or saw was the devil that came to fetch him away Sometimes
countrey but yet the water was too shallow to carry boats till God sent a strong Southwest winde which drave the sea into the rivers and land that great boats passed and victualled the â—own whereupon the Spaniards raised their siege but behold the remarkable work of God! who two dayes after sent as strong a North-west winde that beat back the Sea again whence it came Belg. Com. Wealth p. 72. Rochell being besieged with a mighty Army from the beginning of December 1573. to the moneth of June following a Dearth began to seize upon the godly Protestants which were within the same but the Lord seasonably sent a number of fishes called Surdones into the haven whereby the poor Inhabitants were relieved during the continuance of the siege which being once broken up the fishes departed and were found no more in that coast Fren. Hist. As it was always one of Mr. Latimers wishes that he might be so happy as to shed his hearts blood for the truth and so it fell out at the time of his burning that when the violence of the fire had opened his body such abundance of blood gushed so violently out from his heart to the great astonishment of the beholders as if all the blood in his body had been gathered to that one place Act. Mon. A Christian Matron of excellent parts and piety languishing long under the pressure of hideous temptations wofully at length yeelded to despaire and attempted the destruction of her selfe After often and curious seeking occasion for that bloody fact at last getting upon a Rock that hung over into the Sea putting off her apparell she threw her self head long from the same but receiving no hurt by the fall she was there miraculously preserved for the space of two houres labouring all that while industriously to drown her self after which time being with much difficulty drawn forth and recovered she did yet conflict with that extreamest desperate horrour almost an whole yeer after but at length by Gods providence listening oâ— a time though very unwillingly at the first to her husband reading that Text Esa. 57. 15. by little and little abundance of spiritual comfort flowed into her heart in which condition she continued many yeeres after even untill her death which was 1595. Mr. Bolton A virtuous Gentlewoman in this Land doubting very often of her salvation made her case known unto a godly Minister who often counselled her to take heed of inquiries farther then Gods Word and to trust assuredly that she might ground her salvation upon evidences out of that without farther revelations yet still did that temptation grow upon her insomuch that having a Venice-glasse in her hand the Minister sitting by her she brake forth into very lamentable words saying You have often told me that I must seek no further then Gods Word but I have been long without comfort and can endure no longer therefore if I must be saved let this glasse be kept from breaking and therewithal she threw it against the walls and though the Lord might have dealt otherwise yet he was content to satisfie her longing soul with a miracle The Glasse rebounds againe and comes safe unto the ground which the Minister taking up said Oh repent of this sinne and blesse God for his mercy never distrust him more of his promise Bolton Yates See this more fully in my first part of Lives In the life of Master Fox Mistris Katharine Brettergh upon her death-bed was assaulted with most grievous temptations which made her cry out that a roaring wildernesse of wo was within her that her sinnes had made her a prey to Satan and wished that she had never been borne or that she had been made any other creature rather then a woman crying Wo wo wo c. a weake a wofull a wretched a forsaken woman but at length by Gods wonderful mercy she recovered such comfort that in the ravishments of spirit she cried out O Lord Jesus doest thou pray for me O blessed and sweet Saviour how wonderful how wonderful how wonderful are thy mercies O thy love is unspeakable that hast dealt so graciously with me O Lord my God blessed be thy Name for evermore which hast shewed me the path of life thou diddest O Lord hide thy face from me for a little season but with everlasting mercy thou hast compassion upon me and now blessed Lord thy comfortable presence is come yea thou art come to thine handmaid with fulnesse of joyes and abundance of consolation O the joyes the joyes the joyes that I feel in my soul O they be wonderful they be wonderful they be wonderful O Lord I feele thy mercy and I am assured of thy love and so certaine am I thereof as thou art the God of truth even so sure do I know my self to be thine and this my soul knoweth right well and this my soul knoweth right well O blessed be the Lord O blessed be the Lord that hath thus comforted me O the joy the joy the delightsome joy that I feele O praise the Lord for his mercies and for this joy which my soul feeleth full well Praise his Name for evermore See her life and death in my second Part. Mr. Peacock a biessed servant of God being in horrour of conscience recounting some smaller sinnes burst out into these words And for these now saith he I feele an hell in my conscience and afterwards groaning most pitiously he cried out O me pitious wretch Oh mine heart is miserable Oh oh miserable and wofull the burthen of my sinne lieth so heavie upon me I doubt it will break my heart Oh how wofull and miserable is my state that thus must converse with hell-hounds Being asked whether he would pray he answered I cannot then they said Let us pray for you Take not replied he the Name of God in vain by praying for a reprobate but after a while this tempest of temptation being over Truly said he my heart and soul hath been farre led and deeply troubled with temptations and many inconsiderate speeches have flowed from me in the same for which I humbly and heartily aske mercy of God I now finde that the Sea is not more full of water nor the Sunne of light then the Lord of mercy yea his mercies are ten thousand times more what great cause have I to magnifie the goodnesse of God that hath humbled nay rather exalted such a wretched miscreant and of so base a condition to an estate so glorious and stately the Lord hath honoured me with his goodnesse I am sure he hath provided a glorious Kingdom for me The joy that I feele in my heart is incredible Bolton Mr. Robert Glover was so worne and consumed by the space of five yeares that neither almost any brooking of meate quietnesse of sleepe pleasure of life yea and almost no kinde of sense was left in him upon the apprehension of some backsliding he was so perplexed that if he had been almost in the pit of
wherein he declared that the next day after he had embraced the Gospel his Lice which before did so abound were all gone not one remaining and that God so stirred up the hearts of good people to pity and provide for him that he was fed with white bread and wholesome food Act. Mon. Fanius who was burnt for Religion in the City of Ferrara in Italy all the time of his burning a most fragrant and odoriferous smell came to all that were present and so pleased their senses that they were much refreshed thereby Act. Mon. One Laremouth alias Williamson Chaplaine to the Lady Anne of Cleave a Scotchman being imprisoned for the true Religion he heard a voice saying to him Arise and go thy wayes whereto when he gave no great heed at first the second time it was so said upon this as he fell to prayer it was said to him the third time likewise which was about halfe an hour after whereupon he rising up immediately part of the prison-wall fell down And as the Officers came in at the outward gate of the prison he leaping over the ditch escaped And in the way meeting a begger changed his coat with him and coming to the Sea-shoare he found a vessell ready to go over into which he entered and escaped Act. Mon. In the massacre of Paris one Merline a godly Minister flying and hiding himself in an Hay mow was nourished for a fortnight together by an Hen which constantly came and layed an Egge by him every day during all that time Act. Mon. Since the beginning of these Civill wars 40. honest men in Cornewall were condemned to be hanged by Sir Richard Greenvile for not assisting him against the Parliament and when they came to be executed the sixt man brake a new halter wherewith he should have been hanged and after that another and after that two others twisted together which miracle of Gods mercy did so astonish the adversaries that they let him and all the rest depart in safety At that time when P. Rupert plunderd the town of Bolton in Lancashire amongst others that were cruelly slaine by his party there was one William Isherwood and his wife both slain Felice their daughter being then eleven weeks old lay pitifully crying at the breast of her dead mother But and it pleased God that an old woman the wife of one Ralph Holme of the same towne aged above seventy yeares who had not given suck above twentie yeares before seeing and hearing the childe compassioned took it up and having neither food for her self nor for the infant in that commoÌ„ calamity to still the child laid it to her breast and behold the goodness of God who provides for the young ravens that cry the childe sucking milke came into her breasts wherewith she nourished it to the admiration and astonishment of all beholders This is attested by three godly Ministers and divers others of good credit who were eye-witnesses of the same St. Augustine being to visit and instruct the people of a certaine place and having a guide to direct thâ—â— way and conduct him thither did notwithstanding by Gods especiall providence mistake the common and usuall road and ignorantly fell into a by-path whereby he escaped the bloody hands of some Donatists who knowing of his journey way-laid him to have taken away his life Possidonius in vit ejus See his Life in my first part The same Father preaching to the Congregation and forgetting the argument which at first he proposed fell upon a confutation of the errours of the Manichees which he never intended and by that meanes converted one Firmus his auditor who afterwards came and fell downe at St. Augustines feet weeping and confessing that he had lived a Manichee many yeares and now by Gods mercy and this Sermon was converted to the true Catholick belief eodem A godly man passing through his last sicknesse whereof he died with extraordinary calmnesse of conscience and absolute freedome from temptations some of his Christian friends observing and admiring the singularity of his soules quiet at that time especially questioned with him about it He answered that he had sted fastly fixed his heart upon that sweetest promise Esa. 26. 3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose minde is stayed on thee because hâ— trusteth in thee And his God had graciously made it fully good unto his soul. Bolton Thomas Whittel a blessed Martyr in Queen Maries dayes was by the wicked suggestions of some Popish incarnate Devills drawn to subscribe to their hellish Doctrine But considering in cold blood what he had done was horribly vexed and felt a hell in his conscience and Satan ready to devoure him which terrible desertion and trouble of minde made him quickly returne with more constancy and fortitude and afterwards by Gods great mercy he proved a most invincible and immoveable Martyr Act. and Mon. James BainhaÌ„ being at the stake in the middest of the flaming fire his legs and his arms being half consumed spake these words O ye Papists behold ye look for miracles and here now you may see one for in this fire I feele no more paine then if I were in a bed of down but it is to me as a bed of Roses Act. and Mon. Iohn Lambert as he was burning in Smithfield when his legges were quite consumed with the fire lifted up his hands his fingers ends flaming like Torches and his heart abounding with comfort cried out None but Christ none but Christ. Act. and Mon. A young man in Wittenberg being kept short by his father was tempted by the Devill to yeeld himselfe body and soule to him upon condition to have his wish satisfied with money which he assented unto and confirmed it by an obligation written with his owne blood whereupon suddenly decaying in his health he was brought to Luther to be examined about the cause unto whom at length he uttered the whole matter which when Luther had heard he brought him into the Congregation where together with the Church he prayed so fervently for him that the Devill at last was forced to bring the bond and throw it in at the window bidding the young man to take it again unto him Act. and Mon. About the yeare 1556. in the town of Weissenstein in Germany a Jew for theft that he had committed was condemned in this cruell manner to be executed He was hanged by the feet with his head downwards betwixt two dogs which constantly snatcht and bit at him The strangenesse of the torment moved Jacobus Andreas a grave and learned Divine to go to behold it Coming thither he found the poor wretch as he hung repeating verses out of the Hebrew Psalms wherein he cryed out to God for mercy Andreas hereupon took occasion to counsell him to trust in Jesus Christ the true Saviour of mankinde The Jew embracing the the Christian faith requested but this one thing that he might be taken downe and be Baptized though
Sabbath-breakers The command of the Sabbath hath a special Memento or Remember prefixed unto it that by timely thinking of it we might lay aside our worldly businesse and get our hearts into an holy array and readinesse for entertainment of God into them It is the market-day of the soul wherein the Lord useth to meet his people to dispense his blessings and graces in and by his Ordinances to those which humbly and reverently attend upon him therein The carefull sanctification of it keeps up the power of godlinesse in our hearts and lives And if worldly labour is unlawfull upon that day much more are carnal delights and pastimes Melius arare quà m saltare in Sabbato It is better to plow then to dance on the Sabbath was St. Austines judgement and when men neglect to punish the profanation of it the Lord usually takes the sword into his own hand and by visible judgements plagues the profaners of it as will further appeare by these Examples following Sabbath instituted Gen. 2. 3. Called holy Exod. 16. 23. 31. 14. Nehem. 9. 14. Isa. 58. 13. The Lords day Rev. 1. 10. The first day of the week This name is given to rhe seventh day Exod. 21. 10. 31. 15. Lev. 23. 3. Deut. 5. 14. To the tenth day in the seventh moneth Lev. 16. 29. 31. 23. 27 32. Num. 29. 7. To some dayes annexed to the solemne festivals as to the first and eighth day Lev. 23. 39. To the seventh year Lev. 26. 4. To the fiftieth year Lev. 25. 10. To the week Luk. 24. 1. 18. 12. the word week is in the Greek Sabbath It was kept 1. By ceasing from servile labour Exod. 20. 8. 31. 14. Luk. 23. 56. Jer. 17. 22. and from doing evil Isa. 56. 2. 2. By preparing to keep it holy Exod. 35. 2. Mark 1. 35 39. with delight Isa. 58. 13 14. 3. By worshipping God Ezek. 46. 3. in the Sanctuary Lev. 26. 2. Numb 28. 18. 4. By praying Ezra 6. 10. Isa. 56. 7. Acts 16. 13. 5. By singing Psalmes 1 Chron. 23. 30. Psal. 92. 95. 2. 6. By reading the Scriptures Acts 13. 15. 15. 21. Deut. 31. 11 c. 7. By Preaching Acts 15. 21. 13. 42 44. Mark 6. 2. Luk. 4. 16 31. 6. 6 13. 10. Mal. 2. 7. Neh. 8. 3. 6. 8. By conference Acts 17. 17. 18. 4 19. 9. Administring the Sacraments John 7. 22. 10. Searching the Scriptures after hearing Act. 17. 11. 11. By holy meditation Deut. 5. 12. Exod. 20. 20. 31. 13 14. It 's commanded Lev. 22. 32. Exod. 20. 8 20. Jer. 17. 24. Deut. 5. 20. It 's not to be polluted Exod. 20. 21 24. Profaned Ezek. 22. 8. 23. 38. with servile work Lev. 23. 7 8. 21. 35 36. Numb 28. 25. 29. 1. Husbandry Exod. 34. 21. Neh. 13. 15. Buying selling or thinking of it Amos 8. 6. Carrying burthens Jer. 17. 11 12. Neh. 13. 15. Journeys about worldly or unnecessary businesses Exod. 16. 29. Doing our own pleasure Isa. 58. 13. January the thirteenth 1583. being the Sabbath about foure a clock in the afternoone the Scaftold in the Bear-garden being overloaden with people suddenly fell down whereby eight persons were slaine outright and many others sorely hurt and bruised to the shortening of their lives Symps. Eccl. Hist. Not long since in Bedfordshire a match at football being appointed on the Sabbath in the afternoone whil'st two were in the Belfree tolling of a Bell to call the company together there was suddenly heard a clap of thunder and a flash of lightning was seene by some that sat 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 Belfree it tripped up his heeles that was toiling the Bell and struck him starke dead and the other that was with him was so sorely blasted therewith that shortly after he died also Dr. Twist on the Sab. At a place called Tidworth on the Sabbath day many being met together to play at Football in the Church-yard one had his leg brokâ—n which presently Gangrenizing he forthwith died thereof Eodem At Alcester in Warwickshire upon the coming forth of the Declaration for sports a lusty young woman went on the Sabbath day to a Greene not farre off where she said she would dance as long as she could stand but while she was dancing God struck her with a violent disease whereof within two or three dayes after she died Also in the same place not long after a young man presently after the evening Sermon was ended brought a paire of Cudgels into the street neare to the Ministers house calling upon divers to play with him but they all refusing at the length came one who took them up saying Though I never played in my life yet I will play one bout now But shortly after as he was jesting with a young maide he took up a birding-peece which was charged saying Have at thee and the peece going off shot her in the face whereof she immediately died for which act he forfeited all his goods and underwent the trial of the Law At Wootton in the same County a Miller going forth on the â—abbath-day to a Wake when he came home at night found his House Mill and all that he had burnt down to the ground At Woolston in the same County many loose persons kept a Whitson-Ale and had a Moris-dancing on the Sabbath day in a Smiths barne to the great griefe of the godly Minister who laboured all that he could to restraine it But it pleased God that shortly after a fire kindled in that Smiths shop which burnt it down together with his house and barne and raging furiously going sometimes with sometimes against the winde it burnt downe many other houses most of which were prime actors in that profanation of the Lords day I my felfe knew these foure last Examples Anno 1634. on a Lords day in the time of a great frost fourteen young men while they were playing at Football on the Ice on the River Trent neare to Gainsborough meeting all together in a scussle the Ice suddenly brake and they were all drowned In the Edge of Essex near Brinkley two fellows working in a Chalk-pit the one was boasting to his fellow how he had angred his Mistresse with staying so late at their sports the last Sunday night But he said he would anger her worse next Sunday He had no sooner said this but suddenly the earth fell down upon him and flew him outright with the fall whereof his fellows limb was broken who had been also partner with him in his jollity on the Lords day In the County of Devon one Edward Amerideth a Gentleman having been pained in his feet and being somewhat recovered one said unto him he was glad to see him so nimble Ameredith replied that he doubted not but to dance about the May-pole the next Lords day but before he