another Earthquake in the same Country that reached 300 Leagues along the Sea-shore and 70 Leagues in Land and Levelled the Mountains along as it went threw down Cities turn'd the Rivers out of their Channels and made an universal Havock and Confusion all this was done saith the Author in the space of seven or eight Minutes sometime before this above 40000 People perished in an Earthquake about Puel and Naples 20. In 1590 happened a terrible Earthquake which made Austris Bohemia and Moravia to Tremble in 1591. In St. Michael Island in the West-Indies there was an Earthquake which continued about 16 days to the extream Terror of the French which inhabit there especially when by force thereof they perceiv'd the Earth to move from place to place and Villa Franca their Principal Town overthrown the Ships that then rode at Anchor trembled and quaked insomuch that the People thought the day of Judgment was come In 1593 another terrible Earthquake happened in Persia which overturn'd 3000 Houses in the City of Lair crushing to Death above 3000 Persons in their Ruins In 1614 there was a great Earthquake in Vercer one of the largest of the Azor's Islands belonging to the King of Portugal overturning the City of Agra 11 Churches 9 Chappels besides many private Houses and in the City of Praga hardly an House was left standing not long after a dreadful Earthquake happened in St. Michael another Island of the Azores the Sea opened and thrust forth an Island above a League and a half in length at the place where there was above 150 Fathom Water 21. In 1622 was a great Earthquake in Italy the shape of an Elephant was seen in the Air and three Suns Armies Fighting Monstrous Births Waters turned into Blood unusual and impetuous Tempests which overthrew several Towers 22. In 1627 an Earthquake happened in England and a great Fiery Beam was seen in the Air in France Six Suns in Cornwall at once and five Moons in Normandy In the same year July 31 happened an Earthquake in Apulia in Italy whereby in the City of Severine 10000 Souls were taken out of the World and in the Horrour of such infinite Ruins and Sepulchre of so many Mortals a great Bell thrown out of the Steeple by the Earthquake fell so fitly over a Child that it inclos'd him doing him no harm made a Bulwark for him against any other danger 23. In the year 1631 there happened a Terrible Earthquake in Naples and the Mountain of Soma after many terrible Bellowings Vomitted out burning streams of Fire which tumbled into the Adriatic Sea and cast out huge deal of Ashes the like happened the year following with great Damage and Loss to the Neighbouring places in Houses People and Cattle and in Apulia 17000 Persons were destroyed by the same 24. In the year 1631 there happened a Terrible Earthquake in the Island of St. Michael one of the Terceres in the Atlantick Ocean Westward upon June the 26th this Island began universally to shake which continued eight days so that the People leaving the cities Towns and Castles were forc'd to live in the open Fields which was attended with a dreadful breaking out of Fire that had not the Wind by Divine Providence blown from the Isle into the Sea and drove back this outragious Fire without doubt the whole Country had been burnt up and destroy'd 25. In 1560 about five a Clock about the County of Cumberland and Westmorland was a general Earthquake wherewith the People were so affrighted that many of them forsook their Houses and some Houses so shaken that their Chimneys fell down The same year the Island of Santorim at the bottom of the Streights in the Mediterranean Sea not far from Candia had formidable Earthquakes and Fires it was most remarkable upon September 24 1650 which shook the Isle till the 9th of October with such mighty and frequent Earthquakes that the People fearing their immediate Ruin was approaching were on their Knees Night and Day before the Altars it cannot be expressed what Horrour seized all Men especially when the Flames breaking through all Obstacles strove to make themselves away through the midst of the Waters of the Ocean about four Mites Eastward from Santorin for the Sea all on a suddain swelled thirty Cubits upward and extending it self wide through the Neighbouring Lands overturn'd all in its way 26. In 1657 the Spaniards felt a terrible blow in Peru which if it were not a Mark of the Wrath of Heaven saith the Author was at least a Sign that the Earth is weary of them especially in those Parts where they have stain'd it with so much Innocent Blood The City of Lima was swallowed up by an Earthquake and Calao another City not far from it was consumed by a Shower of Fire out of the Clouds 11000 Spaniards lost their Lives in this Calamity and the Earth devoured an 100 Millions of refin'd Silver which the Lucre of the Spaniards had forc'd out of her Bowels 27. In 1660 an Earthquake happened at Paris in France and at the same time we had News that part of the Pyrenean Mountains had been overthrown some days before they are certain Mountains that divide France and Spain it did great Mischief there overwhelm'd some Medicinal Baths many Houses and destroying much People one Church which sunk into the Caverns below was thrown up again and stands very firm but in another place this was look'd upon as a great Miracle especially by the French who have disputed with the Spaniard about a Church standing upon the Frontier-Line but now is removed near half a League within the acknowledged Limits of France 28. In 1665 there was a great Tempest accompanied with Thunder Lightning and an Earthquake in divers places in England at which time the stately Spire of Trinity Church in Coventry fell down and demolished a great part of the Church 29. In 1668 in Autumn a great part of Asia and some parts of Europe were infested with extraordinnry Earthquakes the Cities of Constantinople and Adrianople felt its effects but not with that Violence and continuance as in other places In some parts of Persia it continued for above fourscore days Torqueto and Bolio two considerable Cities were by its great Violence laid even to the Ground and all or most of their Inhabitants buryed in the Ruins above 6000 Persons Perished in the first of them and above 1800 in the latter and in all the Adjacent Cities it raged with extraordinary Fury destroying and ruining the Buildings killing many of the People and the rest were forced to quit the Towns and take up their Lodgings in the Fields 30. In 1687 October 20 the London Gazette gives a sad Relation of another Earthquake in the Kingdom of Peru in America whereby the City of Lima was totally overthrown and not an House left standing burying many of its inhabitants under its Ruins at the same time Callao Fenettei Pisco Chancay Los Florillos c. Most of the Sea-port
conscientiously to discharge my Duty to all Relations let the Event be what it will O that I were so spiritual as to make a good use of all the Disappointments I have ever yet met with I bless God I have not promised my self Happiness in any thing in the World but have been some way or other disappointed in it God is very kind to me in it He sees how my Affections are still running out after the Creature and how apt I am to be fond of that which draws my Heart from God Now I will return to God let God do what he pleases with me I bless God for Relations and Friends but I desire to enjoy them more as God is pleased to make them a Blessing to me than for any outward Comfort I have in them O that I could love Christ more and Creatures less I see they are uncertain Comforts but in Christ is never failing Delight and Satisfaction to be had Upon a Dream she dreamt on the Nineteenth of November in the Year 1680. HER Dream in her own Words was this viz. Methoughts I was above Stairs and either something or a Voice said to me That I must in a very short time come and appear before my Judge there to give an Account of all I have done and then I should be tried whether I was sincere or no in what I did Methoughts I presently died but Soul and Body remained together 'till I were Summoned to Judgment I was extreamly concerned at this Voice and began to bethink myself what Account I could give at Judgment I could not tell whether I was really sincere or no. I began to Examine myself and thought what should I do The Day of Grace was over 't was too late to repent and the like c. and I could not tell what would become of me for ever I dreamt I went down Stairs and there the People told me I look'd like Death Aye says I so I well may when I am dead I could not tell what to do for a room to pray in to see if there were any hopes of acceptance I was so amazed and affrighted that I was almost besides myself for fear I was not siucere I then thought what Ends have I proposed to myself in the performance of Duties and could not find that I had designed any thing of Self in what I had done I was I hoped sincere though under great Fears and Amazements because of my appearing before the Heart-searching God I awaked in a great fright REFLECTION VI. Her Reflection in her own Words upon this Dream was this viz. OH my Soul What shall I now do This that was but a Dream will shortly be true I must e're long be Summoned to Judgment in a more Solemn Manner than I can now think of and there I must give up my Account before the Great GOD. If I am an Hypocrite I shall then be undone for ever Sure there is something more than ordinary in this Dream God is wonderful good and kind to me I have been very careless and negligent in the performance of all Duties God is pleased to give me one Warning more to see if I will do what I can towards an Assurance of Salvation If after all these Warnings I shall be found Christless my Damnation will be greatly aggravated my Summons to Judgment will be more dreadful than I can now think it will be When I must appear before my Judge fitting on his Throne I shall there be accountable for all my Thoughts Words and Actions before that God who knows them better than I do my self When the Sentence shall be pronounced and the Judge will stay to see it executed there will be no Repealing of that Sentence no avoiding its Execution but I must for ever then enter either into endless Joys or Torments What shall I now resolve upon I do and cannot but believe that this Day is near Die I must I am not sure of one Moments time more Am I mad then to live as I now do To be contented when I know not what will become of me for ever I now resolve through the Assistance of the Blessed Spirit to be more in the Work of Self-examination that I may not be surprized by Death or Judgment Blessed be God for bearing with me so long for giving me one Warning more before the Great Day of Judgment What wonderful Patience have I abused What need have I to be speedy and sincere in my Repentance and now do what I wish'd in my Sleep I had time to have done REFLECTION VII Upon Scalding her Foot Sept. 7. 1681. Her Reflection upon it was this which follows in her own Words viz. OH how great was that Smarting Pain I then presently considered if that pain was so dreadful what would be the Torments of the Damned If it is now so sad to have a little hot Liquor poured on ones foot what will it be to have Soul and Body tormented to lie burning in Fire and Brimstone for ever This pain though great yet is quickly over I have cooling things for it but in Hell a Drop of Cold Water cannot be obtained to cool the Tongue of the Damned tho' if that could be yet it would do but little good What doth God point out to me by all these Providences but that I should do the utmost I can to scape Hell Torments I have now time and opportunity to work out my Salvation How inexcusable shall I be if after all I should neglect so great Salvation What cause have I to admire Christ who not only died to deliver his from Hell-Torments but hath purchased such Joy and Glory for all such as durst trust themselves with him Well now what do I resolve upon Oh! for an Holy Ingenuity in my Carriage towards God! that I could but live as becomes the Redeemed of the Lord and make use of all Providences and Ordinances as God hath appointed them for Her Carriage before she Received the Sacrament IN her Sixteenth Year she had longing Desires to receive the Sacrament which she acquainted her Pastour with who told her That then she must forsake all Sin and cleave to Christ and not live in the omission of any known Duty or in the commission of any known Sin then he said She must make Religion her Business He said He hoped she made Conscience of Secret Prayer He said She knew what Paul said concerning the unmarried Woman That she cares for the things of the Lord how she might be holy both in body and spirit And he bid her observe this and he did not question but Christ would bid her Welcome and accordingly on the Sabbath-day following she went to the Sacrament but before she went she spent some time in Examination and could not find but that she had Truth of Grace And then she brake out in the following pathetical Ejaculations viz. Oh! how should the Thoughts of Free Grace ravish and fill me with Love to
an idle Person walking in the Streets but their Doors and Windows close shut the People within exercised in serious and grave Discourses reading of the Scriptures Repetition of Sermons Catechising Praying Singing of Psalms c. In the other the Doors open the Streets too much frequented with idle Company and licentious Exercises And even in Whitchurch where the Plague first and afterwards a Fire had the greatest Influence the Rector or Minister of the Parish did often enough and very plainly admonish them Inhabitants of that particular Street called the New-Town of their careless observance of the lord's-Lord's-Day as if that in his Judgment were the distinguishing Sin of that Street above any others in the Town 4. I have taken Notice elsewhere of Ministers and others who have been delighted and expended themselves in Sabbatical Devotions have been called to their Rest upon that Day As for instance 1. The Divine Poet nad Preacher Mr. Herbert 2. Mr. Edw. Deering 3. Theodore Beza 4. Arch-Bishop Abbot soon after he came out of the Pulpit fell sick and shortly after died 5. Dr. Rob. Harris died between Twelve and One a Clock on Saturday Night 6. Dr. Preston at Five a Clock on the Lord's-day Morning 7. Dr. Thomas Tailour of Aldermanbury Mr. Edward West the Lord's-Day-Night after having Preach'd there 8. Mr. Julius Herrings 9. Mr. Thomas Wadsworth and Mr. Richard Vines 10. Sir Matthew Hale upon Christmas-Day a Day which he used to Celebrate with great Devotion and much Spiritual Joy leaving behind him no less than Seventeen Poems which he had Composed upon that Day to the Honour of his Saviour Cum multis aliis c. On the same Day died Mr. Sam. Crook Minister See the Head of Sudden Death for more Relations of this nature 5. Mr. H. Burton after his Sufferings and Exile having an Order sent him from the Parliament for his Enlargement and his Return for England makes this Observation and in these Words Blessed Tidings indeed and the more because it comes from a Parliament and the more because it comes from a Parliament's Handsel presenting much Good but promising more The News filled Guernsey Castle with Joy and so the Island The First Observation I made of it was of the Day on which this Tidings came First I noted it was the Lord's-Day which Day I had mightily propugned and defended both by Preaching and Writing against the Malignant and Prophane Adversaries of the Sanctification thereof and of its Morality And when the Book for Dispensations and Allowance of Sports on that Day came with an Injunction to be publickly read in my Church upon the Lord's-Day that ery Day instead of Reading of it I turned my Afternoon Preaching into an opening of the Fourth Commandment therein proving the Lord's-Day both for Sabbath and Sanctification under the Gospel now the Order for my Liberty came on that Day See his Life p. 38. CHAP. LXXV Present Retribution to them that have been Obedient to Parents HOnour thy Father and Mother saith the Apostle which is the first Commandment with Promise And the particular Promise annexed to it is Length of Days viz. That thy Days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee And the Reason is obvious and natural and plain to any Man of Common Sence for besides that the Dutifulness of Children is the likeliest may to engage the Favour of God and the Divine Conduct and Blessing on their sides it obligeth the Children who are temselves green in Years and unexperienced in the World and obnoxious to many Temptations and Snares of Ill Company Idleness Rashness Licentiousness c. to keep close to wiser Counsels and the grave Instructions of their faithful aged and experienced Parents by which means they oftentimes fare better than such rash and refractory Phaetons who throw off the Yoke of Parental Discipline and are left like Sons of Belial to do whatsoever seems good in their own eyes How many in the World have escaped the Stings of Poverty and the Ignominy of the Gallows and a violent Death and other Dangers by this means 1. Tho' Lamech had several other Children as Jabal Jubal Tubal-Cain c. yet none that we read of trod in the Steps and proved so dutiful and comfortable to his Parents as Noah Gen. 5.29 And he was remarkably blessed and rewarded for it for when all the rest of the World was destroyed He found Grace in the sight of the Lord Gen. 6.8 2. Noah had Three Sons Shem Ham Japhet but Ham dishonoured his Father and made a Scorn of his Nakedness and therefore was accursed by him Shem and Japhet joyned together and took a Garment to cover their Father's Infirmity and therefore Blessed saith Noah be the Lord God of Shem c. Gen. 9.26 3. Abraham had Two Sons Ishmael and Isaac the one scornful and disinherited and turned out of the House the other dutiful and his Father's Favourite and Heir 4. Isaac had Two Sons Esau and Jacob the one a cunning Hunter a profane Fellow that made light of his Birth-right and therefore forfeited his Blessing the other a plain Man and pious and according procured the Blessing 5. Jacob had many Children but Reuben the First-born unstable as Water went up to his Father's Bed and defiled it and therefore Gen. 49.4 Thou shalt not excel Simeon and Levi had Instruments of Cruelty in their Habitations in their Anger they slew a Man and in their Self-will digg'd down a Wall and therefore ver 7. Cursed be their Anger for it was fierce c. They were to be divided and scattered in Israel Judah to save Joseph's Life who was his Father's Fondling and the Son of his Old Age advised his Brethren to sell him and afterwards offered himself to be Joseph's Bondman for his Brother Benjamin out of Tenderness to his Aged Father Gen. 44.34 For how shall I go up saith he to my Father and the Lad be not with me lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my Father And therefore see how this Piety of Judah and Dutifulness to his Father was at last rewarded chap. 49.8 9 10. Judah thou art he that thy Brethren shall praise thy Hand shall be in the Neck of thy Enemies thy Father's Children shall bow down before thee Judah is a Lion's Whelp c. The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah c. 6. I have read saith my Author of a young Man hang'd at Four and twenty Years whose curled Black Locks upon the Gallows instantly turned White many enquiring into the Cause of such a strange Event a grave Divine assigned this Reason Had this young Man saith he been dutiful to his Parents obedient to his Superiours he might have lived so long 'till that in the Course of Nature his Black Hairs had become White Mr. Quick in his relation of the Poisoning of a whole Family in Plimouth c. p. 87. 7. Mr. Paul Baines of Christ's-College in Cambridge was at first very
years lived in great Anguish of Mind and found no Rest till Repentance and therefore afterwards Preached publickly that Doctrine which he had Abjured Church Hist Britan. 14. James Bainham A Gentleman of the Middle Temple being Imprisoned for his Religion and Rack'd Abjured his Principles and had his Liberty but he asked God and the World Forgiveness before the Congregation in those days which was in a Ware-house in Bow-Lane and immediately after he came to St. Austin's with the New Testament in his hand in English and the Obedience of a Christian Man in his Bosome and there declared with Tears before the People that he had denied God and prayed the People to forgive and beware of his Weakness Ibid. 15. A. C. 1584. Francis Spira living at Citadella a Civil Lawyer when he had received the Doctrine of the Gospel and explained it among his Friends being brought into Danger after long deliberation on both sides he publickly Renounced But not long after fell into illness both of Body and Mind and began to despair of the Mercy of God Being brought from Citadella to Padua that he might make use of his Physicians he received no Comfort and scarce took any Meat to support Nature Whereupon returning home professing himself to be Condemned to Eternal Torments for Abjuring the known Truth ended his Life Miserably Thus for Sleidan in his Commentaries He that Writes the Story at large adds That he called for a Sword to dispatch himself with that he professed that his heart was estranged from God saying I cannot call him Father from my heart All good Motions are now quite gone my heart is full of Malediction Hatred and Blasphemy against God I find I grow more and more hardned in heart and cannot stoop nor help my self Your Prayers for me shall turn to your own benefit but they can do me no good When this Friend took his Leave of him Spira said Although I know that nothing can bring any benefit to me a Reprobate but that every thing shall tend to my deeper Condemnation Yet I give you most hearty thanks for your kind Office of Love and Good will and the Lord return it unto you with a plentiful encrease of all good As he was going down he saw a Knife on a Table and running to it he snatched it up therewith to have mischieved himself but that his Friend prevented it thereupon he said I would I were above God for I know that he will have no Mercy on me He lay about eight weeks in this case in a continual Burning neither desiring nor receiving any thing but by force and that without Digestion and was like an Anatomy vehemently raging for Drink ever Pining yet fearful to live long dreadful for Hell yet coveting Death in a continual Torment yet his own Tormentor And thus consuming himself with Grief and Horror Impatience and Despair like a living Man in Hell represented an extraordinary Example of God's Justice and Power and thus he ended his miserable Life See it more largely in the History it self 16. Near akin to this is the Story of the second Spira published at London 1692. though the early publication of it together with the dreadful Contents and the natural tenderness of Relatives and Countrey-men and indeed the unwillingness of almost all People to believe things so full of Terror rendred it to the apprehensions of some scarce credible And my self at Reading of it wish'd it were not true yet upon a serious and impartial Inquiry I do firmly believe that there is more Truth in it than will be granted by many of the present Generation See the Narrative it self 17. The Story of Nightingale is generally known which Mr. Fox relates how he fell out of his Pulpit and brake his Neck whilst he was abusing that Scripture 1 John 1.10 18. A Copy of a Letter directed to me since I undertook this Work SIR FInding in one of the Mercuries a Proposal for Printing The Most Remarkable Providences c. I would according to my weak Capacity let you know That sometime since though not very long a Neighbour dying the News came while I was at Dinner and one in Company said thus We must all go and none knows how soon I out of a scoffing way made answer I was sure I should live whilst I had eat the Meat I had Before I had got one Bit of it in my Mouth I was struck quite Senseless and had much adoe to rise from the Table where I sate and did not expect ever to think of telling my blasphemous Expression to any But now meeting with a Work which may be Profitable for all but especially to young Ones I am willing to attest this the Truth of which some can testifie as I in the Presence of the Almighty have wrote Your's JOHN EREEVE London June 4. 1695. 19. There was a Woollen-Draper in Warwick who made a Profession of Religion but many times brake out into scandalous Practices Mr. Cartwright on a time walking with him in his Garden dealt plainly and faithfully with him rebuking him for his Miscarriages and shewing him the Dishonour that he brought to God and the Gospel thereby Which so wrought upon him that he presently sunk down and being carried home died within a few Hours after Mr. Clark in the Life of Mr. Cartwright 20. One John ap Howel in Queen Mary's Reign standing by William Maudon as he was reading in a Primer at Greenwich mocked him after every Word with contrary gaudy and flouting Expressions Whereupon Maudon said to him John take heed what thou doest thou mockest not me but God in his Word tho' I be simple that read it Yet went he on in his Mocking till Maudon reading Lord have Mercy upon us Christ have Mercy upon us the other with a Start said suddenly Lord have Mercy upon me With that Maudon turning to him said What aileth thee John To which he answered Nothing but that he was afraid Afraid of What saith Maudon Nothing now said the other But presently after he confessed That at the reading of those Words Lord have Mercy upon us c. the Hair of his Head stood an end with the great Fear that came upon him On the next Day he ran Mad was bound in his Bed and lay continually Day and Night crying out of the Devil of Hell c. Clark's Exampl Vol. 1. c. 199. CHAP. CII Divine Judgments upon Scoffers at other Men's Imperfections or such as Counterfeited to have them when they had them not TO Commiserate the Infirmities of our Brethren or Neighbours is a Branch of Charity which the Gospel calls earnestly for but to deride them for their Defects and Imperfections is a Point of Impiety that is founded in Pride and Arrogance and a Conceit of our own Dignity and Merit not God's Grace and Mercy For which Reason God is very angry with those that make the Defects of other Men the Object of their Irrision and Scorn as if they were
London January the 13th 1583. at Paris-Garden where upon the Sabbath-Day were gathered together as accustomably they used great Multitudes of profane People to behold the Sport of Bear-baiting without respect of the Lord's-Day or any Exercise of Religion required therein Which profane Impiety the Lord that he might chasten in some sort and shew his Dislike thereof he caused the Scaffolds suddenly to break and the Beholders to tumble headlong down so that to the number of Eight Persons Men and Women were slain therewith besides many others which we re sore hurt and bruised to the shortening of their Days 7. The like Example happened at 3 Town in Bedfordshire called Risley in the Year 1607. where the Floor of a Chamber wherein a Number were gathered together to see a Play on the Sabbath-Day fell down by means whereof many were sore hurt and some killed Surely a Friendly Warning to such as more delight themselves with the Cruelty of Beasts and vain Sports than the Works of Mercy and Religion the Fruits of a true Faith which ought to be the Sabbath-Day's Exercise 8. Not long since in Bedfordshire a Match at Foot-ball being appointed o the Sabbath in the Afternoon whilst Two were in the Belfry tolling of a 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 tripped up his Heels that was tolling 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 Dr. Twiss on the Sabbath Ibid. 9. At a place called Tidworth on the Sabbath-day many being met together to play at Foot-ball in the Church-Yard one had his Leg broken which presently Gangrening he forthwith dyed thereof Eodem 10. Anno 1634. on a Lord's-day in the time of a great Frost Fourteen Young Men while they were playing at Foot-ball on the Ice on the River Trent near to Gainsborough meeting all together in a Scufflle the Ice suddenly brake and they were all Drowned Ibid. 11. In the Edge of Essex near Drinkley two Fellows working in a Chalk Pit the one was boasting to his Fellow how he had angred his Mistriss 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 slew him outright and by the fall thereof is Fellows Limb was broken who had been also sharer with him in his Jollity on the Lord's-day Ibid. 12. At Alâ—ester in Warwickshire upon the coming forth of the Declaration for Sports a Lusty Young Woman went on the Sabbath-day to a Green not far off where she said she would Dance as long as she could stand but while she was dancing God stuck her with a violent â—â—isease whereof within two or three Days after she died Ibid. 13. Also in the same place not long after a Young Man presently after the Evening Sermon 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 refus'd 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 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 immediately died for which Act he forfeited all his Goods and underwent the Trial of the Law These two I knew when I lived there Ibid. 14. At Woolston 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 that he had burnt down to the Ground This I also saw saith Mr. Clark in his Mirror c. 115. 15. At Woolston in the same County many loose Persons kept a Whitson-Ale and had a Morris-dancing on the Sabbath-day in a Smith's Barn to the great Grief of the Godly Minister who laboured all that he could to restrain it But it pleas'd God that shortly after a Fire kindled in that Smith's Shop which burnt it down together with his House and Barn and raging furiously going sometimes with and sometimes against the Wind it burnt down many other Houses most of which were prime Actors in that profanation of the Lord's-day I my self knew these Four last Examples ibid. 16. In the County of Devon one Edward Ameridith a Gentleman having been pained in his Feet and being somewhat recovered one said unto him he was glad to see him so nimble Ameridith replied that he doubted not but to dance about the May-pole the next Lord-day but before he moved out of that place he was smitten with such feebleness of Heart and dizziness in his Head that desiring help to carry him to any House he died before the Lord's-day came ibid. 17. At Walton upon Thames in Surrey in a great Frost 1634. Three Young Men on the lord's-Lord's-day after they had been at Church in the Forenoon where the Minister press'd the Words of his Text out of 2 Cor. 5.10 That we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ c. they gave little heed thereto but whisper'd all the while as they sate went in the Afternoon together over the Thames upon the Ice unto a House of Disorder and Gaming where they spent the rest of the Lord's-Day and part of the Night also in revelling One of them in a Tavern merrily discours'd the next day of his Sabbaths Acts and Voyage over the Ice but on Thursday next after these Three returning homewards and attempting to pass again over the Ice they all sunk down to the bottom as Stones whereof only one of them was miraculously preserved but the other two were drowned These Four last are attested by good Hands ibid. Mr. Fauconer Minister of Burford near Salisbury in his Book intituled The burden of England Scotland and Ireland and stiles himself Ed. de claro vado Printed for Thomas Slater and to be sold at his Shop in Duâ—â— Lane at the Sign of the Angel relateth a fearful Example of God's Justice about the year 1635. p. 1â—4 which was this 18. A Prophane company of Young men on the Lord's-day early in the Morning went to Claringdon Park to cut down a May-Pole and having loaden the Cart with it at Milner's Bars entring into the City of Salisbury one of the Cart wheels fell into a Rut which made the young Tree in the Cart which they had stoln for a May-Pole to give a great Surge 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 lay there a
Love or Good-will towards him Though he stayed long at Brundusium she never went to see him and when his Daughter took that long Journey from Rome to Brundusium to visit him she neither provided Company to conduct her nor gave her Money or other Necessaries for the way yea she so handled the matter that when Cicero came to Rome he found nothing in his House but bare Walls and yet was greatly in Debt by her Plut. in Vita ejus 2. Alboynus King of the Lombards having overcome in War Cunemundus King of the Jepidi and having slain him made a Drinking-Cup of his Skull yet took his Daughter Rosamund to Wife Now it fell out that Alboynus being one day drunk forced his Wife to drink out of her Father's Skull which she so much stomached that she promised one Helmichilâ—â— her self to Wife and Lombardy for a Dowry if he would kill her Husband the King which he assented to and performed But they were afterwards so hated for it that they were forced to fly to the Court of the Exarch of Ravenna who seeing Rosamund's Beauty and the Mass of Money and Jewels which they brought with them perswaded her to kill Helmichilde and to take him for her Husband which accordingly she promised to do And when her Husband Helmichilde coming out of the Bath called for Beer she gave him a strong Poyson but when he had drunk half of it suspecting the Matter he forced her to drink off the rest and so both died together Heil Geog. p. 150. 3. Joan Queen of Naples was insatiable for her Lust which cause her to hang her first Husband which was Andrew Second Son to the King of Hungry at her Window for Insufficiency Her second Husband was Lewis of Tarentum who did with over-straining himself to satisfie her Appetite Her third Husband James of Tarracon a gallant Gentleman she beheaded for lying with another Woman Her fourth Husband was Otho Duke of Brunswick in whose time the King of Hungary drave her out of her Kingdom and having taken her hung her out of the same Window where she had hang'd her first Husband Ibid p. 162. 4. An ancient Gentleman of good Account marrying a beautiful young Gentlewoman but having no Issue he took into his House a young Gentleman a Neighbour's Son and compleatly qualified purposing to make him a Sharer in his Estate This Gentleman grows familiar with his Wife which gave so much occasion of Suspicion and caus'd such a Rumour in the Country that his Father requires him to return home again He doth so but at parting promiseth Marriage to the Gentlewoman in case of her old Husband's Decease and she to him both with Oaths The old Gentleman's Maid meeting with this young Gallant over a Glass of Wine tells him in private how much his Company was missed at her Master's House and his Return desired But withal tho' she knew the Familiarities between him and her Mistress yet it was all feigned for another enjoyed both her Heart and Body naming the Person The Gentleman is startled but Incredulous After some time the old Gentleman sends for him again He goes in the Night but very privily having before by Letter desired that the Garden Door might be left open for him and tells the old Gentleman the Reason of his Absence But before he went back he goes softly to the Gentlewoman's Bed-Chamber Door who often lay by her self and hears the Whispers of two distinct Voices Upon which in a sudden Passion he resolves to break in upon them and run them through with a Sword but relenting with Tenderness he departs softly to his own home grows Melancholy and Distemper'd but recovering he resolved to Travel The old Man sends for him to take an unwilling Farewel At the Importunity of his Father he goes After Dinner the Wife singles him for a Farewel weeping in his Bosom and beseeching him to have a care of his Safety but especially of his Vow and Promise Instead of Reply he gave her a Letter which he desired her to peruse in his Absence She opens the Letter and reads there all the Story of her Lust laid open particularly and pathetically This struck her to the Heart she fell presently into Frensie and Despairing soon after died Which News came to the Gentleman before he reach'd Gravesend The old Man afterwards inriched him with a great part of his Land which he enjoys saith my Author to this Day Wonders of the Female World p. 125. out of Heywood CHAP. CXX Divine Judgments upon Undutiful Children A Wife Son maketh a glad Father but a foolish Son is the heaviness of his Mother saith Solomon Prov. 10.1 And in another Place the disobedient Child is threatned with a Punishment to be inflicted on him by the Ravens of the Valley and the young Eagles Prov. 30.17 as it were to signifie that such a one is in a fair way to an untimely and disgraceful Death like to perish and lie unburied in the open Air for Birds of Prey to feed upon and 't is certain many such Instances there are of Children who forsake the Counsels of their Parents and never return to the Paths of Vertue but go on till their Sin brings them to some miserable End 1. Freeman Sondes Esq Son of Sir George Sondes of Lees-Court in Shelwich in Kent being commanded by his Father to comply with the Will of his elder Brother in a small Matter relating to their Cloaths and in an obstinate manner disobeying so that his Father was provoked to use some threatning Expressions as that he should for the future depend much upon his Brother Freeman hereupon in great discontent when his elder Brother was fast asleep gave him a deadly Blow on the right side of his Head with the back of a Cleaver taken out of the Kitchen the Sunday Night before he did the Fact He after the Blow said he would have given all the World to recall it and made a stop of the rest to see how deep he had wounded him and finding it to be a mortal Wound having broken the Skull his Brother stretching himself on his Bed and struggling for Life and he gathering from thence that he was in great torment discovered then even in that Storm of Temptation so much of a relenting Spirit that to put him out of his pain he did reiterate his Blows with a Dagger which he had about him When he had thus imbrued his Hands in his Brother's Blood he threw the Cleaver out of a Window into the Garden and came with great confusion and disturbance in his Face into his Father's Bed-Chamber adjoyning to his Brother's with the Dagger in his Pocket and undrawing the Curtains shook his Father by the Shoulder who being thus awaken'd out of his Sleep received from his Mouth this Heart-breaking Message Father I have killed my Brother He being asTonished at it made this Reply with much horror What sayest thou Hast thou Wretch killed thy Brother Then you had
discovered and some-body said He had seen a Person of Quality there upon which Information six Persons of Quality in those Parts were seized viz. the Barons of Fous and Agremont Mon. de Sanzet Mon. de Gajans his Son Mon. de Dommesargues and Mon. de Fesse for every one of which one might be bold to affirm that since the Desolation of the Churches they had never been in any of those Religious Assemblies but right or wrong they would have it so and thereupon Mon. Dommessargues and Gajans were Condemned to the Gallies upon this Account and the rest sent to the Minâ—s at Lyons But Brâ—â—sson's gentle Carriage did not at all abate the Rage of his Enemies but after the Death of Vivens all the Choler of the Government was levelled at him and they said provided he could be destroy'd all would be quiet in the Province and from henceforward he was surrounded with an Army of Enemies who incessantly thirsted for his Blood and who sought for him Night and Day with utmost Fury But besides this great Number of declared Enemies he was also exposed to the Perfidy of false Brethren as there are always a great Number of Reprobates who love the Ways of Iniquity and give themselves to the Devil for the least Reward or Profit and who are more afraid of the Reproaches of Men than of the Judgment of God the Intendant was continually putting forth an Order that promised a great Sum of Money to whomsoever should take or kill him And among others there was one published and set up every-where in the Month of July 1693 wherein was Five thousand Livres promised to whomsoever that would by a Letter to the Post-Master discover the Place where he might be seized promising withal upon his Faith and Honour no Man should ever know who it was that gave that Information and adding that after Brousson were taken he that should give such Information should have no more to do than to go to the Post-Master to whom he had sent the Letter and he would pay him the Five thousand Livres without enquiring who he was There was almost no place wherein there was not some new Judas who would sell himself to the Devil by seizing of him it may well be judged there now could have been no greater Danger for a Servant of God than to go from place to place to instruct and solace the People and so put his Life into the Hands of a great many Persons seeing the Assemblies were very numerous and frequent but God upon this occasion was pleased to make known how wonderful the Care was he took for the Preservation of those that fear him who do not put their Trust in an Arm of Flesh but their whole Considence in him But to be a little more particular upon this Head You are to Note that there was a certain Person of Aulas near Du Vigun in Cevennes whose Name was Gautier with whom Brousson had been a Fellow-Student formerly at Nismes As this Gautier was a profane and wicked Person but yet one that pretended himself to be of the Number of the New Converts and who had also formerly been a Student for the Ministry he was from time to time carried covertly into the Fort of St. Hipolite as a Prisoner for Religion and there he related to the Faithful who were really Prisoners for having been taken at Religious Meetings the pretended Miseries which himself had suffered for a long time to the end he might oblige those poor People to discover to him all that they knew After he had done a World of Mischief in the Prisons in this fashion and had thereby got sufficient Instructions about Brousson he treated with the Magistracy about seizing him But that he might have the better Success in his Design there was leave given him to hold Assemblies himself and to Preach the Gospel as he was a Person that had some good Measure of Learning and who manifested much Zeal and Courage for the Truth for he feared nothing his Meetings were many times very numerous and many of those who laboured sincerely for the Salvation of the People began very often to frequent it But he thought sit to spare them that he might as he thought give more considerable Blows and for which he was promised a greater Reward wherefore he informed himself very diligently concerning Brousson saying he had a great desire to see and confer with him in order to know whether he would advise him to continue his Meetings or go out of the Kingdom When Brousson was advertised hereof he said he suspected that Man that he had already understood that their Persecutors had sent false Brethren into the Prisons for to discover the Secrets of such as were true Prisoners for the Gospel that Gautier was got out of St. Hipolite Fort no-body knew how and that if he had true Zeal for the Church he should have no occasion to consult any-body upon the Message he sent him since the People heard him with delight That he must needs know that Brousson had reason to be mistrustful of all such as he did not know throughly and yet notwithstanding he had not heard of him but of late days yet he ceased not to desire pressingly to see him in his Retreat In the mean time a certain young Man that had persevered in the Truth and who had been often with Brousson and who happened to come into some Meeting where this false Pastor was conducted him to the House where Brousson then resided But as the young Man went in first and that Brousson reproached him that he had betray'd him the young Man went presently out again and told the Traytor That Brousson was not in that House However he conducted him in and brought him to another Room than that Brousson was in and from whence Brousson drawing nigh to hear what he said he understood notwithstanding all his Disguise he was a false Brother and this he made known to his Friends Some time after this that same Wretch went to keep a Meeting in Lower Languedoc near St. Geniez to which Assembly he invited the most faithful of those Parts who were surprised to see at some distance from him eight or ten Men in Cloaks whom they knew not and who in appearance were Soldiers He presently told them he had prepared a little Sermon for them but that seeing the Assembly was not numerous he would content himself to make an Exhortation and Prayer which he did very accurately When he had done he told them He was one of those Pastors who had Refugiated themselves in Switzerland and that the other Ministers that remained in that Country had sent him to inform himself of the Carriage of such as Preached the Gospel unto them These poor People having hereupon testified how much they were satisfied therein the Wretch said he blessed God for it with all his Heart But he from thence forward took Care to know exactly all the Places of their Retreat
particular Instances of these kind of Meteors the Scripture tells us at the Birth of our Saviour a Star appeared which perhaps was the Comet spoken of by Heathen Authors in the Days of Augustus of a stupendious Greatness upon which the Tibertine Sibyl shewed the Emperour the Divinity of our Saviour in these words Hic Puer Major te est Ipsum adora Our last great Comet I doubt not was of extraordinary signification not to us only but to whole Europe and farther so far as it was conspicuous What a gracious God have we that never scarce goes about any great Commotions or Changes in the World but he gives Warning before-hand As if not willing to take us tardy He shews his Signs in the Heavens above when he is about to do any great Work in the Earth beneath And therefore as Darius in the Case of Daniel Chap. 6.26 27. Let Men tremble and fear before this God for he is the Living God and steadfast for ever his Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his Dominion shall be even unto the end he delivereth and rescueth and worketh Signs and Wonders in Heaven and Earth 2. Thunder and Lightning Called by the Psalmist the Voice of God and by some supposed to be that Trumpet that shall sound at the Last Day to raise the Dead and to call to Judgment I will not trouble you with declaring the strange and divers Effects of this kind of Meteor its hurting of things inward when the outward are safe shattering the Bones when the Flesh is left sound melting the Blade of the Sword when the Scabbard is free breaking the Vessel when the Wine slows not away exempting poisonous Creatures from their Venom and infusing it into those who are not so striking Men dead and leaving them in the same posture it found them as if still alive c. It is enough to say that 't is a stupendious Meteor and may well be called the Voice of the Divine Excellency Job 37.2 3 4 c. Job 26 6-14 It is said of Nero that a Thunder-bolt fell upon his Table and struck the Cup out of the Emperor's Hand And we have known in our Age some strong Towers and high Buildings demolished to the very Ground with Lightning Some Men struck dead some lamed some blinded Trees clove asunder A Learned Divine of our Nation tells of a profane Person walking abroad with another upon the Lord's-Day when it thundred his Companion telling him of it made Answer 'T is nothing but a Knave Cooper beating of his Tubs But he had not gone much farther but himself was struck dead This may teach us to put on a Reverential Awe of the Divine Majesty at such Seasons That Emperor Caligula who used to brave it out as if he meant to vie with the Almighty and cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was an Instance of the Divine Patience but no safe Example for Imitation The Psalmist is more ingenuous Psal 29. c. Give unto the Lord O ye mighty give unto the Lord Glory and Strength And Psal 97.1 2 3 4. To see all the lower World cover'd with thick Clouds and the Cracks of Thunder shake the very Pillars of the Earth and terrible Flashes and Corruscations of Lightning with a speedy pace fly from one end of the Heavens to the other is so like the Voice of God and a Type or Shadow of that black gloomy Day which shall put a Period to the World that it may well be a Memento of our Duty and Reverence we owe to the Divine Majesty and may well put that Question into our Mouths Who shall be able to stand when God appears When this great and terrible God shall by the Sound of this Trumpet or the Voice of an Arch-Angel Summon the World to Judgment who shall dare to appear before him If the Giving of the Law and the Enacting or rather Promulgation of our Religion upon Mount Sinai was so dreadful as Exod. 19.16 Chap. 20.18 19. What will the Great Assizes be when all the Men that ever lived in the World shall be called to give up their last Account and receive their Final Doom Then Oh! Come ye Mountains and fall upon us and ye Rocks cover us and hide us from the Wrath of the Lamb Then Oh! where will the Heart and Stoutness of the presumptuous Sinner shew itself How will he that brav'd it here with the Almighty be able then to stand his Ground and maintain his Cause Psal 50.1 2 3 4. 3. Air and Winds Which what to make of we know not 't is such an invisible and yet real Meteor that it will puzzle the Natural Reason of the most subtile Philosopher to tell the Nature of it The Air is so like the Nature of the Souls in our Bodies or a Spirit in general that we know little more of either one or other than what we know by the sensible Effects John 3.8 The Wind bloweth where it listeth c. If Man be so dim in Naturals with what Face can he boast his Knowledge of Spiritual Objects We neither know the Air that surrounds us every-where nor the Wind that whistles in our Ears nor the Souls that lodge in our own Bodies We are so blind so near home And 't is enough to make us blush at our own Weakness and such Ignorance should make us Humble and such Humility should make us Learn And 'till we are thus qualified we are not fit to learn What a proud Lump of Clay is foolish Man that cannot comprehend Things so near him Things meerly natural Things so common and ordinary and yet will call every Point of his Religion even the sublimest Mysteries to the Tribunal of meer Reason and determine in particular Branches and Puâ—ctilio's as peremptorily and decisively as if be had been Privy Counsellour to the Almighty and judge others censoriously unkindly for differing from him but in the lesser doubtful difficult Points of Religion and prosecute severely for not knowing and believing with equal clearness as himself But besides We are often wondring at the Nature of God himself and cannot tell how to frame a Notion of a Being every-where present Is not the Air and Wind a fit Emblem to shadow forth this Attribute of the Divinity to us Is not the Air in every Creviss of our Houses in our Nostrils in our very Bowels Doth it not fill the World and enter into the smallest Pores of our Bodies And yet 't is but a Creature and we see it not Why should we think it such an impossible thing for the God of Heaven to fill all Places with his Presence and yet be limited to no Bounds nor visible to any Eyes The same word that we use to signifie Air is used also to express the Spirit of God by in almost all the Languages viz. Spiritus Latin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amp c. And we find the Spirit of God choosing sometimes to come down and shew
his Creation nor attend his Master's Will nor pursue diligently his own Happiness Tho' our Feet are upon the Earth our Heads reach above the Clouds and we are near a-kin to the other World and have very great Concernments beyond the Stars and yet that we should let our Affections sink into the Earth and our Souls incline so strongly towards Hell For shame Sirs let us set forth the Glory of God a little better in our Generations than commonly we do Let us vie here upon the Earth by the Excellency of our Conversations with those twinkling Lamps that shine over our Heads let it never be said to our Disgrace that these sensless Creatures glorifie God better in their place than we Let our Faces our Graces outshine the Sun Let Men look on the Humility Honesty Sobriety Charity Piety and Patience of our Lives and give Glory to Him that hath given such Graces unto Men. And let these Graces never be darkned with any unworthy uncristian Practices let us appear glorious to the World and no Hypocrisie or Apostacy ever pull down our Professions or lay our Glory in the Dust It 's possible we may meet with strong with close Temptations O let not our shining Stars fall from Heaven nor Let our Moon be turned into Blood and then we shall be shortly removed from Grace to Glory and shortly shine like Stars in the highest Heavens yea as the Sun in the Firmament for ever 1 Cor. 15.41 As we shine in Grace now so in Glory hereafter 6. Of the Continuation of the Heavenly Bodies DAY unto Day uttereth Speech and Night unto Night sheweth Knowledge q. d. one Day informeth another and one Night gives in fresh evidence to another to prove the truth of it Not a Day nor a Night passeth over our Heads but the Heavens preach this Sermon to us We have a continual Rehearsal of this Doctrine from Age to Age from One Year to another from the beginning of the World to this present time This Preacher is never silent this Exercise never over All that I can think necessary to be said upon this particular may be referred to two Heads I. The Wonderfulness of this Continuation II. The Practical Lessons we should learn from it I. Wherein the Wonder of it lies 1. In the multitude of the Bodies concerned We observe of Mechanical Instruments made by the Hands of Men that an Engine consisting of very many Wheels or very many Motions or other Parts are the most difficult to be kept in order An Orchard with many Trees or Gardens with may Herbs and Flowers require more Culture and Dressing or some will decay A Society of many Members is apt to disorder 'T is a harder Task to manage a Nation than a Family The Hosts of Heaven are Thousands and the Appurtenances relating to them more and yet all keep still their appointed Courses We have lost none of the Stars out of their Orbs since their first coming there Some People tell us of some new ones as that in Cassiopea which was first discovered in the Heavens about the beginning of the Reformation what Salvo to give for that I know not it may be it was there before but not discovered But however 't was a Case extraordinary and no prejudice to the Order of the rest we have lost none of our Seasons Day and Night Summer and Winter have kept their times the Sun its Revolutions the Moon its due Changes the Stars their proper Periods and exact Motions the standing still of the Sun in Joshua's time and the going back of it on Ahaz Dial are miraculous Instances and not to be parallel'd other Ages 2. The Greatness of them Small Bodies are easily managed and apt to motion but great ones move slowly according to the course of sublunary Nature But they in the Aetherial Orbs are of so vast a bigness that that Consideration doth mightily accumulate and greaten the Wonder That the Sun Moon and Stars all of them so big should move continually without disorder or period is an Accent upon the Miracle 3. The various Qualities they are of and the different Motions they make do yet raise the Wonder to a higher strain to keep all one Motion especially if all of one Nature were not so very much But to move from East to West from West to East from North to South from south to North again as some of them do and this continually is an augmentation of the Wonder 4. Without Period Flowers wither Trees rot Stones decay Man dies the very Face of Things below will shortly cease to be and another succeed The Day dies and so doth the Year and Stones and Castles here decay every thing here is weary of Motion The Apostle tells us The whole Creation groans But here is groans and dies only what is a-kin more nearly to Heaven and borders upon that Court is of a more lasting Constitution or a more constant Motion of a more perpetual Duration Since the Fathers fell asleep all things of that kind relating to the upper Regions continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation 2 Pet. 3.4 7. For the Heavens are by the same Word of God by which they were created kept in store reserved unto Fire against the Day of Judgment 5. Without Interruption No faulter in their Courses no breach of Continuity in this long space of time Nothing hath been able to stop these great Bodies in the progress of their Motion or intermit the Exercise of their Vertues and Operation 6. Without Error or Mistake or Deviation Tho' great and many and various in their Qualities and incredibly swift in their Motions yet have they committed no remarkable Fault in all this Tract of Years and Revolutions They have all kept close to the Path chalk'd out for them by their Creator and have never leapt out of their Orbs. Nothing hath been able to tempt them from the faithful Execution of their Offices and Employments Who hath ever beckâ—n'd the Sun out of the Firmament or pusht the Moon out of its place Or made the Stars wander into strange Courses Or amidst all their divers Motions mingled them into Confusion or Disorder When was ever Day and Night jumbled together or the Seasons of the Year reversed or the Order of the Coelestial Bodies turn'd backward Illic justo foedere rerum verterem servant sidera pacem II. Practical Inferences Learn we then 1. To hold on from Day to Day from Night to Night in the excellent Offices of a Christian Life let Day to Day utter Speech and Night to Night shew Knowledge of our continual Goodness Mankind is born with his Eyes higher set than all the rest of the Creation besides his Looks are by Nature more sublime and lofty Let us look up earnestly towards those lucid Spangles those sparkling Globes over our Heads and use our Eyes to some good purpose Let us make thence some Practial Deductions for our Imitation at least Emulation and scorn
that they might well School and Catechise some of our old Professors Grey-hair'd Christians for Seven Years together It would be too large a Task now to tell you what Lessons they learn'd from the Contemplation and Study of these Things Their Books of Moral Philosophy writ by Aristotle Plato Cicero Seneca Isocrates c. where they preach'd in our Pulpits were enough to fill some Number of Years with Sermons strong enough for our Auditors of the Lower Form And convictive enough to shame the Major part of Christians among us into Blushing and Confusion Read over but the Roman Twelve Tables Plato's Republic the Laws of the several Heathen Nations about Religion Sobriety Justice c. And you 'll find Reason to fear lest the Queen of the South and the Inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon the Greek Scythian and Barbarian will escape better some of them at the Day of Judgment than many of Christendom that have both the Books wide open before them all the Days of their Life Rom. 2.14 15. 3. What might they learn Answ All the Articles of our Christian Creed and all the Precepts of our Christian Religion except those which refer to the Cause and Cure of our Misery viz. The Fall of Adam and the Intercession of the Second Adam That there was a God one only Supreme Maker of Heaven and Earth Infinite in the Attributes of Wisdom Power Truth Justice Mercy worthy to be worshipped with a Holy Life Prayer Praise Obedience and a pure Heart and Affection one that had a Good Will to save us one that would reward us with excellent Rewards or Punishments according to our Actions in the other World All this and more than this they might have discerned by their Glimmering Light of Nature in only the Frontispiece of Heaven if they had but used their Eyes And so much many of them did not only learn but teach and make a publick and stout Profession of it to the World The Existence of One Supreme God the Divine Governance of the World the Immortality of the Soul a Mediation between God and us and almost all the Moral Duties of the Law in Substance the Distribution of Rewards and Punishments after this Life distinct Places and Times of Worship Priests and Priestly Maintenance and Attonements and Purifications and something like the Dedicating of their Infants to God by Baptism with secret Devotions and Family-Worship as well as that which was publick in the Temples All these and much more were adopted into the Body of the Heathen Religion and excepting only some few Articles of our Creed referring to the Trinity and especially the Business of our Redemption and the true Notion of our Two Sacraments and it may be the Resurrection of our Bodies it were not very hard to make out all the rest of our Religion demonstrable by the meer Light of Reason The invisible Things of GOD from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the Things that are made 4. What Practical Deductions may be made from hence How great is God A Contemplation of the Heavenly Fabrick will directly lead us to this Point viz. an admiration of the Divine Eternal Power of the Godhead For Rom. 1.19 That which may be known of God is manifest to all the World for God hath shewed it to them He hath shewed his Face in the Glass of his Works and his Features there appear so glorious that 't is a Wonder it doth not fill our Apprehensions with a pregnant and awful Conceit of his Infinite Majesty and Power The Splendour of the Divine Attributes gives Shine to all the World So that now all the Inhabitants of the round World have Scope enough for Spiritual Contemplation and the Exercise of their Rational Faculties and the Turk and Pagan both have a Book large and voluminous enough being wide open before them to employ all their Studies in all the Days of their Life Who that considers a while the Nature of that God that made the Heavens how he must stretch his Compass over the whole Vniverse how he must mete out the Heavens with a Span and comprehend the Dust of the Earth in a Measure and weigh the Mountains in Scales and the Hills in a Ballance and take up the Isles as a very little thing and measure the Waters in the Hollow of his Hand and make the Clouds his Chariot and ride upon the Wings of the Wind and climb up to the highest Orbs and extend every Globe with the present Thought and hang not only the Earth but the Heavens upon nothing and this in the exactest Order and Perfection that no remarkable Fault shall appear in 6000 Years in any part of all this magnificent Building Who that considers a little the Nature of the Supreme Architect shall not be ready to cry out with the Psalmist Psal 8.1 9. O Lord our Lird how excellent is thy Name in all the Earth who hast set thy Glory above the Heavens O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the Earth 2. What little low worthless Creatures are we That God who is the Author of such excellent Handy-work that dwells in that inaccessible Light in such a glorious Palace who can make Heavens at his pleasure and garnish them in a moment and fill the whole World with the Beams of his Glory should yet place his Affections so much on such little silly things as we are Psal 8.3 When I consider thy Heavens the Work of thy Fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained What is Man that thou art mindful of him and the Son of Man that thou visitest him Shall I speak my Opinion freely in this Matter I do conceive that one great Reason why God hath laid out so much of his Excellency and bestowed so much of his Infinite Wisdom and Power upon the Creation of the Things that are above us especially the Heavens over our Heads was on purpose to astonish proud Man into a Religious Admiration of his God and an humble Detestation of himself For that 's the very Frame and Temper which disposeth Man for the Impressions of Religion and the Exercise of a devout Affection Isa 66.1 2. Thus saith the Lord The Heaven is my Throne 3. A due Consideration of the Creation of the World and especially of the Heavens belongs unto us all Os homini sublime c. If God doth preach to us by these Things that are seen and thereby reveal to the World the invisible Properties of the Divinity then we ought to hearken to this Voice and make some good use of their Language The Curious Spectator looks up to the Heavens and examines every particular there Quidni quaerat Scit illa ad se pertinere Tunc contemnit domicilii prioris angustias Seneca And as he goes on what is all the distance from the utmost Coasts of Spain to the Indies But a Voyage of a very few Days if thou sail with a good
Wind But that heavenly Country above for many Hundreds of Years affords space for the swiftest Stars to travel in without let or molestation In short the very Natural Propensity of Mankind to enquire into those upper Regions and peer amongst the Stars is some Argument of our Concernment that way 4. Let us beware of Idolatry the fault of the old Pagan World Who when they saw those Lights hung out at the Windows of Heaven which should have been but ministerial to help them in the Search of him that made them fell down and worshipped the Servants instead of the Master the Candles at the Door instead of the Lord of the House Deut. 4.19 Yet the Jews themselves were so forgetful of this Precept that we find them often taxed for burning Incense to the Queen of Heaven and worshipping the Star Rempham And 't is too well known that the Heathens generally worshipped the Sun Moon and Stars becoming vain in their Imaginations and though they professed themselves Wise they became Fools changing the Glory of the incorruptible God into the Image of his corruptible Creatures 5. By this Law they who want a Special Revelation shall be judged Rom. 2.12 13 14 15. Let no Man then whether within or without the Pale of the Church think to shroud his Guilt under the Cloak of Ignorance There 's no Corner of the World so remote no People so dark where this Voice hath not been heard the Musick of the Spheres is soft and still but such as shortly will make even both the Ears of the guilty Sinner tingle The Language wherein these Sermons are preach'd to the World is temperate and equal it makes no great Noise at present to them who are busie digging low in the Bowels of the Earth but it hath a sharp and heavy Accent at the end Let no Man then upbraid the Almighty as if he were a severe Judge for calling all Men to the same Judgment for damning Men that never had the knowledge of his Laws Fear not God will be just he 'll vindicate his Righteousness from the foul Aspersions and Abuses of a scandalous World Hast thou sinned without Law without Law then thou shalt be tried And a Hundred to One but condemned too and yet God clear from thy Blood and just in all this What a black List of Sins doth the Apostle present thee with Rom. 1.29 c. all chargeable upon all Nations of the World Jew and Christian and Turk and Heathen and damnable by the very Law of Nature Vnrighteousness Fornication c. But that which affects us most in all this is that not only the poor Infidel is guilty in this Case but a great part of Christendom also not only they that have no other Law to read in no other Rule to go by but the Book of the Creation but they also who have the Bibles in their Hands and the Creed upon their Tongues-end and have all the Advantages of Nature and Revelation both When these very Sins and as bad or worse walk bare-fac'd within the Confines of the Church and Men of the best Creed and Profession in the World are not ashamed to commit the foulest Sins and sometimes accounteit their Glory to boast of such Vices which ought not so much as to be named amongst Christians There are several live amongst us it may be in this place now whose ordinary Conversations are stain'd with such Blots as both the Lights both that of Positive Religion and that of meer Natural Reason too do abhor and condemn And yet which is mighty strange these very Men do please themselves with the hopes of escaping safely the Sentence of the Judge at the Last Day And upon their Repentance they may but else I cannot think of any plausible Argument that will stand their Friend at the Day of Judgment And to drive the Nail farther yet It will not be enough for Men to plead their Interest in a Church or Party in such Cases let the Church be never so pure nor the Profession never so good nor the Advantages of Knowledge and Information never so great if under all these Pretensions thou shouldst play the Hypocrite and live ill thy own Mouth would condemn thee and a whole Cloud of Witnesses depose Evidence against thee And yet notwithstanding all this we may take up the Complaint of the Prophet Jer. 18.13 Ask now among the Heathen who hath heard such Things The Virgins of Israel have done very horrible Things Thy poor Men are tenacious of their superstitious Vanities 't is hard to make a Proselyte to Christianity amongst them they will dispute fight die for their meer Shadow of Faith but Christians will barter away thier Conscience their Creed their Heaven their God for meer Vanities Ver. 14 15. In short if it be true what some of the poor ignorant Gentiles fancied that the Sun Moon and Stars do all look upon us and are daily Spectators and Witnesses of all we do it were well for many If the Sun were indeed turned into Darkness and the Moon into Blood and the Stars would leave off their Shining and the whole Face of the Heavens were reversed than thus to stand over our Heads and remark our Actions in order to a Solemn Convictive Testimony against us Jer. 2.9 10 11. 8. Of the Glorious Body of the Sun COnsider we next the Sun 1. In its Motion 1. Its Terms à quo ad quem 2. It s Swiftness 3. Continuance 4. It s Light 5. It s Heat 1. It s Motion Concerning which and the rest of its Attributes I shall have the less to say now because I have spoken so much of it in the General Notion of the Heavenly Bodies Yet for Order-sake consider we 1. Its Terms or Bounds from whence and to which the Sun moves From the one end of the Heavens to the other i. e. according to our Apprehension and Common Sence of Things For in truth the Heavens have neither Beginning nor End but are of a perfect Round Figure Indeed this Notion was so long hid from the World that not many Hundred Years agone a German Bishop was Excommunicated for broaching this Doctrine viz. That there were Antipodes and that the Earth in answer to the Heavens was inhabited round whereas now 't is generally agreed upon with good Reason by all the Learned of late Ages 2. It s Swiftness I need say little more upon this Point than what I said before viz. That the Sun according to the Judgment of some Astronomers goes in its Motion 1000000 German Miles in the Judgment of others 261905 in one Hour Whether either of them are in the right or no I am not much concerned to determine This is certain 't is of a vast Body 166 times bigger than the Earth say Astronomers who by the Eclipses say they have found its Diameter and by its Diameter its Compass Periphery and by that its Motion Indeed its Course is so swift so incredibly quick that
so cold and frigid in defending the Pope as Eccius and some like him are who seem to me to defend the Papacy rather for their bellies sake then in good earnest Yea like Epicures they seem to me to deride the Pope whereas I was serious in his cause as one that trembled at the Thoughts of the day of Judgment and from my very heart desired to be saved Ibid. p. 146. vid. Sleid. Comment c. 8. Lambertus disputing with Zuinglius about the Intercession of Saints and the Sacrifice of the Masse and being non-plus'd left his Error and gave Praise to God Ibid. p. 149. 9. Mr. Rastal Sir Thomas Moor's Son in Law was converted likewise by the clear and strenuous Arguments of John Frith which he used in some Disputations that were managed by way of Letter between Sir Thomas and Him Ibid. p. 157. 10. In Mr. Baxters Narrative of his Life p. 3. He gives this Remarkable Account of his Conversion Being says he under some more Conviction for my Sin a poor Day-Labourer in the Town had an old torn Book which he lent my Father which was called Bunny's Resolution I had before heard some Sermons and read a Book or two which made me more Love and Honour Godliness in the General He further adds in the reading of this Book when I was about Fifteen Years of Age it pleas'd God to awaken my Soul and shew me the Folly of Sinning and the misery of the Wicked and the unexpressible weight of things Eternal and the necessity of resolving on a Holy Life more than I was ever acquainted with before The same things which I knew before came now in another manner with light and sence and seriousness to my heart About that time it pleased God that a poor Pedlar came to the Door that had Ballads and some good Books And my Father bought of him Dr. Sibbs bruised Reed This also I read and found it suited to my State and seasonably sent me which opened more the Love of God to me and gave me a Livelier apprehension of the Mystery of Redemption and how much I was beholden to Jesus Christ After this we had a Servant that had a little peice of Mr. Perkins's Works of Repentance and the right Art of Living and Dying well and the Government of the Tongue and the reading of that did further inform me and confirm me And thus without any means but Books was God pleased to resolve me for himself Thus far Mr. Baxter 11. Mr. Thomas Bilney Martyr was thus converted Having heard the Speech of Jesus saith he even then when the New Testament was Translated by Erasmus understanding it to be eloquently done I bought it being allured thereto rather by the Elegancy of the Latin then the Word of God for at that time I knew not what it meant and looking into it by God's special Providence I met with those words of the Apostle S. Paul This is a True saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am chief Oh! most sweet and comfortable sentence to my Soul This one sentence through Gods instruction and inward working did so exhilerate my heart which before was wounded through the guilt of my Sins and being almost in despair that immediately I sound Marvellous comfort and quietness in my Soul so that my bruised Bones did leap for Joy After this the Scripture began to be more sweet unto me then Honey and the Honey-comb c. Ibid. p. 162. 12. John Picus Mirandula being of a ductile Nature and an aimable Countenance and Disposition was for some time so inveigled with the Blandishments of an Effeminate Society that he gave himself over to unlawful pleasures with them but it pleased God by the Malice of his Adversaries and the troubles which he met with by their means to awaken him from his sensual delights and to stir him up to shake off and avoid all these Provocations and Incentives to Wickedness and to chuse Celestial instead of fleshy Pleasures And laying aside his hunting after vain Glory to devote himself wholly to the Glory of God and the good of the Church Idem in ejus vitâ 13. George Prince of Anhalt when the Controversies about Religions waxed hot and Luther's Books came abroad fell to reading of them and suspecting his own Injudiciousness would often pray with Tears to God to encline his heart to the Truth saying Deal with thy Servant according to thy Mercy and Instruct me in thy Righteousness He was frequent in reading the Scriptures Ecclesiastical Histories Augustine Hierom and Lombard studied also Greek and Hebrew and discoursed with Learned Men about the Controversies And after all upon mature deliberation embraced the reformed Religion and reformed the Churches with the counsel of his Brethren within his own Jurisdiction Fuller Abel Rediv. p. 165. 14. Vergerius having been the Popes Legate in Germany after his return to Rome the Pope intended to bestow a Cardinals Cap upon him but some about him suggested that he had been so long in Germany that he smelled of a Lutheran This made the Pope to alter his purpose which when Vergerius heard was wonderfully Astonished and that he might purge himself from that Imputation he retired into his own Countrey purposing to Write a Book under this Title Against the Apostate Germans But it pleased God that whilst he read over his Adversaries Books to confute them himself was converted by them Hereupon casting off all desires of a Cardinalship he went to his Brother John Baptista Bishop of Pola and Communicated his thoughts unto him and asked his advice His Brother at first was much perplexed and bewailed his condition But after a while was perswaded by Vergerius to read and study the Scriptures especially in the point of Justification by Faith whereby it pleased God that he also saw the Popish Doctrines to be false and so they both became Zealous Preachers of the Truth to the People Clark's Exampl Vol. 2. p. 117. Sleidan Commentar p. 475. 15. Whilst Francis Junius was a Student in Lions there came a Man to him using the words of the Epicure Nihil curare Deum nec sui nec alieni That God cares for nothing And he Corroborated this with such subtile Arguments that Junius sucked in that damnable Principle and thereupon gave up himself to vile Pleasures for somewhat more than a year But the Lord suffered him not to continue longer in so dangerous a condition For first in a tumult at Lions the Lord wonderfully delivered him from imminent Death which Signal Deliverance compelled him to acknowledge a Divine Providence And his Father hearing of the dangerous courses that he took sent for him home requiring him to read over the New Testament Concerning which himself thus Writes Novum Testamentum aperis exhibet se mihi ad spectu primo Augustissimum illud Caput in Principio erat Verbum c. When I had opened the New Testament the
the Odiousness of the Fact and to impute the Treason to the discontented Puritans Fawkes coming into Flanders found Owen unto whom after the Oath he declared the Plot which he very well approved of but Sir William Stanley being now in Spain Owen said that he would hardly be drawn into the Business having Suits now in England at the Court Yet he promised to engage him all that he could and to send into England with the first so soon as the Plot had taken Effect Upon this Fawkes to avoid further Suspicion kept still in Flanders all the beginning of September and then returning receiv'd the Keys of the Cellar and laid more Powder Billets and Faggots which done he retired into the Country and there kept till the end of October In the mean time Catesby and Peircy meeting at the Bath it was there concluded that because their numbec was but few Catesby himself should have power to call in whom he would to assist their design by which Authority he took in Sir Everard Digby of Rutlandshire and Francis Tresham Esq of Northamptonshire both of them of sufficient State and Wealth For Sir Everard offer'd Fifteen Hundred Pounds to forward the Action and Tresham Two Thousand But Peircy disdaining that any should out-run him in Evil promised Four Thousand Pounds out of the Earl of Northumberland's Rents and ten swift Horses to be used when the Blow was past Against which time to provide Ammunition Catesby also took in Ambrose Rookwood and John Grant two Recusant Gentlemen and without doubt others were acquainted also with it had these two grand Electors been apprehended alive whose own Tongues only could have given an Account of it The business being thus forwarded abroad by their Complices they at home were no less active For Peircy Winter and Fawkes had stored the Cellar with thirty fix Barrels of Gunpowder and instead of Shot has said upon them Bars of Iron Logs of Timber Massie stones Iron Crows Pickaxes and all their working Tools and to cover all great Store of Billets and Faggots so that nothing was wanting against that great and terrible day Neither were the Priests and Jesuits slack on their parts who usually concluded their Masses with Prayers for the good Success of their expected Hopes Upon Thursday in the Evening ten Days before the Parliament was to begin a Letter directed to the Lord Monteagle was deliver'd by an unknown Person to his Footman in the Street with a strict Charge to give it into his Lords own Hands which accordingly he did The Letter had neither Date nor Subscription and was somewhat unlegible This Letter was imparted to the Earl of Salisbury then Principal Secretary and they both presently acquainted the Lord Chamberlain next to the Earl of Worcester and Northampton and last to the King as followeth My Lord Out of the Love I bear to some of your Friends I have a care of your Preservation Therefore I would advise you as you tender your Life to devise some Excuse to shift off your Attendance at this Parliament For God and Man have concurr'd to punish the Wickedness of this time And think not slightly of this Advertisement but retire your self into your Country where you may expect the Event in safety For though there be no Appearance of any Stir yet I say they shall receive a terrible Blow this Parliament and yet they shall not see who hurts them This Counsel is not to be contemned because it may do you good and can do you no harm For the danger is past so soon as you have burnt the Letter and I hope God will give you the Grace to make a good use of it to whose holy Protection I commend you His Majesty after reading this Letter pausing a while and then reading it again deliver'd his Judgment that the Stile of it was too quick and pithy to be a Libel proceeding from the Superfluities of an idle Brain and by these Words That they should receive a terrible Blow at this Parliament and yet should not see who hurt them he presently apprehended that a sudden Danger by a Blast of Gunpowder was intended by some base Villain in a Corner though no Insurrection Rebellion or desperate Attempt appear'd And therefore wished that the Rooms under the Parliament-House should be thoroughly searched before himself or Peers should sit therein Hereupon it was concluded that the Lord-Chamberlain according to his Office should view all Rooms above and below but yet to prevent idle Rumours and to let things ripen further it was resolved that this Search should be deferr'd till Monday the day before the Parliament met and that then it should be done with a seeming slight Eye to avoid Suspect According to this Conclusion the Earl of Suffolk Lord-Chamberlain upon Monday in the Afternoon accompanied with the Lord Monteagle repair'd into these Under-Rooms and finding the Cellar so fully stored with Wood and Coals demanded of Fawkes the counteffeit Johnson who stood there attending as a Servant of small Repute who owned the place He answer'd that the Lodgings belong'd to Master Thomas Peircy and the Cellar also to lay in his Winter-Provision himself being the Keeper of it and Master Thomas Peircy's Servant whereunto the Earl as void of any Suspicion told him That his Master was well provided for Winter Blasts But when they were come forth the Lord Monteagle told him That he did much suspect Peircy to be the Inditer of the Letter knowing his Affection in Religion and the Friendship betwixt them professed so that his Heart gave him as he said when heard Peircy named that his Hand was in act The Lord-Chamberlain returning related to the King and Council what he had seen and the Suspition that the Lord Monteagle had of Peircy and himself of Johnson his Man all which increased His Majesties Jealousie so that he insisted contrary to the Opinion of some that a harrow Search should be made and the Billets and Coals turn'd up to the bottom and accordingly the Search was concluded to be made but under colour of searching for certain Hangings belonging to the House which were missing and conveyed away Sir Thomas Knevet a Gentleman of His Majesties Privy-Chamber was employ'd herein who about Midnight before the Parliament was to begin went to the place with a small but trusty number of Persons And at the Cellar Door entring in finding one who was Guy Fawkes at so unseasonable an Hour cloaked and booted he apprehended him and ransacking the Billets he found the Serpent's Nest stored with Thirty six Barrels of Powder and then searching the Villain he found a Dark-Lanthorn about him three Matches and other Instruments for blowing up the Powder And being no whit daunted he instantly confessed his Guiltiness vowing that if he had been within the House he would have blown up House and self and all and before the Council lamented nothing so much as that the Deed was not done saying The Devil and not God was the Discoverer
time who were consulted touching the use of a Medicine the Spectre or Ghost prescrib'd of which mention will be made anon but they determined on the Negative But this by the by Till part of the Afternoon was spent all was quiet but at length he was perceived to rise from the Ground Whereupon Mr. Greatrix and another lusty Man clapt their Arms over his Shoulder one of them before him and the other behind and weighed him down with all their Strength But he was forcibly taken up from them and they were too weak to keep their hold and for a considerable time he was carried in the Air to and fro over their Heads several of the Company still running under him to prevent his being hurt if he should fall At length he fell and was caught before he came to the Ground and had by that means no hurt All being quiet till Bed-time my Lord order'd two of his Servants to lie with him and the next Morning he told his Lordship that his Spectre was again with him and brought a wooden Dish with grey Liquor in it and bad him drink it off At the first sight of the Spectre he said he endeavour'd to awake his Bedfellows but it told him That that endeavour should be in vain and that he had no cause to ear him he being his Friend and he that at first gave him the good Advice in the Field which had he not followed he had been before now perfectly in the power of the Compan he saw there He added that he concluded it was impossible but that he should have been carried away the day before there being so strong a Combination against him But now he would assure him that there would be no more Attempts of that Nature but he being troubled with two sorts of sad Fits he had brought that Liquor to cure him of them and bid him drink it He peremptorily refusing the Spectre was angry and upbraided him with great disingenuity but told him That however he had a kindness for him and that if he would take Plantine Juice he should be well of one sort of Fits but he should carry the other to his Grave The poor Man having by this time somewhat recover'd himself ask'd the Spectre whether by the Juice of Plantain he meant that of the Leaves or Roots It replied The Roots Then it askt him whether he did not know him He answer'd No. He replied I am such a one The Man answer'd He hath been long dead I have been dead said the Spectre or Ghost seven Years and you know that I lived a loose Life and ever since have I been hurried up and down in a restless condition with the Company you saw and shall be to the day of Judgment Then he proceeded to tell him that had he acknowledged God in his ways he had not suffer'd such severe things by their means And further said You never pray'd to God that day before you met with this Company in the Field and also going about an unlawful Business and so vanish'd Mr. Glanvil's Sadducism Triumph p. 423. 4. Mr. Alexander Clogie Minister of Wigmore in the County of Hereford aged Fourscore Years published a Set of Sermons A. 16â—4 under this Title Vox Corvi or the Voice of the Raven that thrice spoke these Wards distinctly viz. Look into Colossians the 3d. and 15th Licensed according to Order London Printed by W. B. c. The occasion of it was as we are told in the Epistle to the Reader On the 3d. of Feb. 1691. about Three in the Afternoon this Reverend Divine a Persons of the Venerable Age of Eighty Years and Forty of those a laborious Teacher of God's Word in the Parish of Wigmore being in the Hall of his own House with his Wife some Neighbours and Relations together with two small Grand-children of his in all to the number of eight Persons Thomas Kinnersley one of the said Grandchildren of 10 Years of Age starting up from the Fire-side went out of the Hall-door and sate himself down upon a Block by a Wood-pile before the Door cutting of a Stick and in ress than a quâ—â—ter of an Hour return'd into the Hall in great Amazement his Countenance pale and affrighted and said to his Grandfather and Grandmother Look in the 3d. of the Colossians and the 15th with a great Palsion and Earnestness repeating the Words no less than three times telling them with a mighty Ardency that a Raven had spoken them three times from the Peak of the Steeple and that it look'd towards W. W.'s House and shook its Head thitherward directing its Looks and Motions still towards that House All which Words he heard the Raven distinctly utter three times and then saw it mount and fly out of Sight The Grandfather turning to the Text in the Bible and reading the Words Let the Peace of God rule in your Hearts c. The Child was fully satisfied and his Countenance composed again The Family to which the Raven seemed to direct her Voice were by means hereof perfectly Reconciled I doubt not but this Relation will seem incredible in an Age of so little Faith but I have not time to plead for the Credibility of every particular and strange Story that I relate Sure I am Mr. Clogie doth not Preach or Write like a Man fallen into his Dotage or like a weak and unskilful Divine 5. Dwelling at Leeds in Kent saith Mr. Batman Professor in Divinity a glowing Light like unto a quick Cole appeared at my Bed's Feet at the sudden sight whereof I was as well in doubt as afraid taking view thereof twice or thrice to the end I would not be deceived of that Appearance and desiring God's Assistance from Evils it vanished away Shortly after I was in present danger of being Slain in the House of him whom I took to be my Friend c. Not many Years after I fell into the Hands of Inconstant Men whose double Deâ—lings I referred to God and one of them was struck Blind another fell into a Dropsie a Third ask'd Forgiveness c. There happened to me in Kent also a sudden Fire in the House wherein I then dwelt so that the House was consumed to the Ground whether because before that time I greatly reproved Witchery of those that then were Suspected or for my secret Sins against God from the which no Flesh is clear I appeal before the Throne of thy most magnificent Grace c. Doâ—n's Warning to the Judgment p. 410. I could add many more Instances of this kind but having already mentioned some others in other Chapters I shall forbear lest I cloy my Reader and provoke him to a nauseate or loathing Nequid nimis CHAP. XXVII Remarkable Faith THE Graces of the Spirit of God found to be Sincere but especially in an excellent degree in Christians are called frequently in the Gospel The Earnest of the Spirit and the Earnest of the Future Iâ—heritance as if God never bestowed these
Liquors unless now and then a Glass by way of Cordial CHAP. LXXII Present Retribution to the Devout and Praying Or Prayers answered in Kind NEver did God say to any of the Seed of Jacob seek my face in vain Our Saviour hath resolved us by the Authority of his Word the Example of the Syrophoenician Woman Mat. 15 22. And the Parable of the Importunate Widow Luke 18.2 That Prayer is no vain or fruitless Point of Devotion Let Elijah Daniel David Jesus the Apostles and all the sincere Votaries of the Church of GOD give their Suffrage in the Case 1. Alexander Bishop of Constantinople when Arius was sent for thither by the Emperour to give an Account of his unquiet Behaviour at Alexandria shut himself up in the Church and there fell to Fasting and Prayer begging of God Night and Day with Tears That if Arius were true in his Opinion he might never see the Day of his Trial but if not that God would inflict some visible Judgment upon Arius the Author of so much Mischief Arius before the Emperour subscribed and swore to the Decrees of the Nicene Council but with Fraud and Equivocation for swearing that he heartily assented to what he had written he meant only a Form of Faith which he had purposely put in his Bosom upon this the good Emperour was satisfied and commanded Alexander to receive him into his Communion This was upon Saturday but the next Day expecting to the admitted he goes out of the Palace with Eusebius and many Followers in great Pomp and Pride but by and by in the chief Marker-place of the City his Conscience accused him his Belly loosened he called for the next Jakes whither he retired immediately and there his Fundament coming out he voided much Blood together with Bowels Spleen and Liver and so died wretchedly Clark's Marr. of Eccl. History 2. St. Augustine when the Goths and Vandals were broke into Africa and besieged Hippo sitting at Table one Day with his Presbyters and the Bishops that were fled thither from other places for Refuge said to them You know Brethren that from the beginning of this Siege my daily Prayers have been That God would either free us from it or give his Servants Patience and Courage to undergo what he imposeth or to take me out of this present evil World and I believe that God will answer my desire And accordingly the Third Month of the Siege he fell sick of a Fever and died Ibid. And Dr. Jer. Tailour Life of Christ. He was very powerful in Prayers so that sometimes thereby he hath cast out Devils Clark Ibid. I have mention'd formerly in my Christian 's Companion out of his Confessions that once being extreamly afflicted with the Tooth-ach so that he could not speak by writing he requested his Friends that came to visit him to pray with and for him which they did and immediately whilst they were at Prayers his Pain ceased and his Speech was restored 3. Luther being present at the Marriage of Philip. Duke of Pomerania with Mary Daughter to the Elector of Saxony prayed for a Blessing and taking Philip by the hand said The Lord God be with you and keep your Posterity from failing but his Wife continuing barren Four Years all his Male-stock was like to be extinct yet at length by God's Blessing according to Luther's Prayer he had Seven Sons by her which wonderfully increased the Family Clark's Marr. of Eccl. Hist p. 141. 4. Mr. Hugh Latimer used constantly in his Prayers to beg That God would restore the Gospel to England once again Which blessed be God hath been granted Clark's Exam. p. 461. 5. Luther is said to be able to prevail with God at his pleasure to obtain what he list according to that of Prov. 12.2 Once praying for the Recovery of Myconius he let fall this rapturous Expression Fiat voluntas mea Let my Will be done and then sweetning it Mea voluntas Domine quia tua My Will because thine which was granted Ibid. p. 466. 6. Henry late Lord Delamer in his Advice to his Children tells them That he had observed any Morning that he had hurried over his Devotions the Day following was not prosperous and that thing which particularly occasioned him to such haste met with ill success Lord Delamer's Works p. 3. 7. A. C. 1584 near Bern in Switzâ—rland a certain Hill in an Earthquake was carried violently over and beyond other Hills and covered a whole Village consisting of Ninety Families one Half-house only excepted wherein the Master of the Family with his Wife and Children were earnestly praying unto God This is attested by Polanus who lived in those parts Syntag. p. 841. Present Retribution to the Devout Prayers answered in kind c. 8. IF Mr. Elliot said of any Affiar I cannot bless it it was a worse omen to it then the most inauspicious Presages in the World but sometimes after he had been with God about a thing he was able successfully to foretel I have set a Mark upon it it will do well I shall never forget that when Enland and Holland were plunged into the unhappy War which the more sensible Protestants every-where had but sorrowful Apprehensions of our Elliot being in the height and heat of the War privatly asked What News we might next look for Answered unto the surprize of the Enquirer Our next News will be a Peace between the two Protestant Nations God knows I pray for it every day and I am verily perswaded we shall hear of it speedily And it came to pass accordingly There was a godly Minister of Charles-Town one Mr. Foster who with his Son was taken Captive by Turish Enemies much Prayer was made both privately and publickly by the good People for the Redemption of that Gentleman but we were at last informed that the bloody Prince in whose Dominion he was now a Slave was resolved that in his Life-time no Prisoner should be released And so the distressed Friends of this Prisoner now concluded Our hope is lost Well upon this Mr. Elliot in some of his next Prayers before a very solemn Congregation very broadly begg'd Heavenly Father work for the Redemption of thy poor Servant Foster and if the Prince which detains him will not as they say dismiss him as long as himself lives Lord we pray thee to kill that cruel Prince kill him and glorifie thy self upon him And now behold the Answer the poor captivated Gentleman quickly returns to us that had been Mourning for him as a lost Man and brings us news that the Prince was come to an untimely Death by which means he was now set at liberty Cotton Mather in his Life p. 50. 9. In 1642 One Mary Glover a Merchants Daughter in Thames-street being bewitched by one Mother Jackson who was arraigned at Newgate in London continuing every second day in most strange and dreadful Fits and Torments for about three Weeks or a Month after the Witch was condemned several Ministers and
he hath threatned Diseases and Shortness of Life to them that are careless of his Laws and told us That the Wicked shall not live out half their Days And in order hereunto he permits Satan oftentimes to pour out his Malice and Venom upon Mankind partly by Witchcraft and preternatural Strokes as in the case of Job who was afflicted with Boyls and Botches vexations and noisome to a Proverb and in the Instances of the Demoniackâ— in the Gospel who were sorely tormented with Diseases and strange Fits and Convulsions so that they were rent and tore and tertured at upon a Wrack or Gibbet and partly by malicious Injections and Temptations provoked either to Presumption or Despair and all the ill Effects and Consequences of those grand Precipicies of Human Nature And in truth the end of all sinful Courses is Death 1. Langius tells a memorable and true Story of one Vlricus Neusesser who being grievously tormented with a Pain in his side suddenly felt under his Skin which yet was whole an Iron Nail as he thought and so it proved when the Chyrurgion had cut it out But nevertheless his great Torments continued which enraged him so that he cut his own Throat The third Day when he was carried out to be Buried Eucharius Rosenbader and Johannes ab Actenstet a great company of People standing about them dissected the Corps and ripping up the Ventricle found a round piece of Wood of a good length four Knives some even and sharp others indented like a Saw with other two rough pieces of Iron a span long there was also a Ball of Hear This hapned at Fugenstal 1539. Antid against Atheism l. 3. c. 5. 2. Wierus tells also of one that was possessed of which himself was an Eye-witness thâ—â— vomited up pieces of Cloth with Pins stuck in them Nails Needles and such like stuff which he contends doth not come from the Stomach but by a prestigious Slight of the Devil is only ingested into the Mouth Ibid. 3. Cardan relates the like of a good simple country Fellow and a Friend of his that had been a long time troubled with vomiting up Glass Iron Nails and Hair and that at that time he â—old Cardan of it he was not so perfectly restored but that something yet crashed in his Belly as if there were a Bag of Glass in it Ibid. 4. There were thirty Children strangely handled at Amsterdam 1566. of the Truth whereof Wierus professeth himself very well assured They were Tortured very much and cast very violent upon the Ground but when they arose out of their Fit knew nothing but thought they had been only asleep For the remedying of this Mischief they got the help of Physicians Wizards and Exorcists but without success only while the Exorcists were reading the Children vomited up Needles Thimbles shreds of Cloth pieces of Pots Glass Hair and other things of the like nature Ibid. 5. Now the Advantage I would make of those Relations is this That these Effects Extraordinary and Supernatural being so palpable and permanent they are not at all liable to such subtersuges as Atheists usually betake themselves to as of Melancholy and disturbance of Phansie in those that profess they see such strange things or any Fraud or Imposture in those that act Ibid. 6. This following Relation of a strange Witchcraft discovered in the Village Mehra in Sweedland was taken out of the publick Register of the Lords Commissioners appointed by his Majesty the King of Sweeden to examine the whole Business in the Years of our Lord 1669 and 1670. The News of this Witchcraft coming to the King's Ear his Majesty was pleased to appoint Commissioners some of the Clergy and some of the Laity to make a Journey to the Town afore-said and to examine the whole Business and accordingly the Examination was ordered to be on the 13th of August and the Commissioners met on the 12th Instant in the said Village at the Persons House to whom both the Minister and several People of Fashion complained with Tears in their Eyes of the miserable Condition they were in and therefore begged of them to think of some way whereby they might be delivered from that Calamity They gave the Commissioners very strange Instances of the Devils Tyranny among them how by the help of Witches he had drawn some hundreds of Children to him and made them subject to his Power how he hath been seen to go in a visible Shape through the Country and appeared daily to the People how he had wrought upon the poorer sort by presenting them with Meat and Drink and this way allured them to himself with other Circumstances to be mentioned hereafter The Inhabitants of the Village added with very great Lamentations That though their Children had told all and themselves saught God very earnestly by Prayer yet they were carried away by him And therefore begged of the Lords Commissioners to root out this hellish Crew that they might regain their former Rest and Quietness and the rather because the Children which used to be carried away in the Countrey or District of Elfdale since some Witches had been Burnt there remained unmolested That Day i. e. the 13th of August being the last humiliation-Humiliation-day instituted by Authority for removing of this Judgment the Commissioners went to Church where there appeared a considerable Assembly both of Young and Old The Children could read most of them and sing Psalms and so could the Women though not with any great Zeal or Fervor There were Preached two Sermons that Day in which the miserable Case of those People that suffered themselves to be deluded by the Devil was laid open and these Sermons were at last concluded with very fervent Prayer The publick Worship being over all the People of the Town were called together to the Persons House near three Thousand of them Silence being commanded the King's Commission was read Publickly in the Hearing of them all and they were charged under very great Penalties to conceal nothing of what they knew and to say nothing but the Truth those especially who were guilty that the Children might be delivered from the Clutches of the Devil They all promised Obedience the guilty feignedly but the guiltless weeping and crying bitterly On the 14th of August the Commissioners met again consulting how they might withstand this dangerous Flood after long deliberation an Order also coming from his Majesty they did resolve to execute such as the Matter of Fact could be proved upon Examination being made there were discovered no less than three Score and Ten in the Village afore-said three and Twenty of which freely confessing their Crimes were condemned to die the rest one pretending she was with Child and the other denying and pleading not guilty were sent to Fahluna where most of them were afterwards Executed Fifteen Children which likewise confessed that they were engaged in this Witchery died as the rest Six and Thirty of them between nine and sixteen Years of Age
of destroying herself and have had oftentimes a Knife put into her Hand to do it so that she durst not be left by herself alone and when she had considered what the Cause of it might be her Conscience did hint most her neglecting of Duties to have performed they being the Ordinances of God Thus she continued 'till two Years ago she buried her Child the which was a very great trouble to her to part with and then was she more convinced of Sin which caused her Burthen to be the greater so that she could seldom have any other Thoughts but of Desperation but the Lord keeping her by his great Mercy so that sometimes she could pray with Devotion and discerning the Lord to remove this great Trouble from her she did plainly find that those great Temptations were very much lessened the which is a great Comfort unto her Spirit Believers Experiences p. 25. CHAP. XCI Satan Hurting by Dreams That God hath made use of Dreams and Visions of the Night to awaken Men to their Duty and a Sence of the Dangers they were in is demonstrated already and it is not unreasonable to believe that the Devil can in this Case too transform himself into an Angel of Light and impose upon the Imaginations of Men by strange deluding Fancies and Idea's formed on purpose to trick their Minds into a Snare and to allure them into some Trap of either Sin or Misery that he hath laid for them 1. King James the Fifth of Scotland was a great Enemy to the Light of the Gospel which in his Days broke forth in that Kingdom viz. about the Year 1541 and out of a blind and bloody Zeal was heard to say That none of that Sort should expect any Favour at his Hands no not his own Sons if they proved guilty But not long after Sir James Hamilton being suspected to incline that way was falsly accused of a Practice against the King's Life and being Condemned was Executed Shortly after the King being at Linlithgow on a Night as he slept it seemed to him That Thomas Scot Justice-Clerk came unto him with a Company of Devils crying Wo-worth the Day that ever I knew thee or thy Service for serving thee against God and against his Servants I am now adjudged to Hell torments Hereupon the King awaking called for Lights and causing his Servants to arise told them what he had heard and seen The next Morning by Day-light Advertisement was brought him of this Scot's Death which fell out just at the time when the King found himself so troubled and almost in the same manner for he died in great extremity often uttering these words Justo Dei Judicio comdemnatus sum by the righteous Judgment of God I am condemned Which being related to the King made the Dream more terrible 2. Another Vision he had in the same place not many Nights after which did more affright him Whilst he lay sleeping he thought He saw Sir James Hamilton whom he had caused to be Executed come with a Sword drawn in his Hand wherewith he cut off both his Arms threatning also to return within a short time and deprive him of his Life With this he awaked and as he lay musing what this might import News was brought him of the Death of his two Sons James and Arthur who died at St. Andrews and Strinling at one and the same Hour The next Year viz. 1542 being overcome with Grief and Passion himself died at Faulkland in the Thirty second Year of his Age. Arch-bishop Spoteswood 's History of the Church of Scotland Clark's Mirrour Ch. 7. p. 34 35. I am not sure that these particular Instances are properly placed under this Head I leave it to my wise and judicious Reader to consider whether or no these were Divine Admonitions or Satanical Illusions Mr. Clark hath accounted them as Satanical But 't is certain the Vulgar sort of People are so fond of observing their Dreams and some pretended wise Men and Women of a superstitious Kidney do promote this Fancy extreamly and undertake to prescribe Rules for the making a Judgment upon them and by that means do no small hurt to some weak hypochondriacal and melancholick Spirits How often shall we hear them whining out their Complaints upon the Account of some late Dream in expectation of some sad Disaster or Malady that they believe with much Confidence will befall them And sometimes fretting and pining to that extremity that no Comfort will down with them 'till the Date of their Dream be fully expired And I doubt not but Comfort will down with in promoting these silly and troublesome Conceits CHAP. XCII Satan Hurting by Witchcraft ATheism and Sadducism have got such Ground in the World of late Ages that 't is no vain Vndertaking to write of Devils and the Mischief done by them to Mankind by the Mediation of a sort of People that have Familiar Communion with them To transcribe all has been writ upon this Subject by Dr. More Mr. Glanvil Mr. Baxter Scheggius Remigius Delrio Mather c. would make up a large Volume enough to confute any whose Faces are not harder than Brass and their Hearts than Iron it shall be enough to say so much as shall suffice to convince those who are industrious enough to read patient enough to deliberate and have humility and honesty enough to be serious and impartial And as for the rest Qui vult Decipi decipiatur 1. In Pinola there were some who were much given to Witchcraft and by the Power of the Devil did act strange Things Amongst the rest there was one Old Woman named Martha de Carillo who had been by some of the Town formerly accused for Bewitching many but the Spanish Justices quitted her finding no sure Evidence against her with this grew worse and worse and did much harm when I was there two or three died withering away declaring at their Death That this Carillo had killed them and that they saw her often about their Beds threatning them with a frowning and angry Look the Indians for fear of her durst not complain against her nor meddle with her Whereupon I sent saith my Author unto Don Juan de Guzman the Lord of that Town that if he took not Order with her she would destroy the Town He hearing of it got for me a Commission from the Bishop and another Officer of the inquisition to make diligent and private Enquiry after her Life and Actions Which I did and found among the Indians many and grievous Complaints against her most of the Town affirming that she was certainly a most notorious Witch and that before her former Accusation she was wont to go as she had occasion about the Town with a Duck following her which when she came to the Church would stay at the Door 'till she came out again and then would return with her which Duck they imagined was her beloved Devil and Familiar Spirit for that they had often set Dogs at
her and they would not meddle with her but rather run away from her This Duck never appeared more with her since she was formerly accused before the Justice which was thought to be her Policy that she might be no more suspected thereby This Old Woman was a Widow and of the poorest of the Town in outward shew and yet she had always store of Money which none could tell which way she might come by it Whilst I was thus taking privy Information against her it being the time of Lent when all the Town came to Confession she among the rest came to Church to confess her Sins and brought me the best Present and Offering of the Town for whereas a Rial is common she brought me four and besides a Turkey Eggs Fish and a little Bottle of Honey She thought thereby to get with me a better Opinion than I had of her from the whole Town I accepted of her great Offering and heard her Confession which was of nothing but Trifies which could scarcely be judged sinful Actions I examined her very close of what was the common Judgment of all the Indians and especially of those who dying had declared to myself at their Death that she had Bewitched them and before their Sickness had threatned them with Death about their Beds none but they themselves seeing her To which she replied weeping That she was wronged I asked her How she being a poor Widow without any Sons to help her without any Means of Livelihood had so much Money as to give me more than the richest in the Town How she came by that Fish Turkey and Honey having none of this of her own about her House To which she replied That God loved her and gave her all these Things and that with her Money she bought the rest I asked her of whom She answered That out of the Town she had them I perswaded her to much Repentance and to forsake the Devil and all Fellowship with him buy her Words and Answers were of a Saintly and Holy Woman and she earnestly desired me to give her the Communion with the rest that were to receive the next Day which I told her I durst not do using Christ's Words Give not the Childrens Bread unto Dogs nor cast Pearls unto Swine and it would be a great Scandal to give the Communion unto her who was suspected generally and had been accused for a Witch This she took very ill telling me That she had for many Years received the Communion and now in her Old Age it grieved her to be deprived of it Her Tears were many yet I could not be moved with them but resolutely denied her the Communion and so dismissed her At Noon when I had done my Work in the Church I had my Servants go to gather up the Offerings and gave Order to have the Fish dressed for my Dinner which she had brought but no sooner was it carried into the Kitchin when the Cook looking on it found it full of Moggots and stinking so that I was forced to hurle it away with that I began to suspect my old Witch and went to look on her Honey and pouring it our into a Disâ— I found it full of Worms her Eggs I could not know from others there being near an Hundred offered that day buy after as I used them we found some rotten some with dead Chickens in them the next Morning the Turkey was found dead as for her four Rials I could not perceive whether the had bewitched them out of my Pocket for that I had put them with many other which that day had been given me yet as far as I could I called to Memory who and what had been given me and in my judgment and reckoning I verily thought that I missed four Rials at Night when my Servants the Indians were gone to Bed I sate up late in my Chamber betaking my self to my Books and Study for I was the next Morning to make an Exhortation to those that received the Communion After I had studied a while it being between ten and eleven of the Clock on a sudden the chief Door in the Hall where in a lower Room was my Chamber and the Servants and three other Doors flew open and I heard one come in and for a while walked about then was another Door opened which went into a little Room where my Saddles were laid with this I thought it might be the Blackamore Miguel Dalva who would often come late to my House to Lodge there especially since my fear of Montenegro and I conjectured he was laying up his Saddle I called to him by name twice or thrice from within my Chamber but no Answer was made but suddenly another Door that opened to my Garden flew open wherewith I began within to fear my Joynts trembled my Hair stood an end I would have called out to the Servants and my Voice was as it were stopped with the sudden Affrightments I began to think of the Witch and put my trust in God against her and encouraged my self and Voice calling out to the Servants and knocking with my Cane at the Door within that they might hear me for I durst not open it and go out with the Noise that I made the Servants awaked and came out to my Chamber-door then I opened it and asked if they had not heard some body in the Hall and all the Doors opened they said they were asleep and heard nothing only one Boy said he heard all and related unto me the same that I had heard I took my Candle then in my Hand and went out with them into the Hall to view the Doors and I found them all shut as the Servants said they had left them then I perceived that the Witch would have affrighted me but had no power to do me any harm I made two of the Servants lie in my Chamber and went to Bed in the Morning early I sent for my Fiscal the Clerk of the Church and told him what had happened that Night he smiled upon me and told me it was the Widow Carillo who had often played such tricks in the Town with those that had offended her and therefore he had the Night before come unto me from her desiring me to give her the Communion lest she should do me come hurt which I denied unto him as I had done unto herself the Clerk bade me be of good cheer for he knew she had no power over me to do me any hurt After the Communion that day some of the chief Indians came unto me and told me that old Carillo had boasted that she would play me some trick or other because I would not give her the Communion But I to rid the Town of such a Limb of Satan sent her to Guatamala with all the Evidences and Witnesses that I had found against her unto the President and Bishop who commanded her to be put in Prison where she died within three Months Dr. Burthogge's Essay
to himself by the frequent Noises and Disturbances which he makes in Peoples Houses When I first began this Work I heard a rapping at my Hall-door as with a Horse-whip twice and my Maid heard it likewise at the same time tho' she was in the Kitchen and I in the Parlour at that very Juncture My Wife suspected it to be a Token of some Funeral out of the Family within such a set time as a Year or so c. Many People have had the like and yet no Harm followed And I quere Whether by the Appearance of the Ghosts of Persons departed he doth not design to promote the Doctrine of Purgatory or some other superstitious Fancies I am sure many of the wild and fantastical Notions and Practices that have been adopted into Religion by Jews Greeks Papists and Pagans have been fathered upon such Causes viz. Visions and Revelations Ominous Signs and Apparitions 10. Joan Williford a Witch confessed before the Mayor and other Jurats of Feversham 1645. That the Devil promised her that she should not lack But never brought her more than Eight Pence or one Shilling at a time See the Examination and Confession of the said Joan and others 1645. CHAP. XCIX Divine Judgments by way of Retaliation THERE is no juster Law saith the old Poet than that those who are the Authors of Contriving a Mischief for others fall into it themselves and the Sacred Scripture agrees thereto and we have many Instances of such Judgments And certainly if any Evils in the World carry in them the Signature and Indication of the Cause these do 1. Haman was hanged upon the same Gallows that he prepared for Mordecai 2. David for his Adultery with Bathsheba was threatened with a Punishment of the like kind which was accordingly inflicted on him 2 Sam. 16.22 when Absalom spread a Tent upon the top of the House and went in unto his Father's Concubines 3. Those that accused Daniel to Darius and procured the throwing of him into the Lyons Den were afterwards thrown there themselves Dan. 6.24 4. The Story of Phalaris's Bull invented for the Torment of others and serving afterwards for himself is notorious in Heathen Story 5. The Lord Cromwel in Henry the VIII's Reign is remarked for suffering capital Punishment without ever coming to a Tryal by a Law which they say himself out of a servile Flattery to his Prince procured for others Of which Michael Drayton thus writes Those Laws I made alone my self to please To give a Power more freely to my Will Even to my Equals hurtful several ways Forced to things that most do say were Ill Upon me now as violently seize By which I lastly perish'd by my Skill On mine own Neck returning as my due That heavy Yoke wherein by me they drew Winstanly's Worth p. 216. 6. The Duke of Somerset in the Fifth Year of Edward VI. died by a Law which but a year before was Passed by himself Spelman 7. The Papists pitch'd upon the Fifth of November for their Gunpowder-Plot but that was by Divine Providence seasonably Discovered and some of the Traitors flying into Worcestershire c. with two pounds of Powder which they had Rifled out of the Lord Windsor's House and laid to dry at the Fire by occasion of a Spark flying upon it Catesby Rookwood and Grant were much scorched both in their Bodies and Faces and at the same time the Roof of the House was blown up with the violence of the Powder And upon the same day viz. November 5. 1623. according to the Popish Account by the fall of a House in Black-fryars London at a Popish Conventicle where one Drurie Preach'd at least Ninety Persons were killed Again upon the same day Novemb. 5. to the best of my Remembrance King William III. by Divine Favour and a special Conduct of Providence entered England in order to the Delivering of us from Popery and Arbitrary or Tyrannical Government 8. It was a voluntary Judgment which Archbishop Cranmer inflicted on himself when he first thrust that very hand into the Fire and burnt it with which he had Signed to the Popish Articles crying out Oh! my Vnworthy Right Hand but who will deny that the Hand of the Almighty was also concerned in it 9. The Spaniards who exercised so much Cruelty in the West-Indies telling the poor Natives that they had a Disease upon them which Gold was a Sovereign Remedy for were many of them Taken and Slain by the Indians and Gold poured down their Throats in a Reproachful way as if it were their God 10. The Bishop of Mentz who Burned the Poor of his Neighbourhood in a Barn and called them Rats mentioned elsewhere in this Book was afterwards punished to death with Rats 11. I have read of a Man that was haled out of doors in a violent manner by his own Son who cried out to him Oh! pray no further for just so far I dragg'd my Father 12. Often the very instrument of our Sin is the Instrument of our Punishment as a Child that we Cocker too much a Persons we Love inordinately any thing we doat upon 13. Sisera annoys God's People with Iron Chariots and is Slain with a Nail of iron Jezabel's Brains that devised Mischief against the Innocent were strewed upon Stones By a Letter to Jezreel she shed the Blood of Naboth and by a Letter from Jezreel the Blood of her Sons was shed Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Solomon's Temple that seven years work of so many Thousands therefore let him be turned a Grazing and seven Seasons pass over him Dan. 4.16 14. Frederick Barbarossa Emperor of Germany had often punished the City of Milan for siding with the Pope against him Yet on a time when Beatrix the Empress came to the Town the uncivil Citizens first Imprisoned her and then in a Scornful manner set her on a Mule with her Face towards the Tail which they caused her to hold in her hand instead of a Bridle And having thus Disgracefully carried her through all the Town they brought her to a Gate and kick'd her out The Emperor to Revenge this Wrong Besieged the City and at last took it adjudging all the People to Death but such as would redeem their Lives in this opprobrious manner He caused a Bunch of Figs to be fastned between the Buttocks of a skittish Mule and such as would live must with their hands bound behind them run after the Mule till with their teeth they had snatched out one or more of the Figs which condition with the hazard of many a sound kick was accepted and performed by many of them Heyl. Geog. p. 214. 15. The Donatists that cast the Holy Elements in the Lord's Supper to Dogs were themselves afterwards devoured by Dogs Zonaras 16. The Archbishop of Tours made sute for the Erection of a Court called Cambre Ardent wherein to condemn the Protestants to the Fire and was himself stricken with a Disease called the Fire of God which began at his Feet and
over-looked by their Creator with more Contempt as being more Vile than their Neighbours Our Savioar gave a Check to this Humour when he vindicated the Blind Man in the Gospel and told his Auditory the Cause was neither his Sins nor his Parents 1. Martial who was a notable Scoffer makes a Mockery at Coelius in his Epigrams who counterfeiting to be Gouty anointed himself with Oils and other things wrapping and binding up his Joints because he would have nothing to do at the Court either by Night or by Day or attend as Courtiers do upon any Great Person But in the end his Fortune so fell out that he happened to have the Gout indeed Treasur of Anc. and Mod. Times 2. Appianus Alexandrinus reporteth also of another Roman who to escape the Proscriptions of the Roman Triumviri and not to be known for what he was by such as might take notice of him kept himself close and wore an Emplaster of Velvet upon one of his Eyes which he continued for a long time After all such Search and Pursuit was passed over the Man took off his Plaister and found the utter Loss of the Eye indeed Ibid. p. 272. 3. During those Troubles of the Union or League in France it chanced that near unto a Castle certain honest Men were set upon by Thieves and robb'd in such sort that they had nothing left them but their Shirts When they perceived the Castle they went presently thither and entreated the Lord thereof that he would lend them some Assistance for the Apprehension of the Thieves in regard that he had a certain Knowledge of them and was armed with such Authority as might at least help them to their Garments again But the uncharitable Gentleman would afford them no Favour no not so much as to see them but feign'd that he had the Cholick and was unable to stir out of his Bed or to attend upon any Business whatsoever It was then the coldest Season of the Year and the Servants albeit unknown to their Master lodged these despised poor Men for that Night in a Stable whence they departed homeward the next Morning without drawing the least Courtesie that could be from that ungenteel Gentleman Now I know not whether it happened by just Vengeance of Heaven or by some natural Occasion thereto leading but he fell into the Cholick indeed and was forced to keep his Chamber for the space of Twenty Days and at last died by the violent Extremity thereof Ibid. p. 273. 4. An Abbot of Guyenne and Archdeacon in a Bishoprick was cited by the Bishop and Chapter to appear at a Visitation for Assessing of each Benefice in the Diocess according to their Faculties for the Relief of poor Parishes from whence they derived Demesnes and Rents The Abbot made Excuse saying he had a Pleurisie which was meerly false and therefore he could not be there present But within few Days after he was taken with such a grievous Pain in his Side that he kept his Bed a whole Year together and was glad to have his Side cauterized in two Places Notwithstanding which he could not recover Health while he lived Ibid. c. 14. p. 273. 5. Suibdager King of Swecia being very Covetous counterscited Deafness to the end be might hear to Requests made to him for bestowing of any Gifts For in that Country he negotiated his whole Reign by Conference with the People and not by Writing or Petition as they do to this Day But in a short time the King became both Deaf and Blind indeed Ibid. 6. I knew a young Scholar descended of good Parentage in the Franche-Comtè who was a very facetious Scoffer and Mocker and continually used to counterfeit the Gate Gesture and Behaviour of his Sister the Wife of his elder Brother descended of a very Worthy and Vertuous Family and who had brought great Estates and Means for her Portion who was Lame and as she halted so in scorn he would do the like But undoubtly by God's Judgments he chanced to break one of his Legs which could never after be recovered or brought to any Form so that he halted downright to his dying-Dying-day Ibid. CHAP. CIII Divine Judgments upon Atheism ATheism and the Effects of it are bidding an open Defiance to all the Powers of Heaven so that 't is no Wonder if the Almighty who resides there and governs here resents the Crime with a mere than ordinary Indignation The most Renowned for Professed Ungodliness saith Bishop Fotherby are these In Holy Writings King Pharach and Antiâ—â—hus the King of Tyre and the Two Herâ—ds in Ecclesiastical History Caligula Domitian Maximinus and Julian in Profane History Prâ—tagoras Diagoras Theodoras Socrates Epicurus Bion Pherecides and Dionysius Of all whom there was not one that cited in his Nest of a fair and kindly Death saving only this last whose Damnation yet slept not but all the rest of them ended their Lives by the Stroke of God's Justice 1. Julius Caesar suffered as an Atheist Dr. Tenison 2. There are a Sect of Atheists in Turkey sprung up of late Years called Muserin i. e. The True Secrâ—t is with us Which Secret is no other than the absolute Denial of a Deity that Nature or the Intrinsical Principle in every individual Thing directs the ordinary Course which we see and admire and that the Heavens Sun Moon and Stars have thence their Original and Motion and that Man himself riseth and fades like the Grass and Flower It is strange to consider what Quantities there are of Men that maintain this Principle in Constantinople most of which are Cadi's and Learned Men in the Arabian Legends and others are Renegado's from the Christian Faith who conscious of their Sin of Apostacy and therefore desirous all Things may conclude with this World are the more apt to entertain those Opinions which come nearest to their Wishes One of this Sect called Mahomet Effendi a Rich Man educated in the Knowledge of the Eastern Learning I remember was in my Time executed for impudently proclaiming his Blasphemies against the Being of a Deity making it in his ordinary Discourse an Argument against the Being of a God for that either there was none at all or else not so wise as the Doctors preached he was in suffering Him to live that was the greatest Enemy and Scorner of a Divine Essence that ever came into the World And it is observable saith my Author That this Man might notwithstanding his Accusation have saved his Life would he but have confessed his Error and promised for the future an Assent to the Principles of a better But he persisted still in his Blasphemies saying That tho' there were no Reward yet the Love of Truth obliged him to die a Martyr Mr. Ricaut's History of the Present State of the Ottoman Empire Book II. c. 12. p. 246. A great Raja a Gentile a notorious Atheist glorying to profess That he knew no other God than the King nor believing nor fearing any other Deity fitting
stretching out her Fingers to the full length used to swear by these Ten Bloody Bones This Woman had a Son called Stephen Maurice who was born with two Thumbs upon a Hand and he likewise marrying had several Children born in like manner with two Thumbs a-piece upon each Hand all which supernumerary Thumbs she in a bloody manner with her own Hand cut off This Woman assisted my Mother as Midwife when she brought me into the World W. T. 6. Sir Roger Mosson of Mosson in Flint-shire had a Coal-pit sunk pretty deep by some Workmen who discovered a good Mine of Coal but meeting with a Fire-damp were so affrighted that they deserted the Work At last a bold Fellow that was a notorious Swearer came and undertook to go on with it He with two or three more Men goes down into the Pit leaving the other Men near the Eye thereof whilst himself with a Candle lighted goes forward but presently was so attacked with the Fire-damp that the other Men were struck down with it in great amazement and had much adoe to recover themselves and an Engine of a vast bulk and weight that stood near the Eye of the Pit was carried up into the Air as high as the tops of some Trees that grew upon a Hill near adjoyning and the Man himself that went foremost with the Candle miserably and irrecoverably perished This I had out of the Philosophical Transactions printed some Years ago but in what Year particularly I remember not having not the Pamphlet by me at present 7. Anno Christi 1649. about the end of June there was a Soldier at Ware going with some others to wash himself in the River but finding the Water shallow he asked if there was no deeper a Place for him to swim in Some told him that there was not far off a deep Pit but that it was very dangerous and therefore advised him to take heed how he went into it To whom he answered God damn me if it be as deep as Hell I will go into it which accordingly he did but immediately sunk to the bottom never rising again but was there drowned Attested by good Witnesses Clark's Mirr c. 129. 8. One Mr. Barrington a great Swearer going forth a Hunting or Hawking on a Lord's-Day or a Festival and not speeding to his Mind came to an Ale-house at Puckrych Five Miles from Ware in the way to Cambridge and called 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 Flesh Nails Blood and Body c. till at last he proceeded farther to bleed at the Ears Eyes Wrists joynts 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 faith my Author till the Devil and Death made an end of him Next day the Body was laid on a Cart carried to Stondâ—n and buried in the High-way Mr. Batman in his Doom warning to the Judgment p. 418. Who saith he had it from Mr. Barrington's wife afterward married to Mr. Carington in Cambridge CHAP. CVII Divine Judgments upon Sabbath-breakers AS God requires us to Remember the Sabbath-Day so as to keep it Holy so himself Remembers them that dare to Profane it The Child that gathered Sticks on that Day among the Israelites in the early Times of the Mosaick Oeconomy was by the Order of God himself stoned to Death And as he began to shew his Severity betimes in the Punishing of this Sin so he hath continued to the present Age to shew his great Displeasure against it insomuch that I think King James was much in the right when he caused his Declaration for Sports upon that Day to be torn out of his printed Volume of Writings where it is not now to be seen 1. A certain Nobleman profaning the Sabbath usually in Hunting had a Child by his Wife with a Head like a Dog and with Ears and Chaps crying like a Hound 2. Stratford upon Avon was twice on the same Day Twelve month being the lord's-Lord's-Day almost consumed with Fire chiefly for Profaning the lord's-Lord's-Day and Contemning his Word in the Mouth of his Faithful Minister 3. Feverton in Devonshire whose Remembrance makes my Heart bleed was oftentimes admonished by her Godly Preachers that God would bring some heavy Judgment on the Town for their horrible Profanation of the Lord's-Day occasioned chiefly by the Market on the Day following Not long after his Death on the 3d. of April Anno Dom. 1598. God in less than half an Hour consumed with a sudden and fearful Fire the whole Town except only the Church the Court-House and the Alms-Houses or a few poor Peoples Dwellings where a Man might have seen Four Hundred Dwelling-Houses all at once on fire and above Fifty Persons consumed by the Flame Not many Years after this a Misfortune of the like nature befell the Town again for on the Fifth Day of August 1612. Fourteen Years since the former Fire it was again fired and all consumed except some Thirty Houses of poor People with the School-House and Alms-Houses They are blind which see not in this the Finger of God God grant them Grace when it is next built to change their Market-Day and to remove all Occasions of Profaning the Lord s-s-Day Let other Towns remember the Tower of Siloe Luke 13.4 and take Warning by their Neighbours Chastisements Fear God's Threatnings Jerem. 17.27 And believe God's Prophets if they will prosper 1 Chron. 20.20 Thus far Dr. Bread in his Theatre of God s Judgments p. 419 420. 4. Mr. Smythyes Curate of St. Giles's Cripplegate in the Confession and Discovery of a Condemned Prisoner executed May the 25th 1687 for Theft saith that it was his Earnest Desire That all young Men especially should take care not to mispend the Lord's-day And I do now know saith he that ever I observed any Repentance in a Condemned Malefactor who did not bitterly lament his Neglect of his Duty to God on that Day 5. Edmund Kirk Vintner executed at Tyburn July 11. 1684. for murdering his Wife in his Confession acknowledged himself frequently guilty of Profaning the Lord's-Day Vpon which Holy Day saith he I committed the hainous Sin of murdering my poor Wife Thus Sin was punished with Sin a Less with a Greater and the Greater with the Gallows and that Greater committed near the same Gallows And himself confessed That he had to his Wife asking whilst she passed by what Place that was told it was Tyburn where John Gower was lately hanged for killing his Wife O Lord how dear to me thy Counsels are but how just and terrible are thy Judgments 6. Famous and memorable also is that Example which happened at
fearful Spectacle of God's Wrath both against that Heathenish Sport and wilfull Prophaning of the Sabbath whilst he maketh the very thing they had chosen for their Sport and Pastime to be the Instrument of executing his Fury The truth of this I diligently enquired after at my first coming to Sarum and very many Godly and Credible Persons who had seen that sad Spectacle in my hearing attested it to be so Ibid. 19. Mr. Hugh Clark Preaching about Oundle in Northampton-shire where the People were generally very Ignorant and much addicted to the prophanation of the lord's-Lord's-day by Whitson-Ales Morris-Danceâ— c. which he much set himself against endeavouring to convince them of the evil and denouncing God's Judgments in case of their obstinate perseverance They being trained up in those Courses and hardned by Custom persisted still in their wickedness At last on a Lord's-Day the Leader of the Dance a lusty young man in the midst of their Prophane Pastimes fell down suddenly and died but they soon shaking off their Fear returned to their Vomit again The Lord's-day following Mr. Clark took occasion from this sad dispensation to quote that Text Jer 17.27 If thou wilt not hearken to me to Hallow the Sabbath-day c. then will I kindle a fire in the Gates thereof c. The People still kicked against these Admonitions and the Eve following returned to their Sports again among whom was a Smith that was a chief Ring-leader but it pleased God the very next day two Husband-men coming to his Shop to sharpen their Plough-shares a Spark from the red-hot Iron as he was beating it upon the Anvil flew into the Thatch which both the Smith and his Neighbours saw but had not power to move towards it which presently burnt down the Shop House and all the Smith's Goods This Mr. Clark pressed upon their Consciences but nothing would prevail till at last upon a Sabbath-day at night when they were retir'd to their several homes there was heard a great noise and ratling of Chains up and down the Town which was accompanied with such a smell and stink of Fire and Brimstone that many of their guilty Consciences suggested to them that the Devil was come to fetch them away quick into Hell and now and not till now they began to think in good earnest of a Reformation Mr. Clark in his Father's Life p. 128. And thus much for the Examples of the first Table whereof if some seemed to exceed Credit by reason of the strangeness of them yet let us know that nothing is impossible to God and that he doth often work Miracles to controul the obstinate Impiety and Rebellion of mortal Men against his Commandment Besides there is not one Example here mentioned but it hath a credible or probable Author for the Avoucher of it Let us now out of all this that hath been spoken gather up this wholesom Lesson to love God with all our Heart and Affection to the end we may Worship him Invocate his holy Name and repose all the confidence of our Salvation upon him alone through Christ Jesus seeking by pleasing and obeying his Will to set forth his Glory and render him due thanks for all his benefits CHAP. CVIII Divine Judgments upon Scorners of their Pastors Preachers c. THe Psalmist David hath ranged Scorners in the highest Class of Sinners Psal 1.1 and Solomon tells us that Judgments are prepared for the Scorners Prov. 19.29 and again He that being often Reproved hardneth himself shall suddenly be destroyed and that without Remedy Prov. 29.1 Vpon which considerations Scornfulness is justly look'd upon by wise persons as the must visible mark and characteristic of a Reprobate Sinner a Person not worthy of more instruction from Man but like Ephraim joyned to Idols to be left to himself and the Wisdom of Heaven Reprove not a Scorner Can not that which is Holy to Dogs 1. Mr. Batman tells us of himself I was saith he in present danger to have been slain in the House of him whom I took to be my Friend laying to my charge such things as I was innocent of being only his surmise which afterward was confessed by him he was then in Wealth but how he died if his name were known it would soon be discerned Not many years after I fell into the hands of inconstant men whose double dealings I referred to God and one of them was stricken blind after much molesting me which when he had disclosed in part his old Malice died I trust Penitent another falling into a Dropsie confessed his attempted wrongs with tears and died I trust a good Christian Two others for reproving them for their manifest Whoredom it is well known that if Grace to Repent be as far from them as that wealth they once possessed they cannot die without Shame in the World and Vengeance of God Doom Warning c. p. 410 411. 2. Gildas preaching to the old Britains Repentance and forewarning them of Plagues to come was laughed to scorn and taken for a false Prophet But what followed God sent in their Enemies on every side and destroying them gave their Land to other Nations Beard 's Theatre p. 144. 3. John Wickliff preaching against the Idolatry and Superstitions of the Age was despised together with his Sermons and both burnt after his Death himself and Books What ensued A most heavy Vengeance Their lawful King slain Three others set up on a row under whom all the noble Blood was spilt and half the Commons destroyed a War with France Civil Discord at Home Cities and Towns decayed and the Land brought half to a Wilderness Ibid. 4. Hemingius a learned Divine in his Exposition upon the First Chapter of St. John's Gospel reporteth That about the Year 1550. there was a certain lewd Companion in Denmark who had long made a Profession to mock at all Religion and at devout Persons This Fellow entring into a Church where there was a Sermon made by the Minister of the Place began contrary to all those that were present to behave himself most profanely and to shew by lewd Countenances and Gestures his Dislike and Contempt of that holy Exercise To whom the Preacher being instant upon his Business in hand spake not a Word but only sighing prayed unto God that this Mocker might be suppressed Who seeing that the Preacher would not contest against him but contemned his unworthy Behaviour goeth out of the Church but yet not out of the Reach of God's Vengeance for presently as he passed out a Tyle fell from the House upon his Head and slew him upon the Place A just Judgment upon so profane a Wretch from whence all Scorners and Deriders of godly Sermons and the Preachers of the same may take Example for their Amendment if they have any Grace in them Ibid. 5. Christopher Turk a Counsellor of State to a great Nobleman in Germany going one Day to Horse and mocking at a certain Nobleman who was then Prisoner in his
the Horse threw him and broke his Neck and some of his Issue came to untimely ends And it is observed that a Curse hath remained upon the Estate ever since Mr. Thomas Tregoss Minister was so sensible of it that it cost him many fervent Prayers to God for the removal of that dreadful Curse as himself assured a Bosom Friend See his Life 5. Solyman the Turkish Emperor contrary to his Promise commanded the Traitors of Buda to be put to Death 6. The same Solyman promised his Daughter for a Reward to him that would betray the Island Rhodes but when this Christian Traytor challenged his Promise with a large Portion for Matrimony the Emperor brought his Daughter in very costly attired with a Vides me stetisse promissis You see I have stood to my Promise but withal commanded him to be flea'd and put on a Bed of Salt or his Daughter would not be a fit Match except for a Musselman whose Skin was circumeised and clean from Baptism Camerarius CHAP. CXVIII Divine Judgments upon Unfaithful Husbands GOD that hath Ordained the Nuptial Knot for a Band of Vnion intended it not only to tye the Handâ— but the Hearts of the married couple together also and therefore cannot be supposed to wink at the Fault of Vnkindness and Vnfaithfulness in either Party But especially he expects that the Man should excel in Prudence and Patience and give a good Example as well as Arguments and Instructions to his Wife 1. Anno Christi 1652. There was living in the Isle of Thanet in Kent one Adam Sprackling Esquire in the Parish of St. Lawrence who about Twenty Years before had married Katharine the Daughter of Sir Robert Leukner of Kent This Sprackling had a fair Estate but was exceeding Proud and Profane he frequented Taverns and Ale-houses where he used to Rant and Roar and Game and Swear exceedingly and upon small Occasions to Quaarel and draw his Weapon c. He regarded not the Sabbath nor the publick Worship of God By which dissolute Courses and God's Judgment upon him he exhausted his Estate and brought others into Bond for him whom he left to Imprisonment and Ruine and had at last Executions out against him and Bailiffs waiting to Arrest him Whereupon he was forced to keep home and make his House his Prison so that he could not domineer abroad as formerly This filled him full of Rage and made him extream Hasty and Cholerick so that his Wife was constrained to lock up her self from him being a Woman of many excellent Parts and Vertues But upon Saturday Night December the 11th 1652. this Sprackling as it seems resolved to do her a Mischief and being in his Kitchen had one Lamming a Neighbour of his with him and sent for one Knowles a Seaman to hinm but it being Ten a Clock at Night he desired to be excused being in Bed Then did he send for one Martin a poor old Man and his Tenant who tho' in Bed durst not but arise and come to him and when he came Lamming went his ways so that there remained only this Sprackling and his Wife and Martin and one Ewel his Man Then did Sprackling command Martin to bind Ewel's Legs which the one did and the other suffered thinking that it had been only a ranting Humour of their Master Then began he to rage against his Wife who sate quietly by though she gave him none but loving and sweet Speeches yet did he draw his Dagger and struck her over the Face with it hurting her Jaw which she bore patiently saying little to him but he still continued to rage against her and when at last the Gentlewoman being weary and in great fear rose up and went to the Door her Husband followed he rwith a Chopping-knife in his Hand with which he struck at her Wrist and cut the Bone in sunder so that her Hand hung down only by the Sinews and Skin No help was near Ewel was bound and Martin being old and weak and fearing his own Life durst not interpose only he prayed his Mistress to stay and be quiet hoping all would be well and so getting a Napkin bound up her Hand with it After this towards Morning Sprackling still raging and railing at his Wife dashed her on the Forehead with the Iron Cleever whereupon she fell down bleeding but recovering her self on her Knees she cried and prayed unto God for the Pardon of her own Sins and her Husbands But as sh was thus praying her bloody Husband chopp'd her Head in the midst into the very Brains so that she fell down and died immediately Then did he kill six Dogs four of which he threw by his Wife and then chopped her twice into the Leg compelling Martin to wash Ewal's Face with her Blood himself also dipping Linnen in her Blood washed Martin's Face and he bloodied his own Face with it also For all which being apprehended and carried to Sandwich Gaol at the Sessions following which was April the 22d 1653. he was arraigned condemned and hanged on the 27th Day dying very desperately and not suffering any to come near him neither godly Ministers nor Gentlemen who desired to speak with him after his Condemnation This is moe largely published in Print by one that lived near the Place and was present at this Sprackling's Tryal 2. King Henry the VIII puts away Queen Katharine by Divorce after Twenty Years enjoyment of her and being desirous of Sons marries the Lady Ann Bullen and after she had brought him a Daughter the Lady Elizabeth and a Son born dead beheads her His next Wife dies in Child-bed some say she was ripp'd open by the King's Order He is divorced from his next Queen Ann of Cleve His next the Lady Katharine Howard is beheaded for Treason His last Wife was the Lady Katharine Parr His Three last are Childless and the Children of the Two first declared Illegitimate And tho' afterwards all his Three Children swayed the Scepter successively yet they all died Childless And as for himself his Name and Memory hath a Stench with it to this Day It were easie to add more Examples on this Subject CHAP. CXIX Divine Judgments upon Unfaithful Wives GOD hath not imposed upon Wives the Duty of Subjection and Obedience in vain but takes notice whether they observe it or not and accordingly executes his Judgments upon them that make no Conscience thereof And indeed the Sin it self leads naturally to its own Punishment in part by provoking the Husband to Displeasure teaching the Children to Disobey and precuring Shame and Contempt in the World as well as the Wrath of God and the Disfavour of his Providence 1. Cicero put away his Wife Terentia because she had made but small account of him in the Time of the Wars which were betwixt Caesar and Pompey So that when he went from Rome to Pompey she provided no fit Accommodations for his Journey and when he came back again into Italy she never shewed any spark of
gone said Antipater of him Dr. Jer. Tailor 5. Hugucchio a Captain lost two Towns because he would not break his Meal Mr. Hales of Eaton out of Paulus Jovius 6. When Philoxenus the Epicure had fallen desperately sick upon glutting himself on a delicate and costly Fish perceiving he was to die calls for the remainder of his Fish and eats it up and dies a true Martyr to his Belly Mr. Hales 7. A certain Rich Citizen's Son to please all his five Senses at once allowed to the delight of every several Sense 100 l. For which end he bespake a curious fair Room richly hanged and furnished with the most exquisite Pictures to please his Eye Secondly the choicest Musick to content his Ear All the Aromaticks and sweet Perfumes for his Smelling all the Candies Preserves and Junkets for his Taste a Beautiful Strumpet to Lodge with him in a soft Bed and the finest Linen that could be bought to accommodate his Touch all which he enjoyed at one time He spent 30000 l. in three Years and swore after all that if he had three times more than ever he had he would spend it all to live one Week like a God though he were sure to be damned in Hell the next day after But by the Just Hand of God he was punished with extream Poverty and was cast off by all his former Acquaintance so that he died in misery Theat of Judgm Clark 's Examp. Vol. I. c. 61. 8. Apicius that Luxurious roman the Expences of whose Kitchen amounted to more than 2000000 of Sesterces of Gold having eaten up his Estate and fearing Poverty Poison'd himself Idem ex Senecâ Yet at the same time he had 10000000 of Sesterces left 9. Augustinus Chiessius a Banker at Rome at the Christening of his Son entertained Pope Leo X. upon the River Tibris and all the Foreign Embassadors and City-Nobles with Curious Fare dish'd out in costly Plate and on the change of every Service all the Meats Plate and all were cast into the River and new brought in for supply And all the fruits of this was that he was admired by none but Fools and his Name had hardly been mentioned at this day but to tell the World that he was the Author of this ridiculous Action Mr. Hales of Eaton CHAP. CXXIII Divine Judgments upon Drunkenness DRunkenness is a Sin that is prohibited by the Laws of God and Man and upon good reason because it tends to the ruine of a Man's Health the diminution of his Estate the mispending of his precious hours the Powerty of his Family the hindrance of his Piety and Charity the obstruction of Business the acceleration of Old Age and in fine the dishonour of God and the destruction of the Soul And therefore no wonder if we often find the Divine Vengeance follow close upon the heels of this sin as may be seen in the subsequent Stories 1. John Manlius in his Common Places p. 244. tells us of three abominable Drunkards who drank so long till one of them fell down stark dead and yet the other two nothing terrified with such a dreadful Example of Divine Vengeance went on to drink and poured the dead Man's part into him as he lay by them 2. Marcus Antonius wrote or rather spewed out a Book concerning his own abilities to bear strong Drink 3. Darius boasted of the same Faculty in his very Epitaph 4. Alexander the Great drank himself to Death and killed One and Forty more with excessive Drinking to get that Crown of One Hundred and Eighty Pounds weight which he had provided for him that drank most 5. Eccius called by Erasmus Jeccius for his Tipling being Non-pluss'd at Ratisbone by Melancthon in a Publick Disputation and over-drinking himself that Night at the Bishop of Mundina's Lodgings who had store of the best Italian Wines fell into a Fever whereof he died Jo. Man loc com p. 89. 6. Anno Christi 1556. In the Town of St. Gallus in Switzerland there was one Peter Besler who was Born at Rotmund but was now Servant to a Citizen whose Habitation was near unto St. Gallus This dissolute Young Man was much given to the Beastly sin of Drunkenness and upon Trinity Sunday which was May 21st he together with some of his Companions went to the Town of Sangall there to be merry And when they had drank freely this Young Man began to rail at and to 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 When he had staid there all Night in the Morning awaking he began to think what words he had uttered the Night before yet having no other means of Subsistance he resolved to return to his Master's Service But going out of the City when he was now not far from his Master's House a Man met him clad in black and fearful to behold who said to him Go to Good Fellow I am now ready to take that which is my Right and which thou gavest me yesterday Which when he had said taking the Fellow by the Hand who was amazed with Horror and altogether astonished he threw him to the Ground and so vanished Not long after this miserable Young Man being found by some of the Neighbours had his Hands and Feet 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 Stephen Bateman Professor of Divinity Ibid. 7. Anno Christi 1578. February 10th in the Country of Scwaben about Eight Persons that were Citizens and Citizens Sons whose Names my Author setteth down met together at a Tavern whereof the Master's Name was Anthony Huge on a Sabbath-day Morning where they drank themselves Drunk and then began to Blaspheme God and scoff at the Host who advised them to leave Drinking and to go to Church to hear the Word Preached at which they not only continued to mock but went on in their Drinking when suddenly the Devil came in among them in the Habit of a Cavalier who drinking to them set their Mouths on such a fire that these Drunkards not only became amazed thereat but also after a miserable manner were all strangled to Death Ibid. 8. At Kesgrave near Ipswich three Serving-men having been Drinking hard when they wee about to go away the Hostess by her Importunity would needs perswade them to drink the three Ou ts first viz. Wit out of the Head Money out of the Purse and Ale out of the Barrel but as she came to them with the Pot in her hand God suddenly struck her sick and speechless her Tongue also swelling in her Head so that in great extremity she died three days after Beard 's Theat 9. Two Servants of a Brewer in Ipswich drank themselves Drunk for the Rump of a Turkey and afterwards as they were strugling for it they fell backwards into a Cauldron of scalding
Liquor whereof one died presently and the other lingring died with great pain Clark's Examp. 10. A Man coming home drunk would needs go to swim in the Mill-Pond But is Wife and Servant knowing that he could not swim disswaded him and once by entreaty got him out but afterwards going in again he was drowned Ibid. 11. At the Plough in Barnwel near Cambridge a lusty Young Man with two of his Neighbours and one Woman in their Company agreed to drink up a Barrel of strong Beer which accordingly they did but within Twenty Four hours three of them died and the fourth hardly escaped after great Sickness Ibid. 12. A Butcher in Haslingfield having heard his Minister inveigh against Drunkenness in his Cups at the Ale-House fell a justing and scoffing at the Minister's Sermon But as he was drinking God's Hand fell upon him for the Drink stopping in his Throat choaked him that he died presently Ibid. 13. At Bungey in Norfolk three Drunkards coming out of an Ale-House in the Night swore that they thought it was not darker in Hell But as they went home one of them fell over a Bridge and was drowned A second fell from his Horse The third sleeping on the Ground by the River-side was frozen to death 14. A Bailiff of Hedley upon a Lord's-day being Drunk at Melford got upon his Horse to ride through the streets saying That his Horse would carry him to the Devil and presently his Horse cast him and brake his Neck Ibid. 15. Some drinking in an Ale-House at Harwich in the Night over against the Mayor's House Mr. Russel who sent to them to depart but they refused whereupon he went himself and took one of them by the Hand as if he would lead him to Prison who drawing his Knife ran from him and three days after was found drowned in the Sea with his Knife in his Hand Ibid. 16. At a Tavern in Breadstreet certain Gentlemen drinking Healths to the Lord on whom they had dependance one of them with an Oath drinks off a Pottle of Sack to his Lord After which he could neither rise up nor speak but falling into a sleep died within two hours after Ibid. These Five following Examples saith Mr. Beard were reported unto me by a worthy Minister and written with his own hand Mr. George Nelson Preacher of the Word of God in Godmanchester 17. Anno Christi 1629. There was one Thomas Wilson a notorious Blasphemer and Drunkard upon a small occasion being angry with his Wife not daring to proffer Violence to her drew his Knife and stabbed himself 18. The same Year one John Bone of Ely a Gentleman's Coachman being exceedingly given to Swearing and Drunkenness drinking himself Drunk on a Sabbath in Sermon-time fell from his Coach-box and was killed by his Horses 19. Anno Christi 1621 One Richard Bourne of Ely who used to Travel on he sabbath-Sabbath-days seldom or never coming to Church as he went to the Market at St. Ives being drunk God's Judgment overtook him for going up the River in his Boat he fell over into the Water and was drowned 20. Anno Christi 1618. One Thomas Alred of Godmanchester being a common Drunkard was entreated by a Neighbour to unpitch a Load of Hay and being at that time Drunk the Pitch-fork slipt out of his hand which he stooping to take up again fell from the Cart with his Head downwards and the Fork standing with the Tines upward he fell directly upon them which striking to his Heart killed him immediately 21. Anno Christi 1628. John Vintner of Godmanchester a known Drunkard and Scoffer at Religion fell from the top of a Pear-Tree and brake his Neck All these are attested by sundry Godly Ministers and recorded both by Dr. Beard and Mr. Clark 22. Anno Christi 1551 -in Bohemia five Drunkards were Quaffing and Blaspheming the Name of God And the Picture of the Devil being painted upon the Wall they drank Healths to him who the Night after paid them their Wages For they were found dead with their Necks broken and quashed to pieces as if a Wheel had gone over them the Blood running out of their Mouths Nostrils and Ears in a lamentable manner Clark out of Fincelius 23. I find this Story in Philip Lonicerus p. 486. A certain Man saith he that gave himself to the study of Godliness was daily assaulted with the Temptation of the Devil who perswaded him if he would be quiet to choose one of these three Sins either to make himself Drunk or to commit Adultery with his Neighbour's Wife or to kill his Neighbour himself The poor Man thinking Drunkenness the least sin chose that but being enraged with Wine he was easily drawn to the committal of the other two for the Wine inflaming him with Lust he feared not to vitiate his Neighbour's Wife nor yet to kill her Husband coming in the mean while and seeking to be revenged of him So giving himself to Drunkenness he involves himself in all other Wickedness 24. A Knight notoriously given to Drink carrying sometimes Pails of Drink into the open Fields to make People drunk withall being upon a time drinking with Company a Woman comes in delivering him a Ring with this Poesie Drink and die saying to him This is for you which he took and wore and within a Week after came to his end by Drinking Reported by sundry Persons and justified by a Minister dwelling within a Mile of the Place 25. In Deâ—gy Hundred near Mauldon about the beginning of His Majesty's Reign there fell out an extraordinary Judgment upon five or six that plotted a Solemn Drinking at one of their Houses laid in Beer for that purpose drunk Healths in a strange manner and died thereof within a few Weeks some sooner and some later Witnessed to me by some that were with one of them on his Death-bed to demand a Debt and often-times spoken of by Mr. Heydon late Preacher of Mauldon in the hearing of many The particular Circumstances were exceeding Remarkable but having not sufficient Proof for the Particulars I will not report them Ibid. 26. Mr. Baxter tells us this Story for a certain Truth There is now 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 Brother's House and whenever he is drunken and hath slept himself sober something knocks at his Bed's-head as if one knock'd on the Wainscot when they remove his Bed it followeth him Besides loud noises in other Parts where he is that all the House heareth They have oft watched and kept his hands lest he should do it himself His Brother hath oft told me and brought his Wife a discreet Woman to attest it who averreth moreover that she watching him hath seen his Shooes under the Bed taken up and nothing visible touch them
Bolton at first with an Ugly Intanglement sometime in the form of a great Snake sometime of many little ones full of Nastiness Vermin and noisome Smell and that which is most to be admired and never Age saw before pricked with a Needle they yielded bloody Drops This first began in Poland afterwards entred into Germany and all that then cut off this horrible snaky Hair either lost their Eyes or the Humour falling down upon other Parts tortured them extreamly Methinks saith our Author Our monstrous Fashionists Maies and Females the one for nourishing their horrid Bushes of Vaity the other for cutting their Hair should fear and tremble c. Bolton's Preparation to Death 8. Mr. John Mackerness born at Brickstock-Park in Northamptonshire in a Narrative published by his own Hand A. D. 1676. confesses That God had â—orely handled him by Melancholy and Fretfulness and such Fluctuation of Thoughts and Temptations that he was not far from being mad or possessed which he especially imputed to his Pride and Discontent as the Cause and begs the Prayers of others for himself CHAP. CXXVII Divine Judgments upon Boasting AS thâ—se Sticks that send forth most Smoak offerd the least Heat so the greatest Boasters are the least Doers saith Mr. Spencer according to our English Proverb Great Boast and small Roast Erasmus in his Adagies tells us of a young Man and Traveller that being returned home began to praise himself in all Company and amongst other excellent Feats boasted that in the Isle of Rhodes he out-jump'd all the Men that were there as all the Rhodians could hear him Witness Whereupon a stander-by said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suppose this to be Rhodes and jump here and then he could do just nothing Alas What are Words without Deeds but Vanity and a Lye 1. When Alcibiades then but young was boasting himself of his Riches and Lands Socrates took him into a Room and shewed him the Map of the World Now said he where is the County of Attica When Alcibiades had pointed to it Lay me then said he your Finger upon your own Lands there When the other told him they were not there described And what said Socrates do you boast your self of that which is not a part of the Earth He that hath most hath nothing to boast of and great Boasts for the most part as they betray great Folly so they end in as great Derision Wanley's Wonders of the little World p. 433. 2. Oromazes had an inchanted Egg in which this Impostor boasted that he had enclosed all the Happiness in the World but when it was broken there was found nothing in it but Wind. Causin's Holy Court Tom. 2. p. 465. 3. Mr. John Carter Vicar of Bramford in Suffolk an excellent Scholar and a modest Person being at Dinner at Ipswich in one of the Magistrates Houses where divers other Ministers were also at the Table one amongst the rest who was old enough and had learned enough to have taught him more Humility was very full of Talk bragged much of his Parts and Skill c. and made a Challenge saying Here are many Learned Men if any of you will propound any Question in Divinity or Philosophy I will dispute with him resolve his Doubts and satisfie him fully All at the Table except himself were silent for a while Then Mr. Carter when he saw that no other would speak to him calling him by his Name I will said he go no further than my Trencher to puzzle you here is a Soal Now tell me the Reason why this Fish that hath always lived in the salt Water should come out fresh To this the forward Gentleman could say nothing and so was laughed at and shamed out of his Vanity Clark's Lives of Ten Eminent Divines p. 12. 4. Eunomius the Heretick boasted That he knew the Nature of God at which time notwithstanding St. Basil puzzled him in 21 Questions about the Body of an Ant. Ful. Hol. Stat. l. 2. c. 4. p. 57. Wanley's Wonders of the little World p. 433. 5. Paracelsus boasted that he could make a Man immortal and yet himself died at 47 Years of Age. Ful. Hol. Stat. l. 2. c. 3. p. 54. 6. Pompey the Great at such times as the News of Caesar's passing Rubicon came to Rome boasting That if he should but once stamp with is Foot upon the Earth of Italy forthwith armed Troops of Horse and Foot would leap out thence yet was he put to a shameful Flight by that Enemy he so much despised Clark's Mirr c. 102. 471. 7. See the Story of Sigismund King of Hungary in the preceding Chapter on Pride Ambition c. 8. Abel by Bribes bestowed in the Court of Rome from the Archdeacon of St. Andrews got himself to be preferred Bishop there and was Consecrated by Pope Innocent the IV. At his Return he carried himself with great Insolence They write of him That in a vain-glorious Humour one day he did with a little Chalk draw this Line upon the Gate of the Church Haec mihi sunt tria Lex Canon Philosophia Bragging of his Knowledge and Skill in those Professions and that going to Church the next day he found another Line drawn under the former which said To levant absque tria Fraus Favour Vanasophia This did so gall him that taking his Bed he died within a few Days having sate Bishop only ten Months and two Days This was about Anno 1238. Bish Spots Hist of the Churck of Scotland l. 2. p. 44. CHAP. CXXVIII Divine Judgments upon Curiosity TO be wise unto Sobriety is an excellent Rule prescribed us by the Apostle and the Reason is obvious enough to any Man of competent Sense and Brains For Adam by an affectation of knowing more than was necessary came to know more than was comfortable and an insatiate Desire of Wisdom is certainly a Symptom of the Hereditary Disease derived to us from him God hath set us Bounds to all our Disquisitions and if we do not keep within compass we forfeit our Faculties and expose our selves to all the Dangers that are out of ken Whatever we do let us do prudently and have a regard to some good End For whatsoever is more than this is more than is needful or safe or honourable 1. There is saith Mr. Baxter now in London a Youth the Son of a very Godly Conforming Minister who reading a Book of that called Conjuration coming to the Word and Actions which that Book said would cause the Devil to appear was presently very desirous to try and desirous that the Apparition might be accordingly He came saith he to me in terrour having before opened his Case to a Parish-Minister and affirmed to me That the Devil had appeared to him and sollicited him with a Knife to cut his Throat and told him he must do it suddenly for he would stay no longer I told him how safe he was if he truly repented and begged Pardon through Christ and
knew a Neighbour-Minister of mine Mr. Walter Adams Nephew to Alderman Will. Adams and in part his Heir who when he lay a dying caused all his Sermon Notes to be burnt before his Face What his Reason was I know not but after his Uncle's Death he left off Preaching and with his two Brothers Co-heirs with him came down to spend the remainder of their Lives together in a pleasant and easie way of Living which they did and dispatch'd it in a short time CHAP. CXXXII Divine Judgments upon Litigiousness STrife and Contention are so contrary to the Rules of Charity and Peace prescribed us by our Christian Religion that no better fruits can be expected from them than as the Apostle saith Confusion and every evil work And the end proposed by the litigious Man is always pretended to be good and sometimes appears very plausible viz. the recovering of what is his Right or maintaining what is Just and Lawful yet it will certainly be found at long run that we had better in many cases recede from our own Rights for Peace sake than enter into Contention about them I have ever found saith Bishop Hall that to strive with my Superiours is furious with my Equals doubtful with my Inferiours sordid and base 1. Epiphanius tells a sad Story of two Bishops Milesius and Peter Bishop of Alexandria both Professors and fellow-sufferers for the Christian Faith These two Men being condemned and sent to Work in the Metal-Mines for a small Difference fell into so great a Schism that they drew a Partition-Wall between each other in the Mine and would not hold Communion each with other in the Service of Christ for which they both were Sufferers Which Dissention of theirs caused such a Rent in the Church that it did more hurt than open Persecution from the Enemy Clark's Mirr Vol. 1. c. 31. p. 108. 2. Empedocles was of such a contentious Disposition that every Day he would quarrel with some Body or other and prosecute his Contentions with much Violence As he lived in the Fire of Contention so his End was to be burnt in the Fire of Mount Aetna 3. Pope Hildebrande attaining to his Papacy by unlawful Means set the whole Christian World into a Combustion As he rose out of his Seat to Excommunicate the Emperor Henry the IV. it being newly made of great Timber rent and shiver'd in pieces Afterwards he hired one to knock the Emperor on the Head as he was at Prayers and enquiring of the Host for an Answer against the Emperor because it would not speak he threw it into the Fire and burnt it And after many such outragious Villainies he was Deposed and Banished After which he wandred as a Vagabond without Comfort without Help without Hope in a pitiful estate yet pitied of no Man travelling under the unsupportable Burthen of a restless Conscience and at last died for Grief Simps Clark's Mirr p. 68. 4. About the Year 1623. there fell out a hot Contention between Dr. Bugs Minister in Coventry and Master Gardiner Minister of Anstey but Lecturer in Coventry against which the Lord was pleased to witness from Heaven his Dislike hereof by this Remarkable Judgment The People being assembled together to hear the Lecture upon a Wednesday Morning in in St. Michael's Church in the same City there fell out a terrible Tempest of Thunder and Lightning whilst the Minister was in his Sermon at which time the Lightning fell upon the Steeple of the Church making a crack and a hole in it and thence descended into the Belfry with a Flame of Fire about the bigness of a Sheet which being a pretty way distant from the Pews where the People fate at first amazed the Beholders but not staying there it moved slowly towards the People which so astonished them that some swooned others were exceedingly distracted not knowing which way to fly Hereupon the Mayor spoke to the Minister to give over his Sermon and to go to Prayer which accordingly he did and when the Fire came very near unto the Place where the People were it pleased God that it wheeled about on the one hand and so went out of the Church I presume there are many living that were Eye-witnesses hereof 5. A Gentleman of my Acquaintance formerly and I suppose still living and therefore shall be nameless in familiar Discourse with me upon occasion of some differences between him and others bespoke me thus Sir I will deal freely with you and make you my Confessor perhaps I ought in point of Duty so to do When I consider with my self how first of all all the Gentlemen of the Countrey have of late joined their Heads together against me and sued me at Law and put me out of Commission for the Peace and protested never to enter my Doors as long as I live when all my Tenants have joined their Heads and Purses together and engaged me now for several Years in a long and tedious Law-suit yea those very Persons with whom I never exchanged three Words in my Life are my avowed Adversaries when my own Family and Relations my Wife Children and all are unfaithful to me Good Lord think I what a wicked Wretch am I thus to provoke all the World against me 'T is a Wonder the Earth doth not open under my Feet and swallow me up But when I consider what the Reason is of all this Enmity and Ill-will and find upon sober deliberation with my self that I am Plaintiff in no Cause but only defend my own Rights I take comfort in my own Innocency and I thank God I can eat as well drink as well and sleep as well as any Man in England only this I will not lose a Penny of my Right for never a Man in England not the Great Man himself His Wife hath sent for me some time to pray with her being over-whelmed with Melancholy one of his Servants broke his Neck one of his Sons was married to a Countess of Ireland the Estate encumbred and most of it lost by Law whilst he and his Countess were at Daggers-drawing in the Countrey the other Son who had a Parsonage of 5 or 600 Pound per Annum died in Gaol a third succeeded him in Gaol and died likewise of two Daughters one died a Virgin the other grew Distracted The old Gentleman sold his Mannor with all the other Appendants to it as the perpetual Advowson to the Parsonage c. only reserving to himself a Farm of about 80 or 100 Pound per Annum CHAP. CXXXIII Divine Judgments upon Carnal Confidence THE Sacred Scripture hath pronounced those Accursed who put their Trust in Man or in an Arm of Flesh or a Bow of Steel and hath given us several Examples of such who have been remarkably punished for their carnal Confidence as the Builders of Babal the proud Pharaoh Sennacherib Belshazzar c. And who that believes the Divine Providence can believe otherwise but that God must needs take it ill to see
former Tenets And so after his Death upon a solemn Citation and Process against him Sentence was given viz. That he was unworthy of the Favour of the Holy Apostolick See that he should be deprived of all his Honour Benefit or Dignity his Goods Confiscate and himself given over to the Secular Powers which was de facto done He and his Picture and Books which he had written to be burned Which was done accordingly in Campo di Fiori See the Relation of the Process sent from Rome Published at London 1624. 4. The pretended Possession of the London Nuns and the possessed Woman at Antwerp is detected and discovered by the Duke of Lauderdale in Letter to Mr. Baxter Hist Disc of Appar and Witches c. c. 4. of the Staffordshire Body discovered by Bishop Moreton who pissed through an Ink-horn 5. The lying Wonders and false Miracles wrought all over the World and laugh'd at by all wise People in the World would fill a Volume to Discourse of them in particular 6. The Supposititious Heirs Perkin Warbeck and Great Bellies made out with little Pillows c. would be tedious to insist upon 7. Hither may be referred those two Arch-Female Cheats Marcy Clay alias Jinny Fox and the German Princess famed lately for their Art of Lifting alias Cheating who at last were deservedly preferred to Tyburn CHAP. CXXXVII Divine Judgments upon Oppression Tyranny 'T IS said of Tyrants and Oppressive Persons That they shall not live out half their days Psal 55.25 and common Experience gives attestation to the Truth of it Ad Generum Cereris sine caede sanguine pauci Descendunt Reges siccà morte Tyranni Juv. Satyr 1. Adonizedeck pharaoh Abimelech Athaliah Jezabel Herod Pilate c. may go for Scripture-Examples Others follow 1. Alexander the Great after his Victories over Persia Asia India Hircania Babylon Scythia Syria Phoenicia Judaea Egypt c. grew Pound and Tyrannical witness his Murdering of Philotas one of his brave Captains who had assisted him in all his Conquests and his Father his Rewarding a Mariner that had leaped into a Lake near Babylon and swam to fetch off his Hat with his Crown fastened to it whither a Tempest had carried it off his Head as he was Rowing over it in his Galley with a Talent but causing his Head to be cut off for putting the Crown upon it to keep it dry In the midst of his Career and the very height of his Vigour and Jollity was cut off himself by Death in the Thirty Second Year of his Age and but the Twelfth of his Reign Qu. Curt. in vità Plutarch Alsted Eucyclop p. 2977. 2. Dionysius the Sicilian Tyrant who would not suffer a Barber to trim him nor Lodge with his Wives without first searching the Chambers nor speak to his People but out of a High Tower who giving his Cloak and Sword to a Boy that waited on him caused a Man to be slain for saying Sir now you have put your Life into his hands and the Boy for only smiling at it That set Damocles to a Feast with a Company of Beautiful Boys to wait on him together with Crowns and Musick c. and a sharp glittering Sword hanging over his Head tied with a Horse-hair only for saying Dionysius was a Happy Man lived with so little Security that himself took little pleasure in Life and his Subjects generally desired his Death except the Old Woman that went daily to the Temple to Pray for him lest the Devil himself should come in his room in short he was so tortured with his own Suspicions that he would not suffer any Man no come into his Chamber with a Gown on his back no not his own Son or Brother nay put a Soldier to Death for only giving his Brother a Halbert to describe a Plot of Ground to him with the Situation of it and slew Marsyas because he dreamed one Night that he had killed him Plut. in vit Dionys Invidiâ Siculi non invenere Tyranni Tormentum majus 3. Nero. that Monster of Mankind that used to go by Night about the Streets of Rome beating and abusing and sometimes throwing into Privies People that stood in his way and resisted him breaking open Shops and robbing them caused the Genitals of a Boy that he loved called Sporus to be cut off in order to the making of him a Woman killed his Wife Poppea Sabina when great with Child murder'd his Wife Octavia and his Mother Agrippina after he had committed Incest with her causing her Womb to be ript up to see where he had lain poison'd Claudius from whom he received the Empire murdered his Aunt Domitia and Antonia Claudius his Daughter because she refused to Marry him hired Conjurers to lay the Ghost of his Mother Agrippina with whom he was haunted caused Crispinus his Son-in-law by Poppea to be drowned as he was Fishing with many others of his Relations murdered Aulus Plancus after he had committed Sodomy with him Enforced his Master Seneca to Murder himself sent Poison to his other Master Burrhus Poison'd several Rich Free-men and Old Men who had been formerly helpful to him caused the City of Rome to set on Fire whilst himself goes up to the top of Moecenas his Tower tuning his Harp and singing to feed his Eyes with the Pleasantness of the Sight and afterwards put it on the Christians to give an occasion of Persecuting them causing some of them to be cloathed in the Skins of Wild Beasts and torn in pieces by Dogs others to be crucified others to be made Bonefires of to light him in his Night-sports Wishing the World might be destroyed whilst he lived that he might be a Spectator of it At last the Senate judging him to be an Enemy to Mankind condemned him to be whipt to Death through the streets of Rome upon which he ran and hid himself among Briars and Thorns and crying out I have neither a Friend nor an Enemy miserable Man that I am threw himself into a Pit four Foot deep and there desperately slew himself Sueton. in vit 4. Caligula another Roman Emperor who disinherited and slew Tiberius who was Co-heir with him compelled his Father-in-Law to Murder himself caused his Grandmother to kill her self for Reproving of him banished his two Sisters after he had committed Incest with them used all sorts of Magistrates scornfully murdered privately several of the Senators stigmatized many Persons of Quality or dismembred them and then condemned them either to the Mines or to mend High-ways or to Wild Beasts or to be sawn asunder compelled Parents to be present at the Torment of their Sons and one excusing himself he sent his Litter for him another Father he caused to be slain because he desired to shut his Eyes while his Children were tormented a third he brought home with him from seeing his Son 's miserable Death and would force him to laugh jest and be merry cast a Roman Knight to the Beasts and because he
my Soul I cannot find my small Concern with the Duke of Monmouth doth deserve this heavy Judgment on me but I know as I said before it is for Sins long unrepented of I die in Charity with all Men I desire all of you to bear me witness I die a true Professor of the Church of England beseeching the Lord still to stand up in the Defence of it God forgive my passionate Judges and cruel and hasty Jury God forgive them they know not what they have done God bless the King and though his Judges had no Mercy on me I wish he may find Mercy when he standeth most in need of it Make him O Lord a nursing Father to the Church let Mercy flow abundantly from him if it be thy Will to those poor Prisoners to be hereafter tried and Lord if it be thy holy Will stop this issue of Christian Bood and let my guiltless Blood be the last spilt on this account Gentlemen all Farewel Farewel all the Things of the World Then singing some few Verses of a Psalm and putting up some private Ejaculations to himself said O Lord into thy hands I commend my Spirit and so submitted to the Executioner September the 7th 1685. 3. The Behaviour and Dying Speech of Mr. Joseph Speed of Culliton AT the same time and place as he came near the Place of his Execution he spying his Country-man and Friend called him and said I am glad to see you here now because I am not known in these Parts being answered by his Friend I am sorry to see you in this Condition He replies It is the best Day I ever saw I thank God I have not led my Life as Unchristian-like as many have done having since the Years of Sixteen always had the Checks of Conscience on me which made me to avoid many gross and grievous Sins my course of Life hath been well known to you yet I cannot justifie my self All Men Err. I have not been the least of Sinners therefore cannot excuse my self but since my Confinement I have received so great Comfort in some Assurance of the Pardon of my Sins that I can now say I am willing to die to be dissolved and to be with Christ and say to Death Where is thy Sting and to Grave Where is thy Victory Being ask'd by some rude Soldiers Whether he was not sorty for the Rebellion he was found Guilty of He courageously reply'd If you call it a Rebellion I assure you I had no sinister Ends in being concerned for my whole Design in taking up Arms under the Duke of Monmouth was to fight for the Protestant Religion which my own Conscience dictated to me and which the said Duke declared for and had I think a lawful Call and Warrant for so doing and do not question that if I have committed any Sin in it but that it is pardoned Pray Mr. Sheriff let me be troubled no farther in answering of Questions but give me leave to prepare my self those few Minutes I have left for another World and go to my Jesus who is ready to receive me Then calling to his Friend who stood very near him said My dear Friend you know I have a dear Wife and Children who will find me wanting being somewhat incumbred in the World let me desire you as a Dying Man to see that she be not abused and as for my poor Children I hope the father of Heaven will take care of them and give thern Grace to be Dutiful to their distressed Mother And so with my dying Love to all my Friends when you see them I take leave of you and them and all the World desiring your Christian Prayers for me to the last moment Then repeating some Sentences of Scripture as Colossians chap. 3. v. 1 2. If you then c. and praying very fervently said I thank God I have Satisfaction I am ready and willing to suffer Shame for his Name And so pouring forth some private Ejaculations to himself and lifting up his Hands the Executioner did his Office The Soldiers then present said They never before were so taken with a Dying Man's Speech his Courage and Christian-like Resolution caused many violent Men against the Prisoners to repent of their Tyranny towards them some of whom in a short time died full of Horror And thus fell this Good Man a true Protestant and one that held out to the end An Account of those that suffered at Bridport and Lyme 1. AT Bridport one John Sparke who was a very Good Man and behaved himself with a great deal of Christian-like Courage to the end Being asked how he could endure those Hardships he had undergone since his being taken Says he If this be all 't is not so much but my Friend if you were to take a Journey in those ways you were not acquainted with you would I hope desire Advice from those that had formerly used those ways or lived near by them Yes says he Then said he The ways of Affliction which I have lately travelled in I had Advice many a time from a Minister who hath often told his Congregation of the troublesomeness of the Road and of the difficulty of getting through and has given me and Hundreds of others to understand the Pits and Stones in the way and how to avoid them He has been a Man used to those Roads many Years I have taken his Advice I am got thus far on comfortably and I trust shall do so to the end I am not afraid to fight a Duel with Death if so it must be Now I thank God I can truly say Oh Death where is thy Sting and Oh Grave where is thy Victory Two or three Days after his Sentence he was drawn to Execution but was very rudely and opprobriously dealt with to the Shame of those that then had the Charge over him their Rigour to him was more more like Turks than Christians Being come to the Place of Execution he prayed very devoutly but by the Rudeness of the Guards there could be no Copy taken to be said to be true He died very Couragiously and spake to them in these Words looking on the Soldiers saying Little do you think that this very Body of mine which you are now come to see cut in pieces will one Day rise up in Judgment against you and be your Accuser for your delight in spilling of Christian Blood The Heathens have far more Mercy Oh 't is sad when England must out-strip Infidels and Pagans But pray take notice Don't think that I am not in Charity with you I am so far that I forgive you and all the World and do desire the God of Mercies to forgive you and open your Hearts and turn you from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to the Lord Jesus Christ And so Farewel I am going out of the Power of you all I have no dependance but upon my blessed Redeemer to whom I commit my dear Wife and Children
entire Elogy Ibid. 31. I cannot omit her Reverential Regard for the Lord's-Day which at the Hague I had a very particular occasion to take Notice of On a Saturday a Vessel the Pacquet-Boat was stranded not far from thence which lying very near the Shore I view'd happening to be thereabouts at that time 'till the last Passengers were brought as all were safe off Multitudes went to see it and her Highness being inform'd of it said she was willing to see it too but thought she should not for it was then too late for that Evening and she reckoned by Monday it would be shiver'd to pieces thô it remaining entire 'till then she was pleas'd to view it that Day but she resolved she added she would noe give so ill an Example as to go see it on the lord's-Lord's-Day Mr. Howe 's Discourse on the Death of our late Queen 32. She was not inaccessible to such of her Subjects whose dissentient Judgments in some such Things put them into lower Circumstances Great she was in all valuable Excellencies nor greater in any than in her most Condescending Goodness Her singular Humility adorn'd all the rest Speaking once of a good thing which she intended she added But of my self I can do nothing and somewhat being by one of two more only then present interposed she answered She hoped God would help her Ibid. 33. He that will read the Character Psal 15. and 24. of an Inhabitant of that Holy Hill will there read her true and most just Character Wherein I cannot omit to take notice how sacred she reckoned her Word I know with whom she hath sometimes conferr'd whether having given a Promise of such a seeming import she could consistently therewith do so or so saying That whatever prejudice it were to her she would never depart from her Word Ibid. 34. She had a Love to all good Men thô of a different Communion Her Esteem and Affection were not confin'd to one Party or to the Church of which herself was a Member This is the Unchristian Character of many that they hate and despise those who differ from them in the Circumstantials of Religion But the deceas'd Queen had a larger Soul she lov'd and valu'd the Image of God wherever she found it 'T is well known how frequently I may say constantly she joyn'd in the Worship of God with the Dutch and French Churches thô their Constitution and Order are very different from those of the Church of England I have been a Witness of the Kindness and Respect with which she treated English Dissenting Ministers and was present when she thank'd one of that quality for a Practical Book of Divinity which he had publish'd and had been put into her Hands This Consideration makes our Loss the greater because she is taken away who was so capable and willing to compose the unhappy Differences in Matters of Religion which she did lament and earnestly wish'd the removal of ' em Mr. Spademan 's Sermon preach'd at Rotterdam the Day of Her Majesty's Funeral 35. Those who never had themselves Experience of Want and Distress are tempted unto a neglect and disregard of the Miserable Most of the Great and Rich choose rather to lay out their Treasures on any Vanity than in Relieving the Destitute and Distress'd But this pious Queen was rich in this kind of good Works and did as willingly seek out Objects of her Charity as others do avoid ' em The Character which Solomon gives of a Vertuous Woman did most visibly belong to the deceas'd Queen Prov. 31.20 She stretched out her Hand to the Poor yea she reacheth forth both her Hands to the Needy And it might truly have been said of her what Job alledged as an Evidence of his Sincerity in the Service of God Job 29.13 15 16. The Blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me and I caus'd the Widow's Heart to sing for Joy c. By such a Christian Practice this wise Queen laid up Treasure in Heaven Ibid. 36. Could we and those who were related to the late Queen be perswaded to walk in the Steps of her Faith and Piety we should reap more Advantage after her Death than we did in her Life 'T is a memorable Wonder that is related 2 Kings 12.21 How when a dead Man was cast into the Sepulchre of Elisha as soon as he touch'd the Bones of Elisha he revived and stood upon his feet We may hope that if the holy Example of the deceas'd Queen might touch our dead Souls they would be reviv'd and gain Spiritual Life Ibid. 37. She knew how dangerous an Instrument of the Devil Flattery is and how fatally her Station exposed her to it And she took care for nothing more than to secure herself against the danger of it I Shall never forget with what weight of Reason and sincerity of Concern I have sometimes heard this Great Queen represent the Dangers which Princes above all others are apt to run in this respect And with what Earnestness she has exhorted those about her to deliver to her the plainest Truths and with all Freedom to tell her if they had observed any thing amiss in her Conduct that she might amend it Dr. Wake 's Sermon preached at Grey's-Inn on the Occasion of the Queen's Death 38. She thought herself engag'd to labour not only her own particular but the Salvation of others You may know it you that by your Employments were design'd to her immediate Service have been so often corrected by her when over zealous for her and so negligent of God she would not admit of your Sedulities but when they were sanctifi'd by Prayer It behoves ye in the first place to serve God said she to ye that 's your first Duty I will have none of your Attendance but upon that Condition Mr. Claude's Sermon on the Queen's Death preach'd at the Hague 39. Never was Majesty better tempered with Easiness and Sweetness She knew how to be familiar without making herself cheap and to condescend without meanness She had all the Greatness of Majesty with all the Vertues of Conversation and knew very well what became her Table and what became the Council-Board She understood her Religion and loved it and practised it and was the greatest Example of the Age of a constant regular unaffected Devotion and of all the eminent Vertues of a Christian Life In the midst of all the Great Affairs of State she would rather spare time from her Sleep than from her Prayers where she always appeared with that great Composure and Seriousness of Mind as if her Court had been a Nunnery and she had nothing else to do in the World Dr. Sherlock 's Sermon preached at the Temple upon the sad Occasion of the Queen's Death 40. She was not wrought up to any Bigottry in unnecessary Opinions She was most conversant in Books of Practical Divinity of which some of the latest used by her were certain Sermons and some Discourses concerning
back from a Miller Anno 1667 fasted a Twelve Month is no Wonder in comparison with the former Stories nor that of the Shropshire Maid whose Mother I was acquainted with who fasted as â—ong mentioned in the former part of this Book CHAP. XXII Children Petrified in the Womb. THE Story of Niobe turned into a Marble Statue is a Fable Children are often converted into Stones in the Womb and I would to God Men were not so in their ripe Age at least in a Metaphorical Sense but as to the Petrification of Infants it is not much more strange that a Juyce fit for Concretion should be carried to the Womb than to the Reins or Bladder or that a Spiritus Lapidificus should prevail in the one and never in the other 1. Columba Chatry of Sens in Burgundy Wise to Ludovicus Chatry by the report of Mr. John Alibaux an Eminent Physicians and who also was present at the Dissection of her went 28 years with a Dead Child in her Womb When she was dead and her Belly opened there was found a Stone having all the Limbs and exact proportion of a Child of 9 Months old This happened Anno 1582. Sennertus confesses this accident so rare that he never met with the like instance in the whole History of Physick Sennert Prax. Med. l. 4. par 2. Sect. 4. c. 7. p. 311. 2. Horstius tells of a Woman aged 37. at the time of his Writing whose Womb was all turned to Stone to the weight of 7 pound Her Spleen Globular her Bladder Stony and her Peritonaeum so very hard that it could scarce be cut with a Knife and yet this Woman lived without any manifest sign of Sickness all her life time Addit ad Donat. per Greg. Horst l. 7. c. 2. p. 663. 3. Hearnius affirms That he saw at Padua a Woman whose Breast was turn'd into Stone by this means as she lay dead that Breast of hers lay covered in the Water of a certain Spring there Ibid. p. 664. 4. Pompilius Placentinus tells of a Venetian Woman who being Poisoned by an Apple when Dead she grew so stiff and congealed that she seemed to be transformed into a Statute of Stone nor could they cut open her Belly by Knife or Sword Zacch qu. Medico-Legal c. 4. Tit. 1. p. 235. 5. The Body of a Man that was killed and cast into the River Anien having lain some time at the Root of a Tree that grew upon the Bank-side when it was found and taken up it was turn'd into Stone Titus Celsus a Patrician of Rome affirmed that he had seen it Cornman de Mir. Morc par 3. cap. 36. p. 18. 6. I my self saw a Maid born in Ireland exposed to view at Arundel in Sussex a few years ago who besides strange Moles upon her Body had a great Excressence growing between her Legs hard as Stone very bulky and weighty so that was not able to carry it about without a Truss CHAP. XXIII Accidents upon Persons birth-Birth-Days c. I Am not sure that the Matter of Fact in all the Cases hearafter mentioned was in right Judgment so remarkable as is pretended Perhaps Persons may sometimes be too fond in the Observation of such Days out of a peculiar respect to them and at the same time pass over a hundred Accidents more worthy of Note upon other days of their Life See what follows in the end of the Chapter 1. The Poet Antipater Sidonius every year upon his Birth-day was seized with a Fever and when he had liv'd to a great Age he Died upon his Birth-Day Schenck Obs Med. 1.6 Obs 1. p. 721. 2. The like befel Johan Architectus who spent with Age Died upon his Birth-Day Ibid. 3. Elizabeth Wife of King Henry VII Died in Child-Bed the 11th of February the very day of her Birth Bak. Chron. 4. Amatuâ— Lisitanus tells of one who every year on his Birth-Day was seized with a Fit of a Fever Thom. a Veiga of another who every year had a Fever for three days and no longer Schenck Ibid. p. 721. 5. Alexander the Great was Born upon the 6th day of February and Died on the 6th day of February Alex. l. 4. c. 20 fol. 233. 6. Attalus King of Pergamum and Pompeins the Great both Died on their Birth-Days Plut. in Camilo p. 135. 7. Julius Caesar was Born and Slain on the Ides of March. Sabel l. 9. c. 4. Zuin. Thaat p. 561. 8. Antonius Caracalla the Emperor was Slain at Carris on the 6th of the Ides of April being his Birth-Day Zuin. Ibid. 9. Pope Gregory the Great was Born and Died on the 4th of the Ides of March. Zuin. Theat Ibid. 10. Garsias Great Grand-Father to Petrarch having lived 104 years died as also did Plato on his Birth-Day and in the same Chamber where he was Born Zuin. Theat vol. 2. l. 7. p. 561. 11. The Emperor Charles the Great was Buried at Aquisgrane on his Birth-Day Anno 810. Ibid. 12. Ph. Melancthon Died Anno 1560. in the 63th year of his Age and on his Birth-Day being 13 Cal. May. Ibid. 13. The Emperor Charles V. was Born on St. Matthias's Day on which day also in the course of his Life was King Francis taken by him in Battel and the Victory likewise won at Bicâ—â—que he was also Elected and Crowned Emperor on the same day and many other great Fortunes befel him still on that day Treasury of Ancient and Modern times l. 4. c. 12. p. 330. 14. Augustus had certain Anniversary Sicknesses which did return at a stated and certain time He commonly languished at the time of his Birth which was the 9th of the Calends of October a little before Sun-rise Sweton in August p. 55. 105. 15. Timoleon obtained most of his Victories on his Birth-Day which was therefore Celebrated Annually by the Syracusans Alex. ab Alex de Gen. l. 4. c. 20. 16. Philip King of Macedon had a Triplicity of Good Tidings on his Birth-Day That he was Victor in the Olympicks that Parmenio his General had gain'd a Conquest and that his Queen was Delivered of Alexander Ibid. 17. Baudinus an Abbot and Citizen of Florence Died upon his Birth-Day Coman de Mir. Mort. 18. On Wednesday Pope Sixtus V. was Born made Monk General of his Order Cardinal Pope and Inaugurated Heyl. Geogr. 19. On Thursday Henry VIII Died Edward VI. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth 20. Friday was observed to be fortunate to the Great Captain Gonsalvo and Saturday to Henry VII c. CHAP. XXIV Children mark'd in the Womb. WHEN we read the Story in Genesis of Jacob 's Success in his Pastoral Office by the help of his straked striped hazels and poplars c. we wonder at the effects and are puzzled in quest of the Cause Certainly tho' there was a special Providence concerned in the Fact yet there seems too a concurrence of inferior Nature in the Agency Imagination is strong and operative even in Bruits but much more in Mankind where Reason gives a