THE Reformed Gentleman: OR, THE Old English Morals Rescued From the Immoralities of the Present Age. SHEWING How Inconsistent those Pretended Genteel Accomplishments. Of Swearing, Drinking, Whoring and Sabbath-Breaking. Are with the True Generosity of an English Man. Being Vices not only contrary to the Law of God and the Constitutions of our Government both Ecclesiastical and Civil, but such as cry loud for Vengeance without a speedy Reformation. To which is added a Modest Advice to Mini­sters and Civil Magistrates, with an Abridgement of the Laws relating thereto, the King's Proclamation and Queens Letter to the Justices of Middlesex, with their several Orders there­upon. By A. M. of the Church of England.

Nobilitas sola est atque Ʋnica Virtus. Juvenal

Imprimatur.

Rob. Midgley.
July 28. 1692.

London, Printed for T. Salusbury at the King's Arms in Fleetstreet near St. Dunstan's Church. 1693.

TO THE READER

Impartial Reader,

IF ever any Age needed a Boaner­ges, this Lethargick one of ours certainly does; nothing but Thunderclaps, and Miraculous Judg­ments being able to raise Mankind from their dead sleep of Sin, and to rouse than from their Carnal Securi­ty and Impious Stupidity. 'Twas this lamentable Prospect of the uncon­cernedness of the Nation we live in that set me upon the following under­taking.

Never did any People commit such Enormities, and seemed so insensible whether they had been guilty of them or no, as our English Vitiosoes at pre­sent: For if you tell the Prophane Wretch of his Swearing, tho the Oath i [...] scarce out of his Mouth; yet you shall hear him avouch by an Oath or two more that he did not Swear. — If you tax another of being Drunk; Pshaw, Pshaw! crys the Brute, that's a small Fault; pray who is free from the Piccadilloes of the Bottle? — If you charge a Third with Whoring; Who, replys the Lascivious Spark, can for­bear indulging the inviting Motions of Flesh and Blood? And what man but an Ancho­rite or Hermit can resist the Impetuous In­clinations of his Youth? — If in the last place you advise any to be more Religiously Observant of the Lords-Day; Why, who (says the Licentious Libertine) has required this at our [Page] hands? Is it not enough to go twice a day to Church on the Sunday, but we must be Puritans and Pharisees at home too?

This being the true Account of the desperate Case of our debauched Times; What remains, but that some one should, tho I perhaps have not with Rigour and Menaces, with Thundrings and Lightnings enough, made them sensible of their Condition; lest soothing themselves up with the conceit of Gods Mercies, and Christ's meritorious Death and Satisfaction for their Sins, they remain still in the Suburbs of Hell, and dance so long about the Pit of Destruction, till they irrecoverably fall into their Eternal Ruin? Do the Physitians use gentle Applications, and only stroke their Apoplectic Patients? No certainly, they find Rubbing and Chafing, Pinch­ing and Wounding, Scarrifying and [Page] Cupping little enough to make them recover of their Dead Fit. And shall the Soul in as deep an Apoplexy as ever the Body felt, have soft things said to her? Shall the Obdurate Conscience, and the Heart as hard as the nether Milstone be softly anoint­ed as it were with Oyl, and bound up as if nothing ailed them? Cer­tainly those Balsamicks would do better, when the Wound is laid open and searched throughly; when the Soul is touched to the quick, the Conscience pricked with the Sense of its own Guilt; and the Heart brought down to a Melting, Bleeding Tem­per. I am confident the Binding up the Sore before it be half Dres­sed, and drawing a Skin over the unhealed Part is a ready way to cause a Grangreen. And I am as confident, that speaking Peace to a People, when there is no Peace be­longs [Page] to them, and the gentle treat­ment of Vice is the great Cause of its spreading the Contagion, and of making the Infected insensible of the Plague, till such time as it has got such sure footing, that a Cure without a Miracle is despaired of.

And since things are in such a despe­rate Case, what sober man can forbear wishing that Impiety were reduced into some decree of Modesty; and that Wickedness were but scared into Corners, that it may at least from henceforth not dare to out­face the Light, and boast of its num­bers in the Eye of the World? And any rational man would be forward to think this might easily be done in a Country, where Christianity is professed in its Original Purity, and where the Fundamental Laws and Institutions favour the Attempt. But [Page] alas! we find, tho we have Statutes to that purpose made to our hands, tho the Great Wheels have moved, and we might have expected the lesser Orbs would have followed the Motion: yet most men stand still, and those, which do move, make but a very tardy motion by reason of the Opposition of a Major Party; whose Clamours are so great as to make the suppressing of Prophaness and Debauchery the Great Grievance of the Nation. So that tho there should be a Scheme proposed by the Best and Wisest of the Nation for ac­complishing the Design, tho there were more Laws made to back those already in force; yet when that is done it would be to little Effect, unless there could be found Persons of that Courage, Generosi­ty, Conduct and Prudence, as might accordingly put the same in Execu­tion. [Page] But where to meet such as are Endowed with those Qualificati­ons will be the harder Task, if we consider that we live at present in a World which never yet was so hap­py, as the Good made the Larger and the Rising Party.

As Reformed as this Age pre­tends to be, he knows very little of the World, that sees not the great need this Corrupted Island has of a Speedy Reformation: A Work of so great a Consequence, which not only Good Men ought to endea­vour, but the Bad ought to de­sire, and all ought one way or o­ther to promote. But what Rubs and Remora's, what Disappoint­ments and unexpected Discourage­ments has so Necessary a Work met with of late from some, who should have been by the Obligation they lie under its forwardest Promoters [Page] and Encouragers? It would seem too reflecting to insist hereon, and therefore I leave the persons con­cerned to consider with themselves whether they have acted like Chri­stians, or so much as like English­men, in doing what in them lies to hinder so Glorious a Design.

That we are a People that do need a Reformation: That we are not such white and undefiled Crea­tures as we take our selves to be: That as long as we continue in those Open and Crying Sins, un­der which our Land at present groans, we cannot expect the Con­summation of such Mercies, as are already begun for us, but a cer­tain fearful looking for of Judgment and Fiery Indignation devouring us from the face of the Earth: That all our Pretences to Religion, and of our being of this or that Church [Page] signifie nothing without a Holy Life, and the keeping our selves Pure from the Corruptions of the Age: That those, who are in the Gall of Bitterness, and involved in the Labyrinths of Sin, may extri­cate themselves and come out of the Midst of Sodom, and fly for Re­fuge to a Spiritual Zoar, before the Destroying Angel overtake them with his Plagues; it is the Design of the following Discourse to shew, To which end I have not spared to draw those Vices I have hand­led in their proper, lively, and real Natural Colours: To lay the Plague, the Curse and the Judgment at the Right Door: To call the Blasphe­mer, the Intemperate, the Unclean Person and the Prophane by their Proper Names: And to tell them of the Miseries, Calamities Wants, Diseases and Death which are their [Page] Portion in this Life; and of the never-dying Worm, the never-ceasing Pains, the never-ending Tor­ments and the Eternal Unquenchable Flames, which (without God's Mer­cy upon their Repentance) will be their Lot in another World.

And truly I am so far from wish­ing any severe word in the Ensu­ing Treatise unwritten, that I am afraid of nothing so much, as that (being infected with the Epidemi­cal Prudentials of the Times) I have treated Vice too gently, and used the Vile Enormities too favourably. I could wish with all my Soul that every word therein were as sharp as Arrows, and as keen as a two Edged Sword, that they might stab the Sins (I have treated on) to the very Heart; and bring the Offen­ders to such a Pass, that they might be necessitated to flee to Jesus [Page] for the Soveraign Balsom of his Blood to heal their wounded Consciences, and that being there they might see the necessity of living a Holy Life, lest they set their own, as well as their Saviours Wounds a bleeding a­fresh.

I have but one Word more to add; which is, to advertise the Reader, that I had an Intention of treating upon some other Malignant and Ca­pital Vices; but perceiving that thereby I should swell this Work to a larger Volumn, than I design­ed this Manual should be; and con­sidering, that, by advancing the Price above the Vulgar Reach, I should rob the Inferiour Rank of People of the benefit thereof, and so lose the very end of publishing it for a Gene­rall Good: I confin'd my self to speak only of those sins, which seemed to bear the most uncontroul­able [Page] sway in this our Island. And truly I could not but think it most proper to handle those Crimes, and lay them Open and Naked to the World which are accounted by the Greater Party for Little, Veni­al and the Pecadilloes of the Age, at which the Deity seemed little or not at all concerned, and in the Commission of which they notwith­standing hoped for Heaven and E­ternal Happiness. How egregiously are mistaken, they will (if they have but the Hearts to consi­der) find in the sequel.

And oh! that every one, who Reads this, were wise, that they under­stood those things, and that they would con­sider their Latter End: That they would cease to do Evil and learn to do Well: That they would chuse Life and not Death, Light and not Darkness. That every Soul may Depart from the Error of his [Page] Ways and be reformed; that the Re­formed may, as much as in them Lies, endeavour to reclaim the whole; is the Earnest Desire, as well as the Endeavour of him, who is a Well-wisher to the whole Israel of God, and especially to the Welfare of our particular Son.

Farewell.

Advertisement.

A Book newly Published, entituled Ecclesia Reviviscens; A Poem, or a Short Account of the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the New Reforma­tion against Vices and Debaucheries. Print­ed for Tho. Salusbury.

THE INTRODUCTION.

Man considered in his three states, of Innocence, Nature, and Regeneration. A short view of the Church from the Primitive to out Times: A survey of the Degeneracy of the present Age; and the little Reason the open Debauchees have of styling themselves Church of England Men. The Guilt of this Nation in general aggravated in that neither God's Mercies can Win it, nor his Judgments Terrify it into a serious Reforma­tion.

1. MAN, that Curious,The consideration of Man, First in his state of Innocence. Ʋpright, stately Fa­brick of an Almighty Make, in his short Period of Inno­cence attracted to himself the Admiration, Love and Obedience of all other Creatures, which were subservi­ent to him as their Lord and Denominator. To him, did all the moving and creeping Animals of the Earth, the Winged Fowls of the Air, and the Sealy Fish of the Deep become most willing Tributaries: To Him, did the Firmaments above, those Orbs of Light, the Sun, Moon, and Stars afford their milder Influence: To him, did all the Sweets of Paradise, and the Natural Product of the Fertile Earth yield Delight and Satis­faction: To him, in a Word, was all the Creation so Obedient, as if Man were the only Master-piece of God and Nature, and those other Created Beings but [Page] so many Ornaments to set him off with the greater Lustre. Add to this, (his Harmonious, and Symmetri­cal Body) His being endued with a never dying, God­like and reasonable Soul; Enlightened by a clear Ʋn­derstanding; Guided by an Ʋncorrupted Will, Moved by pure and Seraphick Affections, and placed in a Rank a little below the Angels.

2. Man considered in his state of Nature. 2. No sooner did he fall and trans­gress that one Commandment by eating the Forbidden Fruit, but the Scene of Glory quickly changed to that of Ignominy and Reproach: His Body became Distemper'd, Frail, and Miserable; His Soul lost the Divine Impress, and became filthy and abominable; His Ʋnderstanding was darkned; His Will Corrupted and Depraved; His Affections Vitiated and Debauch­ed; and his whole Man out of Frame. He had nei­ther Peace without, nor Peace within; but all in a storm led an Ʋnquiet, Disatisfied, and discontented Life. All the Creatures now rose up in Actual Rebellion a­gainst their transformed Lord, vindicating their Crea­tors Honour upon one that had so shamefully abused it. And the lashes of a Wounded Conscience upon a sense of his Guilt were more afflictive to him by far, then his be­ing whipped out of Paradise ever was. What dismal Effects his Posterity met withall is apparent from God's Justice in giving them up to a reprobate sense, to com­mit Iniquity with greediness, and then plaguing them with sundry Diseases, and divers kinds of Deaths. For from the very moment of the Fall the Intellectual became subject to the Sensitive Faculties; the Rational, nobler part of the Man was enslaved to that ignoble part which he held in common with Brutes; and the Soul bowed down, and was conformable to all the Lusts and impetuous Passions of the Body.

3. In this languid condition lay the greatest part of the Posterity of fallen Adam for nigh four Thousand Years. In the height of that Impiety, which proceeded from those Corrupted Principles, was it that the old World was destroyed by a Ʋniversal Deluge of Waters: and the new One in its Nonage was dispersed by a Jar­gon of Languages at the Confusion of Babel. Of all the Kindreds of the Earth, which then began to increase, did not God chuse any, save faithful Abraham and his Seed, to place his Name among them. 'Twas Jacob was his Chosen, and Israel the Lot of his Inheritance; 'twas in the Tents of the Sanctified Tribes that the Glory of his Presence shone; and by his Servant Moses he im­planted the Rudiments of a Typified Religion which hereafter was to be refin'd and confirmed by his Succes­sor and Master, the LORD JESƲS.

4. Thus the knowledge of the Divinity was as it were confined within the Borders of Juda, and Palestine was more happy then her Neighbours: In Judah was God known, and his Name was great in Israel; in Salem also was his Tabernacle, and his dwelling place at Sion. Ps. 76.1, 2. Whilst the greatest part of the World remained in Darkness, and sate under the shad­dow of Death; and groped through their Ignorance at Noon-day: Whilst they changed the truth of God into a Lie, became vain in their Imaginations, and Worshipped the Creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Rom. 1. True it is, the Wiser sort of Heathens, guided by their Natural Light, made some steps towards the raising the Soul from the Bon­dage of the Body; and gave great Pulls to set fallen Man once more upon his Legs. But alas! their Endea­vours fell infinitely short of that End: their glimmering Light proved but a false one to them; and their Intricate Reasonings and dry Speculations were so far above the [Page] reach of Vulgar heads, and so uncapable of doing them any good, that they have oftimes bewildred the Philo­sopher himself, who after all his search has been forced to confess himself to be in the Dark. So that tho' those [...] made some Advances towards the Civilizing the Barbarous Nations, and preached up Morality to their Disciples; yet all the Religion they could ingraft in the World was but Delusion, and the best of their Altars wore no other Inscription then to the UNKNOWN GOD, [...]. Acts, 17, 23. whom ig­norantly they Worshipped, and of whom they could have no certain knowledge till the Sun of Righteousness arose with healing in his Wings, and brought Life and Im­mortality to light through the Gospel; Becoming as Old Simeon expresses himself) a Light to lighten the Gentiles, as well as the Glory of his People Israel: Luke 2.32. Bringing the glad tidings of Sal­vation to the Greek and the Barbarian, to the Bond and Free; and Preaching Repentance and Remissi­on of Sins among all Nations, beginning at Jerusa­lem. Luke 24.47.

5. This Abstract of Mercy! This Over-flowing Quin­tessence of Compassion! By a mysterious Incarnation condescended to to take upon him­self not the Nature of Angels, 3. Man consider­ed in his state of Re­generation. but the Seed of Abraham. Hebr. 2.16. Who being in the form of God, thought it no Robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no Reputation, and took upon him the form of a Servant, and was made in the likeness of Men: And being sound in fashion as a Man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto Death, even the Death of the Cross. Phil. 2.6, 7, 8. And by that Expiatory Sacrifice of his he satisfied his Fathers [Page] Justice, offering himself up once for all. In this hopeful way of Recovery did that Blessed one leave Mankind upon his Departure hence; and intrusted the farther Cure to faithful hands, who were not wanting to trans­mit the Sovereign Balsom, Christ Crucified, to Posterity.

6. And now began that Fevor and Warmness for Religion to appear in the World:A short view of the Christian Church, from the Primitive to our times. All Places Ecchoed with this New Doctrine, and every Mouth uttered the Gospel and Glad Tidings of Peace. Innocence and sincerity began to be Visible in Mens Lives and Manners; and those, who could not dispute, could die for their Pure and Ʋnde­filed Religion. This was the Case of that Flourishing Palm-Tree the Primitive Church, which spread its Branches so far under the hottest Persecutions, That most of the Dark Corners of the Civilized Nations were enlightened with the Piercing and Resplendent Beams of the Truth: And the Earth began to be full of the Knowledge of the Lord, as the Waters cover the Sea. Is. ch. 11. ver. 9.

7. But alass! this was too good to last long. For no sooner had the Christian World (so I might then call it) enjoyed a Requiem from thè continual Harasses of Pagan Tyranny and Persecution: No sooner was Chri­stianity Ʋniversally Embraced throughout the Roman Empire: No sooner had it the Protection of Emperours, and the favour of Complaisant Courtiers (who, weary of the Pagan Worship, became of the same Religion with their Princes;) No sooner was it Established by the Edicts of Constantine, and confirmed by Theodosius and his Successors in the Imperial Throne; But it be­came the Subject of its own fewds and Animosities: So that what all the Ʋnited force of Hell and Earth, had in vain endeavoured by open Violence to destroy, was [Page] Over-whelm'd with its own Ruines, and lay buried under its own Heaps. Heresie upon Heresie, Schism up [...]n Schism, Rent the Ʋnion of the Church on the one Hand; The Arrians, and Donatists; the Pelagians and Nestorians (some Questioning the Divinity, others the Humane Nature of Christ; some Quarrelling about the Procession, others about the Divinity of the Holy Ghost,) set the Professors of Christianity together by the Ears, and involved all in Flames for two or three Cen­turies together. But then on the other hand Superstition, Blind Zeal, False Principles and Interest, draw'd a veil quite over the Truth; and for many Ages after, Believing as the Church believed; Outward Pomp and a Continual Round of Mysterious splendid Ceremony was all the Religion the Indulgence of the Papal Chair required at Mens hands. If they could with an Impli­cite Faith own Infallibility, Purgatory, Transub­stantiation, the Sacrifice of the Mass, and a hundred such like Whimsioal Notions of Human Inventions; were their Lives never so Wicked, and their Manners never so Debauched; yet they might be assured of Hea­ven and Eternal Happiness.

8. But tho' all these sad Afflictions happened to Chri­stianity in the successive Ages of the Church,A view of the dege­neracy of the pre­sent Age. yet it was free from that generall inundation of Impiety, where­with this l [...]st and degenerate Age is at present so overwhelmed: wherein, even the dregs of Sin and Pollution are as it were sunk and setled down to the very bottom. Was ever Wickedness more open-faced? Wa [...] it ever more immodest than in these worst of times? And truly I cannot wonder that it is so, that it struts thus b [...]l l [...] unm [...]sked, and fears no contradiction; since not only Pagans, but Christians; not only Papists but Protestants, are its Abettors. Men now-a-days, not [Page] only practise but plead for their Vices, and maintain a Dispute for any beloved Lust with as hot a Zeal, as the best of Christians would stand up for the cause of Christ and his Religion; bearing so great a Love to Sin and the Author of it, as tho' they were willing to live their Votaries, and to dye their Martyrs. This is the sad, la­mentable, and too true account of the present State of Apostatizing Mankind. And how great a sh [...]re this our Island contributes to the Ʋniversal Deluge of Debauche­ry, is too evident to need any further Demonstration, than that of Ocular Inspection. We are all of us too apt upon the Commission of a Sin, Adam-like, to lay the blame far enough from our own Doors: to charge it upon the strength of the Temptation, upon the weakness of our Constitution, upon the Custom of the Place wh [...]rein we live, upon our own Ignorance, upon Surprize, and the like. But alass! none of all these Salvoes will serve the Turn, but for all these things GOD will bring us into Judgment.

9. And who can chuse but grieve to observe that most (I may say All) the open Debauchées of the Age are of im­pudent as to profess themselves Church of England men, The little reason wicked Men have, to pretend themselves of any, much less of the Church of Eng­land, whose Canon, as well as Civil Laws are against them. hoping that under that pretence (for I can call it no otherwise) to escape the Censures of Man here, and the Sentence of God hereafter? They cry as loud as any, The Temple of the Lord! The Temple of the Lord! But all the while remain in the outward Court, and will lose the priviledge of being saved with th [...]se which are within the inner Rail. For how unreasonable as well as unchri­stian is it to think or expect so pure and undefiled a Church, should indulge any of her Members in those [Page] horrid Debaucheries, which a sober Heathen would Blush to committ? No for certain she does not; for all her Canons and Constitutions as well as Doctrines tend to the Establishing of a Holy and Ʋnblameable Life in the World, and the Restraining of most of those reigning Vices of our Corrupted Age. Nor is the Civil Magistrate less armed against them, having severeal Penal Statutes to empower him to put a stop to their Exorbitancies; so that whoever will continue in those open sins, is so far from being a Son of the Church of England, or a Friend to any, much less to this Government, that he is the greatest disturber of the One, and the most profes­sed Enemy of the Other.

10. And what an Aggravation is it of the guilt of this Nation in general, that it bates to be Reform'd?The Guilt of this Land in general ag­gravated, in that, nei­ther the Mercies nor the Judgements of God have had any in­fluence over it to work a Reformation. Which neither Judgments can terrifie, nor Mer­cies allure to Repentance? For what People have tasted more of the Di­vine displeasure? What Land has received greater Favour from Hea­ven than this our Island within the short compass of this last Century has? Was not the Re­formation form Popish Errors and Superstitious Tenets, matter of great Joy to this our Israel? Did not that wonderful Deliverance from the Invincible Armada in Eighty Eight, make glad the City of God? Did not God's Goodness Triumphantly manifest it self in the discovery of the Horrid Powder-Plot▪ Were not the Re­stauration of the Royal Family after 12 years Banish­ment, and the re-establishing Monarchy, after so long an Anarchy, marks of Divine Love? And (not to speak of the frustration of many Plots in the late Reigns) Was not the late Revolution, and the Deliverance we received from those dismal Apprehensions and Fears we lay under [Page] matter of great Comfort and Satisfaction to all that were well-wishers to our Sion? But what Returns have we made to God for all his Benefits? How have we imbra­ced those Invitations to be Good and Happy? Base, Un­grateful Wretches that we are! We have turned the Grace of GOD into wantonness frustrated the very designs of Gods Blessings, and turned them by our Abu­ses into Cursings. Our Debaucheries are as many as ever, and our Animosities and Divisions as high on all sides, as if there had been no opportunities for a Recon­cilement.

11. And now let us look back, upon the Judgments God has inflicted upon the Land, and observe whether they have prevailed any more than his Mercies. Did not a long abused Peace at last involve Three Kingdoms in Civil War? Fill the Nation with Devastations and Ruins? Turn our Waters into Blood? Cover every place with the dead Bodies of the slain? Expose the best Reli­gion in the World naked to the Affronts and Contume­lies of Sects and Parties? And provoke the fury and madness of the People so far, as at last, ignominiously to Arraign, unaccountably to Condemn, and barbarously to Murder the Noblest of Kings, tho' the most unfortunate of Princes? And to come a little lower, how smartly has this oneLondon. Metropolitan City suffered by Plague and Fire? How did the Pestilence triumph within these Walls, killing her Thousands and Ten Thousands in our Streets? How did the insulting Flames, like the sweeeping Rain carry all down before it? As the Plague made no distinction between Sexes and De­grees, so neither did the devouring Fire take any notice of Sacred or Prophane Structures, but levelled all alike to the ground, and buried them in one common beap of Ashes. To sum up all, and come nigher home. What Dangers did our Fears suggest unto us from the [Page] Insolency of the Romish Tyranny in the last Reign? How was the Liberty and Property of the Subject, the Rights and Priviledges of the Church ready to be Sacri­ficed to the Will, and Pleasure of an Arbitrary Power? And if we look abroad; How has God visited in his Wrath most of the Europ [...]an Churches, and put a Cup of Trembling and A [...]tonishment into their hands? How deeply for three years together has our Neighbouring Island tasted of it? And how do we know but the next Draught may be ours. One would think these [...]fflictions we have felt, and those we have just reason to fear are hanging over us, were enough in all Reason to bring us nearer unto God, and to startle us into our Duty. But alass! we are never the better, and have great reason to apply the Psalmist Words to our selves, That tho' all these things [Sword, Pestilence, and Fire; Fears, Dangers and Calamities] have befallen us, yet [are we still the same] we do still forget God.

12. But shall not God visit for these things; shall be not be avenged on such a Nation as this? Yes, doubt­less he will: For tho' he seems to Wink and Connive at these Enormities for the present, and may spare the Pub­lick a while for the Righteous Man's sake; yet God's Spirit will not always strive with Man, but taking the Good from the Wrath to come, he will rain down his Plagues of Fire and Sword, of War and Pestilence; and root out the Wicked Doers from the Face of the Earth. In this World the Ʋnrighteous Communities shall suffer, there being no Retribution of Publick Societies beyond this and the Grave. But the Impenitent Individuals will be reserved to receive their Portion in the last Day; When that Dreadful and Irrevoc [...]ble Sentence shall be Pronounced, of Go ye Cursed into Everlasting Burn­ings prepared for the Devil and his Angels. Mat. 25.41.

The Reformed Gentleman, &c.

Of profane Swearings, Blasphemy, Cursing, and Perjury. CHAP. I

The Sin of Profane Swearing considered from the Nature of a Lawful Oath: Blasphemy, and Cursing consi­dered: The unaccountable Folly thereof, in that there is no Motive for it either in Atheism, Irreli­gion, or Reason; and in that we abhor it in those we either Love or Honour. Four Pleas for this Sin consi­dered and Refuted. The Force of Evil Custom. Four Motives for the forsaking thereof. The Guilt of such who, tho' they do not Swear themselves, yet delight to hear Others Swear. Perjury Considered, whe­ther in order to Circumvent, or falsely Accuse others: The difficulty of dissuading Men therefrom. Motives to forsake it drawn from the Greatness both of the Sin and the Punishment.

1. THAT all those are Sins, and dread­full ones too, none that have the least notion of Good and Evill will or can deny. But, how abominable they are, will appear more by Considering, that all are the Profanation of that Sacred Name, by whom the whole family of Heaven and Earth is named. I shall consider the three first together, for that 'tis rare to have the Man, who makes nothing of a Rash Oath, to make Conscience of Blaspheming [Page 2] God, or Cursing his Neighbour. How sinful Profane Swearing is,First, The Sin of Pro­fane Swearing consi­dered, from the Na­ture of a Lawful Oath may be known by considering how Sacred and So­lemn an Oath in its own Nature is: Being nothing less than

2. The calling and Attesting the Ever-Blessed Trinity [the Searcher of all Hearts, the tryer of the very Reins, and from whom nothing is hid,] in some weighty Matter as a Witness of the Truth, and a Revenger of the Falshood of what shall be asserted by the person thus adjuring. Besides, the Divinity of an Oath (as I may so term it) will be more manifest by Considering, 1. That none are Admitted to take it but such as are grown up to years of Discretion, excluding both the Mad and Perjur'd Person too. 2ly, That the matter thereof should be grave, and not trivial or unlawful. 3ly, That the Form is most Solemn, such as the lifting up of the hands among the Jews; the Laying the hand upon the Altar, as did the Civiliz'd Heathens, and upon the New Testament, as is usual with us English Christians. 4ly, That the end is the De­claration of Truth, the deciding of Controversies, the Manifestation of God's Glory, and the Good of Humane Societies. 5ly, That the Object there­of is only God the Lord Jehovah; the Omnipresent, Omniscient, and Omnipotent Being.

3. And is an Oath so Sacred in its own Nature? What a Folly and Madness as well as Sin is it then, upon every turn to call upon the Ever-Glorious Majesty of Heaven to come and Witness our Trifles, Untruths, and oftimes Sins; as if we were willing to make him partake of our Impertinencies, Non-sense, and Crimes? Would it not be a piece of [Page 3] Rudeness, Impudence, and Presumption, think ye, to press into the Presence of but an Earthly Prince, and bid him leave the weighty concerns of his Go­vernment, to come and Witness your Idle, Frivo­lous and Unnecessary Discourse? Yet so bold do Men make with the King of Kings, as to think him at leisure ever and anon to give an Ear to the Invo­cations, that are made to him at every Table-Talk, Chess-Board, and Game at Loo.

4.Secondly, Blasphemy Considered. Is the profane Invocation of God at every inconsiderate Trifle so great a Sin? How Monstrous then must it needs be to fall soul un and Blas­pheme the Being, by whom we Live, Move and have our Being? True it is, Men must be arrived to a great degree of Impiety, that shall Curse God to his very Face: Yet, tho' there may be but a few In­stances of such as in direct Terms shall vilify their Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier; God's Name may be Blasphemed many other ways. He has his Ta­bernacle, his Sanctuary, his Word, his Day, his Ordinances, and his Ministers, all bearing that In­scription [He that Honours you, Honours me: But he that despises you, despises me.] These are the Ap­ples of his Eyes, his sensible parts, whereby he may be wounded, tho' the Sin never reach his Inaccessi­ble Essence. And how frequent is it to have the Wretch in his Farce and Drolleries Romance upon the Sacred Scriptures? Buffoon the Holy Order? Speak slightingly and profanely of the Lord's Day? And make a mock at our Religious Assemblies? If this be not Blaspheming God among the Gentiles, I know not what is: For this is all that the Mon­ster can or dare do against the Holy One of Israel: [Page 4] He can only stab him thus in Effigie, and would serve the Original no better did it lie in his Power and cannot forbear dethroning God in his Heart and saying, This Man shall no longer Reign over us.

5. And can we expect that out of the same Mouth should pro­ceed Cursing and Blessing? Thirdly, Cursing Con­sidered. That he, who makes nothing of Blas­pheming his Neighbour, and himself? No, for certain, he that can do the first, never stops at a Conscientious Scruple about the other: For what more common then to have the Blustering Hector, not only in his Passion to an Enemy, or a Stranger; but even in his sober familiar Discourse, wish the Pox, the Plague, and Eternal Damnation to his Friend or himself? And what is more amazing than to imprecate all this upon the Person he pretends to love extremely at the same time, as tho' he Cursed him out of pure kindness, and wished him damned out of Civility? But what shall we conclude of those Men, but that they are Mad and Frantick beyond the Cure of Hellebore?

6. But tho' every Place, and Corner of this our Isle abound with such profligate Wretches;The Ʋnaccountable folly of Swearing rash­ly, since it has no in­ducement from Athe­ism, or Reason. tho' this part of the World Ec­choes with whole Volleys of Oaths and Cursing, which continually are discharged, as it were, against Heaven; yet did I never hear of one that could Alledge any thing like an Excuse to extenuate the Extravagancie of their Guilt. Such an unaccountable Folly is there [Page 5] inherent in a Rash Oath, that nothing can be said as a Plea for the use of it; but Men Swear because they will Swear. There is nothing of an Induce­ment, either in Reason or Religion in Atheism or Irreligion, that can warrant the Commission of so horrible a Crime.

7. An Oath in an Atheist's Mouth is Nonsense and Contradiction. For by in­voking a Being by him disowned,1 No Motive for the Swearer in Atheism. he manifestly gives himself the Lye; He thereby argues the weakness of his Judge­ment, and stabs his own Notion to the very Heart. For who can believe he is throughly perswaded that there is no God, when at every Sentence he speaks, he Mutters out the very Name? O that he denies a Saviour, when ever and anon he uses Wounds and Blood to make his Discourse Emphatical! Or that he thinks there is no Hell, or Devils, when in every turn of Passion, he calls upon the one to take his fel­low Creatures; and heartily wishes them in the Tor­ments of the other? Sure I am the Swearing Atheist confounds h [...]mself, overthrows his own Principles, and demonstrates the impossibility of being thorow­paced in such Opinions. If he would uphold Athe­isme, he should refrain from taking that Sacred Name into his Mouth (the bare mention whereof is argu­ment sufficient against him) and he should invoke his Almighty Chance; and Swear by those All power­ful Atoms, which by their own Magnetick Force, jumbled themselves out of a Chaos into this curi­ous Globe; and he should adjure those Empty No­things, to which he imagines all material Beings will at last be reduced.

8. Nor is there any thing of reason in a profane Oath. Those Arguments the Devil makes use of to work upon a rational Man,2. Nothing in rea­son to induce the Sin. and to induce him to Sin, are in this quite laid aside. Pleasure, Profit, and Fear, the common Byasses of the Will, and Corrupters of the Understanding, there are none to be pleaded as a Temptation in this Sin, as it may in others. Here the Devil has a cheap Bar­gain, and Men sell their Heaven for Nothing, and their Souls they barter away, and take no Money for them.

10. But farther yet, the unreasonableness of this Vice appears in that, how fond soever we are of it our selves, and are affronted when any Body reprove us for it;The folly of this Sin, farther illustrated in that we love it not in those whom we love or esteem. yet, tho' we love the Trea­son, we hate the Traitors, and abhor a rash Oath in those we ei­ther Love or Honour. If a Wife, a Child, a near Relation, or but a Servant (whom we have a kind­ness for) Swear in our Presence, how apt are we to check, and rebuke them? But should a Judge, a Bishop or a Prince Curse and Blaspheme in our hear­ing, How would our Blood rise? And how unseem­ly, ungenerous, and intolerable would it seem in them? And is not the offence as unbecoming us, and as notorious, as if the best Friend or worthiest No­bleman of them all were guilty thereof? It remains then that we charge the prevalency of this Sin to Custom.

11. 'Tis Custom, that English Law, that English [Page 7] Tyrant, that Obstacle to a Holy Life,That Custom is the chiefest Plea for it: all the rest proved to be trivial. which is the chiefest Plea Men do, or can use to palliate so great an Offence. Those other excuses made for it, such as the being provoked to Anger: The creating Belief thereby: its being an Ornament of the Speech: and a gentile Accomplishment, are but thin and empty sounds. For,

11. Can any Man of Sense think, that the Com­mission of one unlawful Act can ex­cuse the falling into another?The First Plea Re­futed. Yet so absurd is he that imagines the being carried beyond his Reason, will any thing at all lessen the Fault of transgressing his Duty. No cer­tainly; it is a great Aggravation thus to add Sin to Sin. For is it not enough (Vile Criminal!) to incense thy God by falling into an unallowable Passion, and fran­tick Fury, but thou must at the same time provoke him yet more, by taking his most holy Name into thy profane, and unclean Lips? Thou hadst no Warrant for thy mad Frenzie (let the Tempta­tion thereto be never so strong) so as to forget thy self, much less not to remember him, whose Wounds thou settest to bleed afresh by thy piercing Oaths, and abominable Cursings. Whatever thou mayst imagine, yet the being guilty of one Sin, will not in the least alleviate the Commission of another, tho' the latter be occasioned by the former; but as thy Guilt, so will thy Condemnation, and Punish­ment be double too.

12.The Second Plea Re­futed. And no better a Refuge will the next Excuse be to the common Swearer. For will any [Page 8] Man believe him the more for his dreadful Asse­verations? No, certainly this is a way of crea­ting Belief so praeposterous, that it is the ready road to raise up Diffidence, where there was none before. If thou art Honest, and reputed a Man of thy Word, none will desire thy Oath for a small matter, what­ever they may do in a weighty concern: But if thou art known to be false or untrue, all thy Imprecati­ons and Execrations will avail thee nothing; for Men will think (as we say) their own Thoughts. A Liar and Swearer are so near a kin, having one com­mon Father of them both, that whoever has a Swear­ing, has (Ten to One) a Lying Vein too.

13. Then as to the next thing, which Men use to extenuate the guilt of rash Oaths withal.The Third Plea Re­futed. Ask some, (I blush to say) of even the better rank of Men, why, they vent many almost in one breath? And they'll tell you, it sets off their Speech with a boon Grace, and adorns their periods with a lovely Decorum. A strange and unheard-of Art of Rhetorick this! An Eloquence not much known in former Ages! That Oaths should be so Elegant, that Cursings should be so Emphatical; and all Discourses insipid and flat, that are not stuffed with them, is such a new Notion, as makes me call it The Start-up Idi­om of the English Tongue. I know not how this blas­phemous Bombast sounds in some Ears, but so far is this disagreeing Harmony from affecting any so­ber Man, that he would (I presume) prefer the Croaking of Toads, the Hollowing of Owls, and the Cries of Ravens far before it. And I am apt to believe Pliny's Panegyricks, and Cicero's Encomi­ums have more Oratorical strokes in them, than the Harangues of our Modern Vitiosoes, with all their [Page 9] blustering Parenthesies (of Dam [...]'yees, Sink'yees, By their Maker, and the like) can ever boast of. Let those Oaths be never so graceful in the speaking, yet I am of opinion, that were they penned down so that the Speaker himself might see them, tho' he might not blush at the sight of his Sin, yet he would, no doubt, at that of his folly, in uttering such unaccountably bombastical Nonsense. And as taking as it is with most, we never heard of any that recommended him­self or his Friend, to the Favour of any Prince or Potentate by an Address of Oaths. Neither did we ever hear of any Council, in a Trial at Bar, that ever carried the Cause by Swearing to the purpose. Whatever the Lawyer may do in his Chambers, yet at Westminster-Hall he has the Manners, or at least the Prudence to bridle his Tongue from those exor­bitant Expressions. Thus have we taken a short ac­count of this Chop-Logick, this Swearing in Mood and Figure.

14. But to go on, there are not wanting such as declare without asking, the rass [...] Swearing to be Gentile and Fashi­onable. The Fourth Plea Re­futed. How fashionable they are I shall not here dispute, having reserved that for another place: But as to the Gentility of an Oath, I can see nothing in it that can deserve that peculiar Title. Is Swearing a mark of a Gentleman? Does that blazon his Honour so as all other Accomplish­ments without it signifie nothing? Certainly, if Blots are Ornaments, if Inverting be the Advan­cing of a Scutcheon, this Adorns and Advances it with a Witness. But alas! I doubt after all, such hectoring Oaths, would better become the Mouths of the Beau-Garcons and blustering Bullies of the Age, than any Inns of Court Gentleman whatsoe­ver: [Page 10] tho' I must needs say, they would sound bad enough from any. Be convinced then at last (de­luded Gentlemen!) of this your Folly, and think not that to be a badge of your Honour, which is the greatest stain of your Reputation. Besides, every Arrant Ass, Rake-kennel and Porter of the Town, may at this rate commence Gentleman, when they pl [...]ase, and rank themselves with the best. For I do not see but they Swear with as good an Ayr to the full, as the most accomplish'd Spark ever did. And every Footman and Valet de Chambre, Swears as much like a Lord, as his Master can ever pretend to.

15. And are not these excuses for the persevering in so horrid a Sin empty, idle, vain, and insipid? Such as a rational Man, guided only by the light of Nature, would blush to own as his, much less open­ly to stand out in them, against the more prevalent Arguments of Reason and Religion. So that it fol­lows, nothing but a notorious evil Custom can be pleaded as a Defence for those Profanations.

16. 'Tis Custom that has made this Plague so Epidemical. 'Tis that has infect­ed our Cities,The force of Custom considered and la­mented. and poisoned our Country Air too. So that where­ever you go, you may hear those Franticks vent out the sad Effects of their distem­pered Brains. Were it possible that any of our Pre­decessors could arise, and take a survey of these times, How would they bless themselves? And co­nclude a whole Legion of Devils were let loose to lead Mankind to such a degree of Madness, till the whole World were become at length, the Grand Bedlam for those Daemoniacks to reside in? For now (with Grief of Heart may it be spoken) Kings of the Earth, and all People, Princes, and all Judges of [Page 11] the Earth; Young Men and Maidens; Old Men and Children (in the Psalm 'tis Praise, but in our daily Practise 'tis) Curse, and Blaspheme the Name of the Lord. So Natural is this Wicked Custom grown, that the Infant learns to Swear as soon as ever he comes to understand his Mother-Tongue; and can lisp out an Oath or a Curse before he can speak plain.

17. This is likewise the present, sad, and lamen­table state of our poor distempered Island; and What, When, and How the Crisis of this Acute Disease it generally labours under will prove, and whether the Alteration will be for the better or for the worse is too hard for any Humane Observation. 'Thô 'tis to be feared a Cure without a Miracle is to be despaired of, it being reduced already to such a Lan­guishing as well as stupid Condition; which nothing but a sharp Remedy (some severe Judgment, or ano­ther) will be able to Reform and Restore to the full.

18. This indeed is a startling thought to any who are not as yet arrived to the full height of this Impiety, and whose unseared Minds retain some Sense and Re­morse.A Dehortation to leave off this Sin. I could wish with all my Soul, I could prevail only upon those to return from whence they are fallen, and suffer the fashionable Many to be damned by them­selves. For shall we be so strongly infatuated by our own Inclinations, and the Example of others, to renounce our God more heartily in our Practise, then ever we did the Devil in our Baptism? Shall so Abominable a Custom Tyrannize over the Reason and Religion of Men and Christians? Shall we follow a Multitude to do Evil, and run Headlong into Hell for Company? What if the Stream run strong that way, is it an Impossibility to bear [Page 12] up against it? No certainly, we see it possible to have many Righteous Lots even in our Sodom; and many who Bless, Praise, Magnifie and Extol the King of Glory amidst this Blasphemous and Profane Generation. Nor are there want­ing Motives to excite even the Worst (were they not Deficient to themselves) to a speedy Re­pentance.Motives for the for­saking the Sin of Pro­fane Swearing, &c. For let the Examples of the more Civilized Heathen shame us: Let the Conformity due to the Con­stitutions of this Kingdom in general, and to the present Government in particular Win us: Let the Obedience we owe to our Mother Church oblige us; and let the Ter­rours of the Lord in inflicting his Judgments Temporal, as well as Eternal, Constrain us to forsake our Evil Customs.

19. Let (I say) the Practise of the more Civilized Heathens shame us to leave off our so much plead­ed for and Customary Oaths.First Motive drawn from the Example of the Heathens. Whoever among them should upon any Trivial Ac­count invoke any of their Gods, were branded as Infamous persons: so highly were the very Daemons deified by those poor deluded Pagans. And at pre­sent we hear nothing of the Turks taking their great Prophet Mahomet's Name in Vain, or Blasphe­ming their Alcoran, or Reviling their Mufti; but whenever they have occasion to make mention of either, they do it with the greatest Adoration, and profoundest Respect imaginable. And shall the Lord Jehovah (a Name so Sacred that the very Jews thought it a Sin but to pronounce it) be so com­monly abused, affronted and defiled, by our unhal­lowed Lips? Shall Christians and a Reformed Nation [Page 13] too, engross this Sin of Profane Swearing so much to themselves, as to make it their own peculiar Vice?

20. Loyalty has been so Eleva­ted a Subject not long ago,Second Motive drawn from the Conformity due to English Govern­ment. that Men would oftentimes shipwrack a good Conscience, so they might appear but favourers of the Go­vernment they live in: But so far is the common Swearer from being a Loyalist, that he Acts in Con­tradiction to all the Modern Constitutions of the English Nation, and openly resists the unrepealed21 Jac. 1. cap. 20. continued 3. Car. 1. cap. 4. made perpetu­al. 16. Car. 1. c. 4. Statutes of the Land, made and provided in that Case. And let him boast of be­ing never so good and true a Sub­ject, it avails nothing since he defies the Laws, and by his practise Nulls those Institutes which are so strong in force against him. Neither is he a Friend to this Present Government (let his pretences be never so specious) since his Actions are Diametri­cally contrary to the Royal Will and Pleasure spe­cified at first by his Majesties Letter to the Bishop of London, which was ordered to be Communicated to the rest of the Clergy; and afterwards signified to the Civil Magistrate By the Queens most Gracious Message to the Justices of Middlesex; and Lastly, by a more forcing Proclamation, in which they Re­commended the suppressing Profane Swearing and Cursing; as the first and chiefest of those Offences which were accounted, more especially to hasten and bring down God's Judgments upon this Unfortu­nate Kingdom.

21 But, Thirdly, there are many of those Pro­fligate Wretches, who dare own themselves Church­men; [Page 14] and if they pretend to any Religion, it is the Reformed, Orthodox and Prote­stant Faith they are of:The third Motive drawn from the Obe­dience due to the Church. They ap­pear openly in our Congregations, and shew a bold Face in the most solemn of our Assemblies, and intrude into the most Sacred of our Ordinances the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. But let those Pro­faners of all that is good and sacred be assured, that the Church is not their Mother; that within her Bosom there are cherished no such Vipers, that her Sanctuary is no Asylum for such Vermine to have re­course to: For her Doctrine's drawn out of the Pure fountain of God's Word,Article 39. her Articles,Homily 7. her Homi­lies and her whole Constitutions are directly Opposite to the Pro­fane, and gives no manner of Encouragement for him to persevere in his Extravagancies. However the lewd World may esteem of things now, yet when the Last Day comes, no Question but the Church will say to those her Hangers on, I know you not, You would have none of my Counsel, but de­spised all my reproof, therefore Eat ye of the Fruit of your own way, and be filled with your own devices. If therefore any Man has any Zeal to stand up for her, and to promote her Cause, and to enlarge her Bor­ders; He cannot do it better than by a Sober and Conscientious Conversation to let his Communica­tion be Yea, Yea; and Nay, Nay.

22. Come we now to consider the last Motive,The fourth Motive drawn from the Judg­ments of God. which if all the rest fail, may prove strong e­nough to work upon the most [Page 15] obdurate and hardned Conscience, unless it be Judg­ment, Hell and Damnation-proof. Men may be so brazen faced, as not to blush at their being worse than Heathens; they may be so resractory, as not to be reduced by the strictest Humane Laws: They may be so unchristian and so unnatural as to chuse to be disowned by their Mother the Church, rather than part with their customary Vices: But I hope they are not so much in the power of Devil, as that the terrors of the Lord against such Offenders, both in this Life and in another, can make no im­pression upon them.

23. Let those Wretches be never so free from the Laws of the Kingdom, and the Censures of the Church,1. Judgments upon Swearers in this life. yet the Hand of the Lord will find them out, and even on this side the Grave, pay them home for their rash Oaths, and blasphemous Exe­crations. We have some, (tho' not many fresh) In­stances of God's signalizing his Vengeance on such horrid Criminals. For what was the reason of the small company of the Israelites, killing 100000 Ara­mites in one day, 1 Kings 20.20. If you consult Holy Writ, you will find it was for Blaspheming God. And what was the cause of Sennacherib's meeting with such an Unnatural and barbarous Death? Was it not the Blaspheming the Lord Jehovah both by his General Rabshekab, and by his own Hand-writing in a Letter he sent to Hezekiah? And doth not God in our times take the Sinner at his word, and cut him off in an Instant, with the damnable Execration in his Mouth? True it is, such Instances of God's im­mediate Vengeance in this World are very rare, and few examples of this nature are upon Record: But let us take a view of the impenitent Blasphemer [Page 16] lying upon his Death-bed in his last Agonies, and ready to give up his polluted Breath at his last gasp: Let us there examine him, what Fruitor Pro­fit he has in those things whereof he is now asha­med? Can you think his gentile Oaths, and accom­plished Execrations, will now do him any advantage in that Eternity, into which he is just ready to Launch. No, I am perswaded, you will hear him tell you an­other story, and if the Devil has not quite gagged his Conscience, you will hear him in the bitterness of his Soul, utter out this, or some such complaint. ‘Damned Caitif that I am! In what an unavoid­ably miserable condition am I involved? What a lamentable prospect of endless Wo have I now in my sight? What a horrible Scene is just ready to open and deliver me up to the devouring Flames?’ Ob cursed Tongue! ‘How hast thou been employed for thine own Ruine? Heaven thou canst not ap­peal to, for the power thereof thou hast often defied: God thou can'st not call upon, whose Name thou hast often and shamefully prophaned by thine unclean Lips: Oh Heavens! Drop down upon me, and crush me into nothing:’ Oh Moun­tains fall upon me, and cover me from the face of him that sitteth upon the Throne, and from the Wrath of the Lamb: Oh Earth! ‘Let thy Bowels gape, and hide me in thy dark Caverns. But alas! in vain do I vent my wishes to those who cannot, will not help me. Come then, ye Infernal Furies! and hurry my accursed Soul to its deserved Mansions. Come ye bewitching and infatuating Spirits, and take your cheap Bargain home to your fiery Habitati­ons.’ Thus raving and despairing, railing and curs­ing himself, he ends his abominable, odious, and sin­ful Life.

24. But if this is not melancholy enough to strike Horror into the Adamantine Heart,2. Eternal Judg­ments upon Swear­ers. yet let him his pro­spect beyond this and the Grave. For admit he may escape the thun­derbolts of Divine Wrath, tho' the Lightning may not devour him, nor the Arrows of the Lord take hold of him in this life: yet can he expect to escape the Judgment of God for ever? Shall not Hell be his Portion? and Eternall Misery his stipend for all his Blasphemies? Shall he not with Dives lift up his Eyes in Hell, being in Torments, and roar out in vain, for one drop of water to cool his inflamed Tongue; That Fire, that world of iniquity which de­lighted in venting out its Curses and Oaths here on Earth? Will not the punishment be adaequate and suitable to the Crime? And is it not fit that That Member suffer most, which was chiefly instrumental in plucking down the misery upon the whole? Consider this then ye that forget God, that forget your selves, and forgoe your own Interest, both Temporal and Eternal, for what vanishes like Smoke into empty Air: consider ye that Glory in your Shame, that Tri­umph in your wickedness, that Out-dare Heaven with your Impieties: Are you able with the Salamander, to live in Fire? Can you dwell in everlasting Burn­ings? Do you know what the Worm that never dies is? And can you tell what the Fire unquenchable means? If these things be not fictitious and imagi­nary if you are sensible that there is really a Heaven for the Good, and a Hell for the Bad; and are de­sirous to escape the one, and be blessed in the other: Leave off then pleading for your Vices and argue not the prevalency of any Temptation, or the strength of Custom for your persevering in your Impieties. [Page 18] Be no longer fond of your Disease, your Fetters, your Calamities: But shake off your shackles wherewith you have been so long confined, and break off your Sins by Repentance: Let that Mouth, which has Blasphemed, Blaspheme no more, but praise and mag­nifie the Name of the Lord for ever, for his Name only is excellent, and his Glory above the Earth and the Heaven.

25. And here I cannot but take notice of the madness of those, who seem to be fearful of taking God's Bles­sed Name in vain themselves,The guilt of such as Swear not themselves but delight to hear others Swear. and yet delight to hear others Swear, and Blaspheme. I blush to say that now-a days 'tis the Gusto of company, to have one prophane Wretch or other by his horrid Im­precations and unaccountable Oaths to move the rest to a fit of Laughter: And there's scarce any plea­sant Harmony in Society, without fearful sounding Execrations to fill up the Chorus. But know, Oh wretched Man whosoever thou art, that makest as it were a Conscience of not Swearing thy self; and yet takest pleasure in hearing others Blaspheme, that thou art under the same Condemnation. For they all shall be damned that have pleasure in unrighteous­ness. A bare Connivance and Misprision, (as I may so say) of this horrid High Treason against Hea­ven, is enough to make thee a Traitor; How much more then shall thy consenting to it in thy Will, and countenancing it openly by thy complacency therein, add to thy Guilt and Condemnation too? Hate not then thy Brother in thy Heart, by suffering and encouraging so great a Sin upon him; but correct and hinder it if thou canst: Or if 'tis out of thy [Page 19] Power to do that, yet be not of that Devillish So­ciety which makes that a matter of Sport, which should be the Cause of their greatest Humiliation; and Rejoyce, Triumph, and Laugh at that which makes the Damned in Hell shed Rivers of Tears.

26. I proceed to the last Spe­cies of Profaning God's Name,4ly, Perjury consider­ed, whether by Circum­vention, or by Subor­nation. viz. by that horrid Sin of Perjury. And now I could wish with all my Soul there were no reason to cry aloud and exclaim mightily against this Wick­edness. I could wish none were guilty of it but Rash Swearers, but we find that how much soever they may by a fatal Consequence slip into it, yet there are too many who do it out of design, and have their ends to serve therein. 'Tis too visible how common Circumventions and Over-reachings are; and those Ushered in too frequently with the solem­nity of an Oath: 'Tis a Mystery belonging to each Man's trade to be upon the sharp; and tho' they Lie and Aequivocate, Swear and Forswear them­selves, yet they are paid well enough they think, can they get but the least gains imaginable thereby: Nor is Profit the only Loadstone that draws men to the committing this great Impiety, but the Gratify­ing the humours of Malice and Revenge works upon them altogether as much. Hence do we often see Subornations and False-witnesses, sinister Tricks and unlawful Quibbles so much in use in those times. Can they but betray the Innocent to the severity of the Laws, retaliate an Injury, and expose the ob­ject of their hatred to the Censures of either church or State; can they but procure either Sequestration [Page 20] or Excommunication against him: how do they tri­umph and rejoyce in their inhuman Proceedings, and proudly boast of their Malicious success. But let such Impudent out-daring Knights of the Post know, that this stretching of their Faith and Con­sciences, tho' it has cast a Mist before the Inferiour Courts of Justice, yet they cannot corrupt the Righteous Judge of all the World, who will do right: He will unmask their false Evidences; Reverse the Decrees issued out against the Innocent, and fix the Judgment where it should be, upon the Perjurious Creatures head. He will laugh at their Calamity, and mock when their fear Cometh, when their fear cometh, as a desolation, and their Destruction, as a Whirle­wind. Prov. 1.26, 27.

27. So common is this Wick­edness,The Difficulty of per­suading men to leave this Sin of Perjury. and so advantageous is it grown to carry on Mens Trades and Designs, that 'tis almost mo­rally impossible to dissuade them from it. You will seem to do them the greatest Injury imaginable, should you be so impertinent to advise them to be men of their Words, to speak the truth in sincerity, and to be conscientious in their Calling. You would destroy the greatest Pillar of their Trade, take away the very support of their Merchandizing, should you go about to straitlace their Conscience (as they call it;) and keep them off from an Advantageous straining their Faiths, when occasion requires. The whole World are turned Sharpers, and shall we (say they) be so scrupulous, as to be afraid of u [...]ng the same Methods of advancing our Interest as is gene­nerally used? Fallere Fallentem non est Frans; To [Page 21] Deceive the Deceiver is too well known a Maxim, and too often practised by our Wicked Generation. But to reclaim if possible those vile Exorbitancies I shall offer two Motives drawn 1. from the Conside­ration of the very Nature of the Crime; and 2ly, also from the greatness of the Punishment subsequent on the Guilt.

28. Of what a Crimson Dye, and Scarlet Grain this Sin is in its own Nature will appear,First Motive to leave off this Sin, is drawn from the greatness of it in its own Nature. if we consider that the Offender in­curs the guilt of breaking the whole Law, and transgressing that general Duty he owes to God, his Neighbour, and Himself. 1. He of­fers the greatest affront possible to God, either in his ordinary Calling, or (in a more solemn manner) when called to a Court of Judicature, when he in­vokes the Father of Spirits, and a Being that cannot Lie to be a Witness to his untruth and Malicious Falshoods. 2. He commits a piece of Injustice a­gainst the whole Community of Mankind, as well as deceives, circumvents, or fasly accuses any Particu­lar person. He not only injures the Object of his Revenge, but perverts the Current, and turns the stream of the Laws of Nations; Blinds the Jury, Corrupts the Judge, puts the trick upon the whole Bench, and makes Justice stand as a Blank, or ra­ther as a Mask to cover his Knaves Face withall. 3. He is not his own Friend to be sure, for he not only exposes himself to the Penalties of Human Laws if his Rnavery should be found out, but imprecates upon himself all the Punishments and Curses which God usually inflicts upon the Wretch even in this [Page 22] Life, and which (without Repentance) will be his Portion in the next. And how great those Judg­ments are is next to be considered.

The Second Motive from the Greatness of the punishment which is either Human or Divine.29. So far is the Profligate Cri­minal from escaping punishment, that all the Laws, both Human and Divine, are ready to lay hold of him.

How strict our Constitutions are against this Impiety, if any one will consult5 Eliz. Cap. 9. Made perpetual. 29. Eliz. Cap. 5. those Statutes made, and Provided in this case, will be manifest. The Heathen when willing to ex­press a Religious Man, would Title him only [...] a Man of his Word: And when they descri­bed a Wicked Man, did think him fully delineated when they called him [...] Perjurious. No milder a Brand does the Wretch receive from the Law ac­cording to our general Acceptation of the thing: For besides Fines, Imprisonments and the Pillory; he has as Ignominious a Character as a Heretick or Infidel; being as uncapable as them of bearing any Office, of assisting at any honourable Court, or gi­ving his Evidence in any Cause.

30. But admit he may escape undiscerned by Mortal Eyes,Gods Judgments upon the Perjurious in this Life. or if found out, that he is so hard­ned in his Impiety that th [...] [...]asest stigma cannot shame him; that Fines and Penalties, that the Prison and Pillory cannot startle him to his Amendment; yet I trust he is not so past Cure that [Page 23] the Judgments of the Lord cannot prevail upon him. And herein God glorifies and signalizes his Justice in a Wonderful Manner: He doth not, will not hold them Guiltless that take his Name in Vain. He pays them home in their own Coyn (as the Common expression is) even in this Life. Instances of this truth there are enough even within the Compass of a short re­view; and there is no need to run over any other Annals but our own Experience and knowledge for satisfaction in this point. How many (I will forbear mentioning particular Names) have there been, whom God's hand has smitten in a more immediate manner, punishing the Offence in the very Moment of its Commission? How many dreadful spectacles have there been of those whom Divine Vengeance has not hurried away, but left according to their Wishes standing Monuments of his Justice, to die by a fearful and lingring Disease, by some plague or another which has consumed them as it were piece­meal? How many others are there who carry in their own Breasts their Hell upon Earth? And on those I cannot forbear bestowing a Melancholy thought or two, and Commiserate their most mi­serable Condition. Whatsoever the Heathens might relate of the Perjured's being visited by the Furies every fifth day, [...]. according to that of Hesiod: What­ever Poets feign of Prome­theus Vultur or Ixions Wheel are even on this side the Stygian Lake verified with a Witness. These poor Wretches are lashed with the Twinges of a self ac­cusing Conscience, whose strokes are more piercing then all the snaky Whips and pointed Scorpions [Page 24] are: This Worm gnaws with a greater Appetite, and makes a Deeper Impression in the Sinners Bosom, then the Devouring Fowl could ever upon the others Bowels: And the continual round of endless Despair leaves him in such a Labyrinth, that every step he advances towards the Ridding himself out of it, in­tricates him the more therein. Nor does the punish­ment always terminate in the Person, but his Poste­rity more or less feel the sad Effects of their Prede­cessors perfidiousness. This is too Visible to need any farther Illustration, saving from the Example of that Great Man who entailed a Curse to his Fa­mily for the non-performance of a Thing he had engaged himself by an Oath to have done. He was (I presume) more a Christian then that we should doubt of his not repenting of the thing him­self; yet the Misfortunes of his Posterity loudly pro­claim the Almighties Displeasure at that Offence.

31. Thus far of the Miseries incident to the perjurious in this Life,God's Judgments up­on the Perjured in a­nother Life. but what will his Portion be in that Lake of Fire and Brim­stone I am struck with horror at the very thoughts thereof. Methinks I see him ranked there with the most Black, Infernal Devils; howling and shrieking through the very anguish of his Spirits. There is he Convinced, tho' too late, of God's Justice to­wards such profane Wretches: There he is Sensible how damnable a false Heart, a double Tongue, and unhallowed Lips are: There he would wish those torments were but Notion, and the Fire were but Painted, and the flames but Visionary, (as he often has thought while on Earth) but to his Cost he finds the Reality [Page 25] of them, and will for ever acknowledge the Eternity of them too. In that Prison, that Dungeon of Ever­lasting misery, he has a full view of the Black Ka­lendar of Criminals, and sees the Catalogue of of­fences (of which Profane Swearing and Cursing, Blasphemy and Perjury are not the Last nor least) not with Repenting, but eternally despairing Eyes.

32. And are not these thoughts terrible enough in all Conscience to melt down the most Adamantine Heart? Can it be imagined that men are so flinty and Obdurate, as that neither a Sense of their Guilt, nor an Esteem they may have for their Reputation, nor the fear of Human punishments, much more of God's Temporal and Eternal Judgments can win upon them to repent of their Evil ways? He is certainly pos­sessed with a stupidity beyond that of Lethargy, who can live and forswear himself with Hell Flames a­bout his Ears, notwithstanding the insupportable Wrath of a justly incensed and provoked Judge is ready to seize him, and hale him before the Judg­ment Seat of that strict Tribunal, who will leave no Sin unpunished, tho' never so much palliated and glossed over with the thin Varnish of weak human Excuses and Evasions. Repent then oh Man who­soever thou art! and perjure thy self no more: Let the time past suffice that thou hast broken thy Vows and Promises, and for the future make thy Vows unto the Lord of an Amendment of thy Life, and be sure to see them performed.

Of Drunkenness. CHAP. II.

The Origine of this Sin traced: How, and wherein [...] Difficulty of exactly defining it consists. Drunkenn [...] described by its Effects, and the reasonableness such a Description considered in four Particula [...] The false Ends of Drinking Answered. A Deb [...] tation drawn from the Effects of this Sin, which [...] 1. The Breach of that Duty we owe to God, our Neig [...] bour and our selves. 2. The advancing Satans Kin [...] dom thereby. 3. The cause of many other Sins: A [...] 4. The making us Obnoxious to the Woes in Holy W [...] denounced against such offenders. The Difficulty becoming Sober, and the safety of doing it beti [...] fully considered.

The Sin of Drunken­ness traced from the Origine of it down to our times.1. COme we now in the ne [...] place to take a view [...] that generally prevailing Vice [...] Intemperance in Drinking: T [...] Origine of which Brutal Immorality we can Tra [...] from beyond the Flood. For it is upon Record, th [...] in the Days of Noah when the Floods came and destroyed the Earth, they were Eating and Drinking and giving in Marriage: Which words cannot b [...] thought literally to signifie the bare Acts of Eatin [...] and Drinking, &c. but the Extravagant Use and th [...] Abuse of God's Creatures, by perverting them from [Page 27] their proper, genuine, and natural End to Excess [...]d Luxury. Nor was the Universal Deluge of force [...]ough to purge away the Corruptions of those [...]uilts, with which the old Debauched World had [...]ained, polluted, and poisoned the then Inhabited [...]arth: For we find Noah, tho' a good Man and a [...]reacher of Righteousness, accidentally overtaken [...]ith the Effects of an unacquainted intoxicating Li­ [...]uor, which not only Exposed his Nakedness to the [...]iew of an Unnatural Ham, but gave occasion for [...]ch of his Posterity, as followed the steps of an ac­ [...]ursed Canaan to improve their Fathers weakness [...]nd Infirmity to a Sin and Trade.

2. Hence was it that we hear of the Bacchanalian [...]rews, whose Looseness and Extravagancy in Drink­ [...]ng intitled them the Votaries of that swinish Deity. But yet the allowed Intemperance in excessive Drinking among the Heathens, was only to be [...]een among the more Licentious Admirers of Bacchus, whilst the more Sober and Considerative [...]ere perfect Abhorrers of, and Enemies to such Ri­ots and Enormities. That Universal Sin of Drunken­ness has but of late years crept into the Christian Church, and but very lately dared to shew its head openly in the World, for those that were Drunken, as the Apostle testifies, were drunken in the Night, 1 Thes. 5.7. But now all Vices in general, as well as that in particular, have lost their former Modesty; and nothing more Common then to hear the Wretch glory in his shame: as if it were a piece of his Prow­ess to be mighty to Drink Wine, and of strength to mingle strong Drink. How incredibly this notable Trade of high-Drinking has been improved within these few years, since the Importation of Wines [Page 28] and Other Foreign Liquors has been the Staple Mer­chandize of the Nation; is too apparent. Old King Edgar's temperate wooden Cups and moderating Pins that were stuck into them for marks,Sp. Chron. are now quite forgotten, and now there must be no limitation, no restraint in a Bumper. It has been (I am glad there is little reason to say it is now) a necessary Adjunct for a Loyalist to be a great Drinker; Carousing and taking off full Glasses, giving great supplies to that spungy Branch of the Royal Revenue of Excize; the which is heartily to be wished were exchanged for a more Honourable Subsidy: and especially, since the main Objection against the sup­pressing such Beastly Immoralities is so prevalent upon that account.

3. But tho' this Brutal Contagion is so Univer­sal, and all Ages, Sexes, and De­grees are more or less infected therewrth;Drunkenness, what it is, very difficult to define. yet 'tis one of the most difficult things in the world to define exactly what Drunkenness is, and when Men may be said to be guilty thereof. There are so many tricks and evasions used by the Offenders, to wipe off such a scandalous disreputation from them, that unless we can meet with Instances of Dead Drunk Sots, they will make us believe that we fall short of convicting any person of the Offence. Tho' of late days there are not wanting too many Instances of this kind, no­thing being more common than to find the Epicu­raecan at the Devil, drowning his Cares for the World, as well as his concern for Eternal Welfare in some plentiful and luxurious Debauch; and having setled his Brains with the intoxcating Glass to see him in [Page 29] a reeling March retire to his Lodgings, where he, like his fellow Brutes, lays himself down on his care­less Pillow, and rises in the Morning with the like unconcernedness upon him, as before.

4. Upon the account of Mens different Constitu­tions (some being more able to bear a Gallon than others are a Quart) and the different occasi­ons of the same Man at one time more than another,Wherein the difficul­ty consists. and the like, arises the difficulty of prescribing such and such a quantity of Drink, beyond which is excess. But thus have most declared, that to drink more than to satisfie our Thirst (of which our Nature, not our Appetite should be Judge): To exceed the bounds of exhilaration and cheating up the fainting Spirits when occasion requires either: and to trans­gress the end, for which this action of Drinking was first ordained, viz. The preservation of Health, is such a degree of Intemperance, as falls under the notion of a Sin; and which must be seriously repent­ed of. And the reason that the least degree of In­mmoderate Drinking is a crime, is (I humbly con­ceive) because of the Prolifick Nature of the Sin, which is too apt, having fled out past the Barriers of Moderation not to stop there, but headlong to be carried on to the very worst Extremes. There are, as I may so say, such secret Inchantments in the bewitch­ing Wine, that when Circes has got but the oppor­tunity of giving Man a Taste; tho' at first he may suck in the Philtrated Potion with caution, yet he cannot forbear returning so often to the Trough, till at last he is transformed into as natural a Swine as any Hog of them all, and can tumble in his Mire with the same delight as others of the same species, and wash himself with the rest, and return with them to wallow again.

5. It is no hard matter for Men, if they would deal ingenuously with themselves,Drunkenness descri­bed by its Effects, and the reasonableness of such a description con­sidered in some par­ticulars. to know when they are guilty or not of transgressing the bounds of Prudence and Moderation: but Confess and be Hang'd is so nigh their Thoughts, that they had rather sooth themselves up with a supposed In­nocence, than fall foul upon and censure their dear­ly beloved Selves. But yet so far one may venture to convict another of Intemperance in Drinking, as the Effects consequent thereon shall be more or less sinful. That this is the exactest measure, and most reasonable method for the rightly apprehend­ing the different degrees of this Vice is past dispute, if we consider it in some Instances.

6. As first, if a Man of a cholerick Constitution, inclinable to Passion, and prone to take occasion to be angry; apt to kindle into a flame at every acci­dental spark,The first particular considered. and obnoxious to prosecute his Revenge with the utmost malice; but in his sober Mood is careful to curb the violence of his Passi­ons, and to watch against the prevalency of Temp­tations; if such a Man, I say, shall upon Drinking and Carowsing, give the Reins to his Masterless exorbi­tancies, and fly out into unwarrantable fury; if he shall fling or throw about him, beat and abuse all he meets, Curse and Blaspheme Heaven, Rail against his fellow Creatures, and play the frantick hectoring Mad­man; He may then be said, let the quantity be little or much, to have drunk too deep, and consequently to be guilty of Excess, and in the sense of the Law may be punish'd for Tipling, tho' not Drunkenness.

7. On the other hand, if one of a meek and plea­sant dsposition,The Second Paricu­lar considered. very gentle and easie to be intreated; Or a sweet affable and courteous behaviour; hard to be provoked, one that does pass by Injuries, and the like; shall upon his taking a Glass or two too much, find himself transformed and carried be­yond his former Self, to commit any thing impru­dently, rashly or passionately, which at another time he would have been ashamed to have done: if he shall perceive himself Testy, censorious or Quarrel­some, he may then conclude he has drank too much, and need not be offended if another should say so too.

8. Again, if a Man of a Sanguine Complexion, propense enough to Acts of Un­cleanness and Sensuality,A Third Particular considered. apt to indulge himselfe in the pleasures of the Sixth Sense, and forward enough to give himself up to all manner of Lust (even when he has his Wits, Reason, and Judgment about him, which are little enough to restrain his Debaucheries): If I say such a Man shall add Fuel to his Fire, and Oil to the Flames by rich and strong Wines: If he shall then (having Hood-winked his Reason, blinded his Judgment, and bid adieu to all Modesty) be be­yond all measure carried out to satisfie his Youth­ful Desires by unchaste Embraces, and quench his scorching Heats at the next (tho' never so impure) a stream: Be induced to defile his Neighbors Bed, to commit Incest, or deflour Virgins; none need question whether he is guilty of excessive Drinking [Page 32] or no, tho' perhaps he may not see the Beast so far intoxicated, as to be unable to move Hand or Foot, or to keep himself from tumbling in his own filth.

9. On the other side, If one of more chaste Thoughts, very watchful over his Words,A Fourth Particu­lar considered. more careful over his Actions; diligent to suppress the very first Motion to Impurity, and sedulous on all oc­casions to avoid the Snares and Baits, laid to entrap and seduce heedless Youth; Shall accidentally take a Cup more than usual, and thereby perceive his former Modesty to vanish: Be induced to talk loose­ly or obscenely, moved to wanton and lascivious Actions, and inflamed to Concupiscence and inor­dinate Desires: He may then assuredly judge him­self to be overtaken in a great degree of Intempe­rance, tho' the quantity he drank, exceed but a ve­ry little his usual allowance.

10. In a word, when ever a Man has so far un­manned himself by Drink (be the quantity more or less) so as to act, speak or think otherwise, than he would have done, said or thought at any other time when he had his Intelligent and Volent Faculties of his Soul free about him, he may then be said to be Intemperate, so as to need Repentance. For it is the many sinful Actions consequent upon the Sin, which makes it to be more or less sinful; A Com­plication of Crimes, being far more Offensive to the Supreme Being, than one single Act, tho' never so maliciously designed, can be thought to be. Thus He, who is dead Drunk and deprived of all Sense and Motion, and so rendred uncapable of doing [Page 33] any other mischief than what he has done to him­self, may be said to be guilty of a less Offence than that Man who having not perhaps drank halfe the quantity, adds to his Sin of Intemperance, that of Anger, Rage and Fury. So likewise there are de­crees of those mad Drunkards; and he who throws the Glasses over his Head, dashes the Bottles in pie­ces, and pays for those his Extravagancies, is more excusable, than those who in their Frolicks break Windows, Bilk Coaches, Fight the Watch, and fall foul upon all they meet; Nor are these last so hai­nous as those who proceed to Murder, Rape and Incontinence: Nor are they again (tho' arrived to the highest Branch of Wickedness) so bad as that Inhumane, Unnatural, and Unparalell'd Mon­ster, who to gratifie the Devil for some piece or service done, was in complaisance to the Infernal Desire over-taken with Drink, and in that Brutal condition Murdered his Father, and committed In­cest upon his Mother, the very Thoughts whereof he in his sober Fit rejected, abhorred and abomi­nated.

11. And now, from what I have already said up­on this Subject, I might take occasion to answer those false ends of Drinking alledged by the Intemperate as a palliation for the Offence. Some of them theSun. 8. s. 3, 4, &c. to the 10th. Author of the Whole Duty of Man has already mentioned such as are [1. Good-Fellowship: (2.) Preserving of Kindness: (3) Cheering of Spirits: (4) Putting away Cares, (5) Passing away time: (6) Preventing Reproach: (7) Pleasure of the Drink: (8) Bargaining.] con­futed long ago: And therefore I shall say nothing [Page 34] after so ingenious a Pen, but confine my self to speak only of those which he did not take notice of, either as such whereof no mention was made in his time; or such as he thought thin, Fu­tile, and not worthy to be answered by the Judici­ous, which would fall to nothing of themselves.

12. I wave saying any thing in Refutation of the Gentility of this Sin; and forbear a needless dispute with those who maintain Drunkenness as a neces­sary Accomplishment of a Gentleman: Since if the very sound of the Word, if the brutal Nature of the Vice are not of force enough to make the Spark ashamed, yet when I have exposed it naked, I que­stion not, but if he has any Generosity in his Heart, or Modesty in his Countenance, he cannot without blushing assert, That High-Drinking is a mark of his Breeding. I shall therefore only answer the Obje­ctions which are usually made by the Wits, the Worldlings, and the Hectoring Bravoes of the Age.

13. Nothing more usual than to hear the first sort cry out in some such Lan­guage as this:1. The Objection made be the VVits of our Times. ‘Dull Fool! Leave off thy Lessons of severe Morality, and impracticable Temperance, Go Preach to Monks and Ancho­rites, to Old Men and Children, of Sobriety and the excellent Qualities of Small Beer and Water. We know better things, and are not to be put up­on by thy insipid Cant. Experientia docet, we are experienced Blades, and can tell thee no Wit, no Learning, no Parts, no Ingenuity like to that which Impregnating, Exalting, Elevating Wine gives Life and vigour to. Where did'st hear of [Page 35] a Poet worth the hanging, unless he had first dip'd himself over head and Ears in Aganippes Fountain, and got the smack of the Bottle so, as to return often to recruit his Flagged Fancy with Nectar and Ambrosia? Did'st ever read of any that arri­ved to Parnassus's Top without the Cordial of He­licon to support and transport his Spirits in the Elevation? The Noble strains and Losty Flights, the curious Vein and pregnant Fancy, the plea­sant, facetious Air, and all the sacred Raptures of a Poet, are all owing to the Influence of the great God of Wine: For we pay our Adoration to him first in full Glasses, and he returns the Duty again in assisting our Genius, and sharpening our Con­ceptions.’

14. To all which I answer,The Objection an­swered. that this method of Drunken Versifying is certainly what most of the Wits of the present Age make use of to ren­der themselves and their Writings infamously fa­mous to these times and Posterity. And hence it is that we see so many Obscene, and Offensive Brats of Poetry ever and anon peep out into the World; which in former days would never have born the light. But these vile Dithyrambicks, the Product of Inebriated Brains are fitter to be Dedicated to Pria­pus, Bacchus, or any other Bawdy Drunken Deity, then to be offered at the shrine of the more Chast and Temperate Apollo. It seems very unreasonable to think that Intemperance which dulls and he be­tares should quicken & inspire the Fancy; that what too often clouds, should inlighten the Understanding; that the very thing which drowns should heighten our Conceptions. But admit those Absurdities, yet these [Page 36] kinds of Whettings will quickly Wear the Edge to the Back, quickly destroy the Reason tho' not the Man, and convert all his high Raptures intoN. L. an In­stance of this. Frenzy and De­lirium. I know not who are Law­reats now, nor what Qualificati­ons are requisite to make one such: But (believe me) they are not worthy of that Divine Name of Poet, if they are so ill-stocked that they are forced to take up supplies from the very dregs of a Nasty gut full of Wine. I cannot, will not but own that the famous Ingenioso's of past times have highly ap­plauded the Virtues of Wine, and declared the No­ble Effects it has had in clearing their apprehensi­on, and refining the Spirits: but then, 'tis not (I presume) produced by those Empyreumatick Fumes which our Modern Poetical Chymists draw off by praecipitant, hasty, burning and surfeiting Excess; but the nobler Extracts of Temperance all Sobrie­ty drawed gently off in a Moderate Balneo Maria. And he that was an Ingenious was a Sober Man too, tho' now 'tis so contrary, that if you describe a Poet, you must add Vine Leaves to his Lawrel, put other Colours into the Mixture, and delineate him a Sot at the same time.

15. The second sort are such whose Plea commonly runs in some such strain as this.2ly, The Objection made by the Worldly Wise. ‘Is no Excess at all to be allowed? Why, then farewel all Opportunities for Trade and Commerce; Farewel Law and Physick too. As there is no better Vinculum Societatis, so there is no greater Support to maintain the Mechanick [Page 37] Practick Part of the Republick, then the Innocent cracking a Pot, and smoaking a Pipe together. We may traverse the Streets, walk round and round the Change, make frequent Visits to West­minster-Hall, and stare in every Face we meet, but return home like Fools as we went, never a Custo­mer never a Client the more, and never a Far­thing the heavier in our Pockets: But spend we an hour or so in a Tavern or Alehouse, over the drinking of a harmless Glass or two with an Ho­nest Friend or so, we insinuate so prettily into each others Acquaintance, that immediately, as the Glass so out several Vocations go round: And by mutual Loving Healths we furnish each others needs, and get more by the Company at one sit­ting, than we spend in it for half a Year.’

16.The second Objection answered. This is a pleasant Ac­count of the success of Sir John Barley; a plea too common in the Mouths of many who think themselves very wise notwithstanding. 'Tis too true, this strata­gem of managing business in Publick Houses, is what the Evil one has very subtily insinuated as a means to carry on his own designs; and this is the method Men take now a days to increase their Trade and gain Customers. But let me tell them (under the Role) 'tis a Knavish, sly and ignoble way of Mer­chandizing. If a Glass or two were all, as they pre­tend, there were little harm done: but when they are in for it, they seldom come off without a sound Wetting. There's no gain to be had by playing up­on the Square, 'tis safest drinking a Man down and then pick his Pocket after. Were he in his right [Page 38] Wits they know he would not have been imposed upon so, but 'tis no hard matter to cheat him to his Face when his Senses are Sophisticated and Lost. So in like manner as to the Law, 'tis a Contradi­ction (I should think were it not so Customary) for a Man to gain Practise by being a great Drinker; I know not what his addle Brains might do in winning upon Coxcombs of the same Kidney, but I believe a Considerative Man would be far from making him of his Councell, lest the sight of the Brief the next Morning might confound his Ad­dlepate, which was so deeply Soused in Claret or Nottingham the foregoing Night; and make his gid­dy Head run Counter in the Cause, rather then speak any whit to the purpose. The same might be said (Mutatis Mutandis) of sottish and inconsiderate Sollicitors and Attorneys, who marr their Clients Cause more by far than all the Exceptions, Bills of Errour, Demurrers, and reversing of Decrees could do. So likewise in Physick, what Man would be so mad in his sober Senses to make him his Physitian, who helped him to the Distemper by joyning with him in the Debauch? Certainly he must needs be very Extravagant of both, who will prostitute his Life to the Discretion of one that perhaps was the Principal Cause of Vitiating his Health not long be­fore. For my part I should be afraid lest he who before was for my Excess in Sack, might be as much (un­advisedly if not wittingly) Immoderate in admi­nistring his Cordials, and so make it his pleasure to send me as merrily out of the World, as before he had seen me Reel out of a Tavern.

17. Advance we now in the next place to consider the third and last sort of Men I shall here have occasion to take notice of,3. The Objections made by the Hectors of the Age. as palliating the Crime of Intemperance by a false Gloss and a thin transparent Varnish which instead of hiding, exposes the Monster in worse, tho' more natu­ral and proper Colours. ‘Is all Excess (may some say) forbidden? Is Drunkenness in all its Species and Degrees. Unlawful? What then shall those poor Souls do, who venture their Lives and For­tunes for their King and Country? 'Tis well known nothing Encourages and Enspirits them more than a dram or two of the Bottle. The Life of a Soldier is in his Mornings draught: Who is able to endure the hard Marches, wet Trenches, and the continual Fatigues of a Campaign, that is not well warmed within? What Man of a thousand would stand out a Field Battle who had not drank largely before? For none fight stouter and stand longer the brunt of the Battle then the half-drunk Cavalier.’

18. To all which I Answer,The third Objection Answered. that if any Excess was warranta­ble, it would be doubtless in this; but Man, that boundless headstrong Creature, having passed the limits of Reason and Moderation knows not (as I hinted before) where nor when to stop. Hence we perceive the mad Disorders and Mismana­gements even of most disciplin'd Armies in an Engage­ment commonly to arise, which perhaps at a general Rendezvous were as well ranged as the best; but Drunkenness being the Preparative to the Battle [Page 40] put all out of Frame, makes the Soldier giddy and hot, spurs him to rash and mad Attempts, and engages his Intoxicated Headpiece in such dangers, which none but his Hair-brain'd self would run into. In this Confusion Right and Left are both alike; to your Leader, and all such useful words of Command are of no Effect; and helter skelter every Man is his own Officer. From this disorder in the Camp was it that Benhadad and his Army of Syrians were defeated by a band of Young Israe­lites:Plutarch. from this it was that the Gauls who Besieged the Roman Capitol were by Camillus put to the Sword. And, be­lieve me, 'tis a sad Circumstance to die in such a Con­dition for let them harbour never such good hopes of being saved if they can but cry, the Lord have mercy upon my Soul, 'tis too common the last breath they draw is with a G—damme in their Mouths. But admit the Wretches be Victors in the Field, and become Masters of Bag and Baggage too, yet in this hot Blood what Barbarities will they not commit? What Outrages will they not offer? They'll put all to the Sword, deflour Virgins, abuse Widows, depopulate Cities, and burn down Pala­ces; and the Officers Charge is no more regarded after, than it was before the Victory. That this is true, which I here assert, is Evident from those who have already been abroad and are here and there Quartered and Garison'd amongst us: When the Liquor is in, what Regard have they to Civil or Military, to Canon or Common Law? They a­buse all they meet, and if they can fasten upon none else, like Savages in their drunken fits they fall foul upon each other. But how degenerate is [Page 41] this Valour from the true Conduct and Valour [...]hich a sober Consideration of the justness of their [...]ause did formerly beget? The ancient Fulminant [...]egions which gained the Roman Generals so many [...]onquests were of another Make, and vanquished [...]eir Barbarian Enemies not by being Pot-Valiant, [...]ut by their Prayers, which the being in a drunken [...]audlin Humour, is a very ill Circumstance to per­ [...]rm.

19. Thus have I done considering the Ends which [...]re falsly assigned for Drinking; to wind up all and [...]raw towards a Conclusion, Let [...]e Exhort all to the Necessary [...]uty of Temperance,A Dehortation to fly the Odious sin of Drunkenness, drawn from the ill Effects thereof. and Dis­ [...]ade them from the odious Sin [...]f Drunkenness: which can be [...]one no better then by consi­ [...]ering the dismal Effects it produces. The Princi­ [...]al of which will appear by considering First, How [...]ar it makes a Breach of that Duty, we owe to God, [...]ur Neighbours, and our selves: Secondly, How much [...]e advance Satans Kingdom thereby. Thirdly, How [...]navoidably we incur the falling into divers other Sins: And Lastly, the Woes against Intemperance mentioned and denounced in the plain and revealed Word of God.

20. As to the first of these, it has that dismal Effect to make us Guilty of breaking the whole Law.The first ill Effect is the Breach of the whole Law. Hence has one ingeniously observed, that there was no reason for God to for­bid it in any Particular precept of the Decalogue, since in Effect it was the violation of both Tables— [Page 42] For hereby first we offend G [...] the Father in the Extravagant [...] and abuse of those Creatures [...] has ordained to be received wi [...] Moderation and Thanksgiving:Drunkenness is the Violation of our Duty toward God. We affront God t [...] Son by perverting the end for which he came in [...] the World, which was that the Grace of God reveal [...] by him in his Gospel might through him bring Salvatio [...] and appear unto all Men, that denying all Ʋngodlines [...] and Wordly Lusts they might live Soberly (as well a [...] Righteously and Godly in this World. Tit. 2.11, 1 [...] We provoke God the Holy Ghost to forsake these o [...] Intemperate Bodies as filthy Habitations, and t [...] seek out for more wholesome and cleanly Mansions [...] we defile his Temple, and Eject him by our Imp [...] ­rities, and quench his Motions by our Sensualities In a Word, we injure the whole Trinity, by walk­ing contrary to those Rules of Temperance and Sobriety, which are implanted in our Natures by the mere light of Reason; or taught us by the writ­ten and revealed Word of God; By defacing th [...] Image of the Deity, and putting out that Light o [...] a Reasonable Soul, which the Divine Rays ha [...] kindled within us; by transforming our Godlike Nature and Ʋpright Forms into the Shape and De­formities of Downright Brutes.

Drunkenness the breach of our Duty to our Neighbours.Nor are we less Guilty of the Breach of our Duty to our Neigh­bours, whether it relate to the Publick Good of Communities or the Private Welfare of Families;Drunken Magistrates no Friends to the Pub­lick. to the Acts of Justice or those of Charity. He cannot be look'd [Page 43] upon as a Friend to the Publick, whether we consi­der him as a Magistrate, or as a Subject thereof. If a Magistrate, what more common than to have the Laws perverted, our Courts of Judicature turned Revengers of private Animosities, and the like? Hence is it that so many partial Hearings, and prae­ter-judicious Proceedings have been not long since in our Courts of Justice, whilst the intoxicated Gentle­man of the Long Robe has taken upon him to give his Verdict from what he has heard of the Begin­ning and end of the Cause, without any regard to the substance of the Pleading which he has fairly slept away: Hence it is (from Epicurean Ministers of Justice I mean) that the Orphan, the Poor and the Widow are put by their Right; Hence it is that a Land mourns, and the Publick Grievances of any Nation do arise. This makes the Wise Man so pa­thetically to urge; It is not for Kings, O Lemuel, it is not for Kings to drink Wine, nor for Princes strong drink, lest they drink and forget the Law, and pervert the Judgment of any of the Afflicted, Prov. 31.4, 5. From this Consideration was it, that in the famous Cities of Lacedemon, Crete and Carthage Wine was totally forbidden to Magi­strates;Alex ab Alex. and whoever came into their Senate-House over-charged with Excess, were turned out and degraded from that Dignity with Ignominy and Reproach: And from this was it that the Prudential Solon made it a Law at Athens, That Drunkenness in one bearing Authority should be punished with Death. It were to be wished some such Law were made in another Constitution, and then there would not be want­ing such Magistrates as would punish the Excess [Page 44] in an Inferior, having no such thing as a Consci­ousness of being guilty of the same to put them out of Countenance, or to check the Proceeding. Nor can the Drunken Subject be said to be a Friend to any, much less to our English Constitution; since besides the Riots and Routs, the many Immoralities and Tumults he is commonly the Author of,The Drunken Sub­ject an Enemy to the Publick. he violates and acts in down-right Contradiction to the several4 Jac. 1. Cap. 5. 21 Jac. 1. Cap. 7. Statutes of the Realm, in that Case made and Provided. And by the way he is a profound Loyalist, who shall, un­der a pretence to inhance the Royal Income, make bold to affront the Law by the manifest and notori­ous breach thereof. But look we at home and be­hold the intemperate Wretch in his own Family, and we shall find him a Tyranni­cal Master,A Drunkard an Enemy to his own House. an Unnatural Father, as well as an abusive Husband: He is so far from being a Friend to his own House, that he is the greatest Enemy it has. For waving those many unmanly Actions he is guilty of there, to wit, his beating and kicking his Ser­vants, his Unrelenting and Unconcernedness at his Childrens Cries, the intolerable Heart-breakings he gives to the pensive Wife of his Bosom, and the like, He undermines and ruines his own Walls by his extravagant Expences; and brings himself and His to Poverty and Rags. For has he a pl [...]ntiful Estate descended from frugal Ancestors, 'tis no won­der to hear he lives beyond it; and by his frequent prodigal Excesses to run it into such Incumbrances, and Drown it with so many Mortgages, that the [Page 45] next Heir is seldom the better for it: But if he is one of an inferior capacity, how usual is it to have the indi­gent Wife and Children feed upon Bread and Wa­ter; and turned over at last to be a Charge to the Parish, which might have been prevented, had the thrifty Husband gone less to the Alehouse or Ta­vern. Neither in the last place can the Drunkard be said to be his own Friend, for thereby he injures both his Baser and his Nobler Self, separately and conjunctly too. He injures his Body by the many manifest Mor­tal distempers which Excess and Surfeitings naturally produce:The Drunkard a Self-hater, injuring his Body and Soul sepa­rately and conjunctly. and tho' his Constitution may be never so strong, yet insensibly it impairs his Vitals by degrees, and at length destroys his whole Frame. The Body feels immediate discomposures at the very time of the debauch, as is evident from the gripes and vomitings, the yawning and reachings, the gid­diness of the Head, and the Rawness of the Stomach which attend it: But manifold are the Maladies that follow a long contracted course of irregular, intem­perate Drinking. Of all the Diseases we find in our Weekly Bills of Mortality, none swell the number of the Deceased more than those occasioned by Luxu­ry and Excess. 'Tis Intemperance shortens our days, and cuts the Thread before it be spun out to half the length of our long-lived Fathers: and from thence our youth are cropt in the flower of their Age, hurried away oftimes in the midst of a Debauch, and like Lamps, are extinguished before they are half spent, by reason of the superfluous Humors poured in, which drown that which maintains the vital Flame.

And as he endangers the Destruction of his Body, by indulging the Transient pleasure of Taste, so by his continual Swinish Immoralities, he degrades that Noble Heaven-born Being, his Immortal Soul I mean; The Intellectual, as well as the Animal Faculties where­of are hereby clouded: The Understanding, the Will, the Affections whereof are corrupted and de­praved, infatuated and insnared. Nor are these Considerations of such moment, as that in the last place he injures both Soul and Body Conjunctly, in ma­king them obnoxious to Hell flames: For the Apo­stle assures us among the rest of the Damning Sins, that neither shall Drunkards inherit the Kingdom of God, 1 Cor, 6.10. And where else their Inheritance will be, is no hard matter for those to guess, who know no Medium, no Purgatory between Heaven and Hell: which is a sad Thought, that for the fulfilling of one Lust, and the gratifying one Sense, Men should ha­zard the irrecoverable Loss of their Immortal Souls. I know not what they think that are guilty of this Impiety, but 'tis a startling Consideration to any sober Man, that the Wine they are thus enamoured with, should cost them so dear, not only the expence of their Estates and Time, the decay and overthrow of whole Families, the impairing and debilitating their Bodies, but also what is the greatest Expence, viz. The price of an Immortal Soul.

21. But to stir up Men, if possible, to their Wits and Senses, let them consider in the next place,The Second ill effect of I [...]n de [...]ate drink­ing, is the ad [...]n [...]g of S [...]tans Kingdom thereby. whose Friends and Servants they have hitherto been. They are of their Father the Devil and his Works, not their own do they execute; they [Page 47] can please him in nothing more than by this Brutal Immorrality: Be Drunk, and you give him all he can ask or desire. When Satan has steeped Men in Liquor, he moulds them like soft Clay, to what Form he pleaseth; and 'tis no hard matter to make them his Instruments to do just even what he would have them. If he has a Rape to commit, none fit­ter for the Amour than the Drunkard: If he has a Life to take away, no weapon like a Drunken Fury and inebriated Passion: If he would rail against Hea­ven, or Blaspheme him that is Higher than the High­est, the Wine inflamed Wretch will Belch out Oaths and Curses, Blasphemies and Execrations as fast as he can desire. So that if to humor the Devil and please him, if to be his Friend and Servant be what you desire, rather than the pleasing of God, the be­ing kind to your Neighbors and your Selves, you can invent no properer a Method, than by being a most accomplished, refined, and complaisant Drun­kard.

22. Which brings me to the next Consideration, the fatality, as it were, of falling in­to more sins at the same time.The Third ill Effect of Drunkenness, that it is the cause of ma­ny other Sins. You must, as I said before, if you are the Devils Friend, give him a Testimony by some Overt Acti­on that you are so. Sins as well as Miseries seldom come unattended; and of all others this of Intem­perance has the largest Retinue: Fornication and Ʋn­cleanness, Adultery and Incest, Swearing and Blasphe­ming, Murder and Revenge, Violence and Rapine, Theft and Oppression are all of its black Train; 'Tis but a Provocation that is wanting for the Drunkard [Page 48] to put One, or more, or all these into execution to­gether. And if he does neither, 'tis not because he was wanting therein, but because the opportu­nity, the circumstance, the company did not suit; nor was it the Devils Royal Will and Pleasure at that time to tempt him to the performance of that which he knows he may probably have a fitter sea­son for.

23. I proceed now in the last place to take notice of those woes denounced in Ho­ly Scripture against such scanda­lous Offences;The 4th ill Effect of this Sin, is, that it makes a Man lia­ble to the Woes de­nounced in Holy Scri­pture against this Impiety. and here before I do that, I should give some ac­count of those dreadful Examples of the Judgments which God in­flicts upon the Epicures, and by what unheard of and various Methods they come to their untimely ends; by break­ing their Necks, by Drowning themselves, by ha­ving their Brains dashed out, and by many other ac­cidents: But every Annal, every History has Instan­ces enough to convince any that will make the ap­plication home, how frequently the drunken Man catches harm, and what a horrible thing it is to fall into the hands of an angry God. Therefore I shall confine my self to mention the principal places in Holy Writ, which seem chiefly to level at the Intemperate. The first which I shall mention, is, what the Wise man doth imply in that passionate expostulation he makes [Prov. 23.29.] Who hath Woe? Who hath Sorrow? Who hath Redness of Eyes? Who hath Contentions? Who hath Wounds without Cause? He tells you in the next Verse; they that tar— [Page 49] ry long at the Wine, they that go to seek mixed Wine. Here you see a large accumulation of Miseries, Grief, Strifes, Violence and Wrong, which follow the Drunkard at the very heels: For the Wine may look delicately, sparkle finely, and move it self aright in the Glass, but at the last it biteth like a Serpent, and stingeth like an Adder. The next Woe we find is, that which the Prophet Isaiah denounces in these plain terms [Chap. 5, 11.12.] Woe to them that rise up early in the Morning, that they may follow strong Drink, that continue until night, till Wine enflame them, and the Harp and the Viol, the Tabret and Pipe are in their Feasts; but they regard not the work of the Lord, nor consider the operation of his hands. As if he should have said, Woe to those Greedy, Lusty Drinkers, who to prevent the want of time, wherein to sa­tiate their Lust, rise early with the Morning Sun, and suck their Wine like the Morning Dew: Who are not contented when a Temptation offers, to embrace it, but seek out for one, go about from this Companion to that: Woe to those who sit whole days in Tipling-houses, and protract their Clubs till after night: Who sit up 2 or 3 Nights together, and (as the Vulgar have it) Sing Old Rose, and go to Supper twice, Rant and Carouse, Damn and Drink all in a breath: A Health to this, and a Confusion to that Man and all his Adhe­rents; who in the midst of all their jollity forget the God of Moderation, and with Belshazzar, praise their gods of Gold and Silver, of Luxury and Ex­cess, Who consider not the Lord, nor regard the ope­ration of his hands; How he often is unseen at these Banquets, and will call them to an account, and put a Cup of Trembling and Astonishment in their [Page 50] hands; how he often meets the Dead-drunk Tip­ler, and sends him to Hell in the very Debauch; how he often breaks the Arms of one, the Legs of another, robs this Man of his Senses, and fills the other with Despair. These things are little regard­ed, but 'tis the Lord that doth this, and they are (let men observe them or no) the Wonderful Ope­rations of his hands. The same Prophet denounces a Woe in the same Chapter, [Vers. 22.] in Words very near the former. Woe to them that are mighty to drink Wine, and Men of strength to mingle strong Drink: Which seems to intimate thus much; that let Men be never so well able to bear strong Drink, and have Constitutions as strong as the Oak, and Heads as hard as Brass; be they never so sound of Body, and capable to swill down as many Gallons as their Companions can do Pints, and neither pre­judice their Healths, nor drown their Memory, nor weaken their Understanding, yet notwithstanding all this, there doth a Woe belong to them, and a Dreadful one too: and that because they make use of this their strength to the weakning their Brother, and the Drinking him down, as they are please to call it.

24. This Naturally leads me to consider that Gradation and Climax of Woes which another Pro­phet hath denounced against, and appropriated to, the degrees of such Strong and Mighty Drinkers; The Words are these: Woe to him that giveth his Neighbour Drink. Habb. 2.15. [Not to supply his Natural Necessity (that being a piece of Charity, and no way deserving reproof) but as an Occasion to that Excess, which either his own Inclinations, or the pleasantness of the Liquor, would prompt him [Page 51] to.] Woe to him that putteth his Bottle to his Neigh­bour, [That is; that not only lays the Temptation before his Guest, but (as is too frequent in our Modern Entertainings) compells, urges, and presses him to that Excess: that Provokes him either by his Command, or his Example, or (which is worse) by Menaces and Threatnings to take unwillingly the almost nause­ous Dose.] Woe to him that maketh his Neighbour Drunk, that not only gives an Occasion, that pres­ses, that compells him to Drink, but that also urges that Excess to such a degree, that no less price than his Neighbours Reason must satisfie for the wast of his Liquor; that delights in that Sin himself, and takes pleasure in those who do the same things; that makes the Inebriating of his Guests the ultimate end of his Revels, and is pleased to see the Antick Postures of his Drunken Neighbour; a Wicked­ness which the Spartans would do only to their Slaves, and that upon no such end as the making sport at those twice Captivated Wretches, but on­ly thereby to have an Occasion of Exposing the Monstrous folly of Intemperance, so as to scare their Children from such a Beastly Vice.] Woe, in the last place, to him that maketh him Drunk that he may look upon his Nakedness, [whose design is to bring the Deluded Soul into the Snare, and then expose him to the Mercy of his own or others craft, re­venge, or sport; who binds the Soul first in Drun­kenness, and then throws him into the Chambers of Death; that inflames heedless Youth with Wine and then sends him a Temptation to prey upon his Chastity; that robs a Man of his Senses, and then takes an Advantage either of Exposing, or of making gain of his Infirmities; that takes the Bridle from [Page 52] his Tongue, and the Reins from his Passion, and then leaves him to be carried headlong by the Unruli­ness of the One, and torn in pieces through the headstrong Impetuosity of the other.] That such Profligate Offenders deserve a Curse, and a Woe with a Vengeance none will doubt: and the Curse, the Woe, is cut out for them in the next Verse. Thou art filled with shame, for Glory: drink thou also, and let thy fore-skin be uncovered; the Cup of the Lords Right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shamefull Spewing shall be on thy Glory.

25. To sum up all, Let me advise all who have been guilty of the least Degree of Intemperance, to lay these things seriously to heart. If you have been hitherto carried away with your Carnal Ap­petites to obey them in fulfilling the Lust thereof, be so no more. Consider whether the Sin in its own Nature, or in its Effects, be so Charming as to deserve your further Pursuit or Love. Survey it well, and see whether it has any such lovely Features as to Captivate a Generous Mind. Think with your selves, whether God must be thus affronted, (for Religion is always forgotten where Reason is lost) your Neighbour in all the Relations thus A­bus'd, and your selves in all Respects thus injur'd, and that only for the sake of gratifying one single Sense, and indulging one beastly desire. Be not so Mad, be not so Desperate as to humour the Devil, by laying your selves open to all his Snares, and Inticements; and by exposing your selves to all the Woes, Miseries, and Calamities incident to In­temperance in this Life, and to the Wrath of God in an Eternity of Torments hereafter. 'Tho you may not value your Health, your Estates, and your [Page 53] Worldly Concern, yet remember you have Souls which must be either Eternally happy, or Eternal­ [...]y miserable. 'Tis not a Disease or two that will wreck you; nor Want, Poverty or Distress that will grind you, nor all the Adversity you meet with here, can torment you so much, as one moments pain in the World to come, will afflict you.

26. 1 Pet. 5.8. Be sober therefore, be vigilant, for your Adversary the Devil, goes about seeking whom he may devour. Rom. 13.13, 14. Walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in cham­bering and wantonness, not in strife and envying: but put you on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provi­sion for the flesh, to fulfil the Lusts thereof: To these of the Apostles, take also that advice our Saviour gives. Luke 21.24. Take heed to your selves, lest a [...] any time your hearts be over-charged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and so that day (that great and nota­ble day of his appearing) come upon you unawares, and seize upon you in that unprovided beastly con­dition. A condition which few would care to ap­pear in before an earthly Magistrate, how much less before the Tribunal of that just Judge, whose Eyes cannot behold any thing impure or unclean. Let me prevail upon you, especially you, who bear any Authority in your Persons, as you are either Magistrates or Ministers, as you are either Fathers or Masters, to abstain altogether from this Swinish Im­morality: For you are answerable, not only for the excess you fall into your selves, but are sharers in the offence, which others by your example (more prevalent than your Perswasions and Advice to the contrary) do commit, and are encouraged to be guilty of.

27. If you would know when you should set abo [...] this regular course of Life; Enter upon it this very m [...] ment, Better and easier 'tis to do it to day than to morrow: Defer it not off till this Club or that Societ [...] shall be laid down; perhaps you must be summone [...] hence, long before that, & your very next meeting may be your last. I know, when you think but of a change, the Devil has more than one thing to suggest;The difficulty of be­coming sober, and the safety of returning betimes considered. He has sollici­tations from your old compani­ons to inveigle you; He has their Reproaches and Revilings, ready (if you deny the former) to force you; He has the remembrance of the former pleasures you took in those Debauches, whereby to allure you, and a long Custom and contracted evil Habit to inchant you; He has the variety and deliciousness of Liquors to charm you to return to your old beloved Vice. But if you shake off all these Fetters, and bind your selves with Resolutions of Temperance and Sobriety: If you can, by the assistance of God's Grace (to which in all your Trials you must have recourse) but hold out against the first shock of your Temptations, and resist the Onset with Courage and a resolved Denial at the beginning of the Siege, you will find all the Assailants desert their Batteries, quit their Intrenchments, and despairing of suc­cess, retreat with a Curse or two at your obstinate Refusal. The Devil, perhaps, may now and then send out his Scouts to allarm you; but finding all the Passes safe, and a careful Watch kept at every Sense, and vigorous Sallies made against his Incur­sions He himself will fly from you; and leave you to the Tutelage of Sobriety and Temperance, Inno­cency [Page 55] and Peace, Sedateness of Mind and Health of Body: and to reap all the satisfactions of an un­clouded Reason, an unmasked Understanding, an unerring Will, and uncorrupted Affections; an as the Result of all to enjoy the unspeakable Pleasures of an uncondemning Conscience here, and to drink of those inexhaustible Rivers of Pleasure prepared for the Sober, Temperate, and Faithful Soul in the Paradise of the Blessed hereafter.

CHAP. III. Of Uncleanness.

The Ʋniversality of this Sin considered and lamented: The Danger of Treating upon it: The particular kinds thereof: The miserable Effects of Fornication, Adul­tery, Incest and Rape, separately considered: A Cau­tion to the Chast, with an Advice to the Ʋnchaste: Nine Rules whereby to attain to, and preserve that admirable Virtue of Chastity.

1. AND now let us survey that vast Ocean of Impiety, which with no small success has spread it self for some years over the face of this Island,The Ʋniversality of this Sin considered, and lamented. and see if we can ken one point or corner of the Land which is not overwhelmed with this dreadful Inundation: Let us try if we can find one spot of ground which we cannot call Sodom; or one single City which is not worse by far than Gomor­rab. Should the destroying Angel come among us [Page 56] (which no Man knows how soon he may) he would have a large Field of Tares to cut down, and a plentiful crop of Uncleanness to employ his Sickle. We can cry out against the tolerated Stews of Ita­ly, and the Tributary Whores of Venice; We can rail against the Lasciviousness of Spain, and wonder at the notorious Courtezans of Paris: But did we look Home, we should see cause of greater Lamen­tation, and our very Streets could give Parallel, if not transcending Instances of Impudence and De­bauchery, which out-face the Light, and out-dare both God's and Humane Laws. Formerly All (even Se­cret) Acts of Impurity were condemned, and the name of Whoremaster was the worst Reproach that could be affixed on any Man: But now (oh Prodi­gy!) the Brand is an Ensign of Honour, and if you would Compliment or Flatter the Spark, you can do it in no properer a phrase, than by calling him a compleat Beau and Gallant of the Town.

2. So generally spreading is this Vice, that it cannot but make any sober Man's Heart to bleed that considers it: But as General as it is, so few are the Judgments of God upon the immediate Acts of this Sin, that we cannot but be filled with Wonder and Amazement, at the long-suffering Patience, of that Immaculate undefiled Being. But vile wretches that they are, the very Motive for their forsaking do they make the chiefest Reason for their perse­vering in this Sin: And the forbearing Mercy of God, which should lead them to, keeps them off from Repentance. A sad Thought this, that Men should persist in affronting and sinning against God, purely because he is merciful, but every Day and [Page 57] Hours experience witnesseth the truth hereof, and renders it without Dispute.

3. I had here designed to have inlarged upon the many pollutions of the Age, we now live in; but I foresee that many mischiefs may arise by too closely and pertinently handling this subject. It is such a Sin, that to speak against it in proper terms is by consequence to defend it; and to explain the Nature of it in its proper Characters, will require the making use of such Expressions as may sully the Reputation of a Modest discourse, offend a pure and clean heart, and perhaps be a means of promo­ting the Vice, even while it is declaim'd against. This is no Paradox in times wherein all Advice and Counsel to reform the Impure and Ʋnclean is too often thrown away. For there are not wanting such Monsters in the World as wrest the very Scrip­tures to their own destruction, and make the Sacred Oracles of God to preach up, and plead for their Debaucheries. No wonder then (if they can thus pervert the Dictates of the Divine Spirit) that they should catch at all opportunities of making even those discourses which are designed against them, to speak, at least implicitely, in their behalf. But Good God! To what a head will these Enormities grow? And how necessarily must the Contagion still prevail, since the wholesomest of Medicines are converted by the Infected into Poyson? Some smart Satyr, one would think, might do a little good, such a one as might lash the Wretch stark naked, and put him upon the Rack in the midst of his Impurities: but alass! we find God's Judgments themselves (tho' frequently sent down upon the Incorrigible, yet) [Page 58] lightly esteemed by the hardened World, who make a mock of the Punishment as well as the Crime. I shall therefore take what care I can, not to make the debauched Worse, and with all Prudence ma­nage my discourse on this nice point, so as I may not in the least give Encouragement to the Sin, which I am so willing to decry. I hope at least it may prove a Caution and a Sea-mark to the Unpol­luted Soul, to keep it from being polluted and ruined with the rest; and if it accidentally prove a means of Reforming one debauched Person from the Error of his Ways, I shall think my labour well bestow'd.

The Particulars of Ʋncleanness.4. But to proceed and parti­cularize all the sorts of this Sin; I shall wave speaking of the Ʋn­cleanness, and will only content my self with shew­ing the Heinousness and the Mischiefs of the grosser Acts of Fornication, Adultery, Incest and Rape; and with telling you that besides these, there are other things which will fall under the Notion of Ʋnclean­ness, as being the Preludes to the rest, such as Lust­ful Views, Obscene Discourse, and Lascivious Contacts, all which betray the unguarded Soul into its own Sin and Misery. To unfold all the Intrigues which the Whoremonger and Adulterer use, to accomplish their designs, out-passes the Brains of a Matchiavel to dive into or apprehend; But where their Plea­sures end is too lamentable a Consideration for them to admit the thoughts of. What running and go­ing, what Sweating and Labour do they undergo, in order to bring about their Wickedness? Strange indeed! that they should take such pains to be mi­serable, [Page 59] and be so industrious for their own De­struction; whereas they think it much to spend a poor thought about their real and Eternal Happi­ness. What Fornication and Adultery and all the other species of Ʋncleanness are, is no such hard matter to define or describe to an Age so knowing in all the Black Arts of Wickedness. They are too common in Practise to need much Demonstration in the Theory, and therefore I shall think my self the less obliged to trouble my head about such unne­cessary speculations.

5. Suffice it then that I give you some short Ac­count of those Miseries that attend the Ʋnclean Per­son, both the Fornicator, the Adulterer, the Incestu­ous Person, and the Ravisher: which that they may be more plain I will lay down separately. And Oh! would to God that others, seeing the Misfor­tunes and Calamities of the Debauched, would be­ware of being guilty of such Enormities, lest those or worse Evils fall upon them.

6.The Effects of Forni­cation in general.And First to speak a word of the sad Effects of Fornication Little do any of you all consider what the end of those Transient Pleasures will prove: Do you think the number of you will cloud you from the Wrath of God? Can you Expect, because you herd with the Multitude, and so Over-power, and Over-awe Human Laws; that you shall escape the Sentence of the Righteous Judge? No cer­tainly, tho' as yet we have no Express Statute to punish your Offences, according to the Merits of them, yet within and without, on this side and on [Page 60] that, you find Executioners enough of the Divine Wrath, if you had but the Grace to lay it seriously to Heart. You feel trouble your selves, and be­hold daily Examples of the Afflictions of others under the same Guilt, yet to a wonder are you Hardened, that not the feeling of present can put you in mind of a future Misery. 'Tis not the hard Usage you may meet with here that will serve the Turn: Bridewell, a Carting and Whipping are but triffling praeludes of misery to what Follows. The shedding Innocent blood, as is too common in this Age, requires something more at your hands, and Tyburn must end that Infamous Life which knew not where, nor when to put a stop to its Impurities. Nor does the Partner of her pleasure come off Scot­free; as he was concerned in the Getting, so too frequently he proves an Instrument in destroying the Illegitimate Issue, and bears her Company like a Good-natur'd Sinner into another World.

7. But admit all things go fair with the Naughty Couple here, and the Woman prove Barren (as is frequent with common Prostitutes) or if she has Children, can yet convey them out of the World without any Noise: yet there are other Effects mischievous e­nough,The Particular Mis­chiefs of Fornication. First, of those which happen upon the Body either by exposing it to Diseases or Duels. which follow the Crimi­nal at the Heels, and might be of force enough to convince any man that has but the least reason left, to fly from such unlawful Pleasures with a total detestation and Abhorence.

8. St Paul does Positively declare that whoever commits Fornication sins against his own Body, 1 Cor. 6.18. This was his sentiment, who had no such Reason (that we know of) for to say so as we now have. That Disease, so common among us, and in just Judgment as it were appropriated to that Of­fence, was wholly unknown (or at least not re­garded) in the Apostles days, so that little or nothing could be then said on that Topick; But now we see this tormenting Disease that does so afflict both Sexes, in the most Sensible and Tender parts is the effect of only Impure Embraces; and one would think this an argument sufficient to scare Men from the eager pursuit of such unlawful Game. But alass we find the Wretch as proud of his Malady, as before he was of his Ʋncleanness, brags of his Distemper, and despises it so long, till at last the whole Mass of Blood is infected, and it enters into his very Bones and Marrow. Then what Racks and Tortures, what Agonies and Pains does he undergo? Saliva­tion upon Salivation, and all the Art of Galen and Hypocrates is little enough to raise him up to his old Debaucheries again: For to them most surely and nothing else he will return, let his promises of Amendment and Repentance be never so many. 'Tis true, he made such Vows but it was upon the Melancholly Thoughts that he should never be able to serve his Sins more. For he cannot forbear re­turning to his former Impurities, and never leaves till the next Clap seize him in good Earnest, and send him out of the World for good and all.

9. Add to this Consideration, the danger to which the Amorous Gallant exposes his Life, in the many [Page 62] Quarrels he is Engaged in his Mistresses Cause; it being frequent to have the Carpet-Rivals end their dispute in a Field of Blood. Hence comes it to pass, that of the many Murders committed daily in our Kingdom, we find a Whore at the Beginning or End of the Fray: And a Homicide seldom ap­pears at the Bar without One of them at his Heels; or if not there, yet at Tyburn he openly confesses the Strumpet to have been the first tempter to, or occasion of the Fatal Tragedy.

10. Nor is the Letcher's Body the only sufferer here, he has an Estate which is Squander'd away upon Riotous Living,2ly, The Mischiefs which happen upon the Fornicator's E­state. whilst his Relations are brought to Indigency and Pover­ty, and himself (as the Wiseman observes) by means of a Whorish Woman to a Morsel of Bread. Prov. 6.26. So Vast is the Expence, and so great are the Extravagancies of most Modish Jilts, that 'tis Cheaper by far to maintain Ten thrifty Wives, then one Luxurious Wastful Whore. She delights in nothing more than to exhaust him out of all his Store, and never leaves craving till his Pocket be in as deep a Consumption, as his drained Body: Collation upon Collation, this Treat on that, one Present upon another, are little enough to satisfie her boundless Desires, and if the Fond Fool should chance to deny her but one little Toy of Twenty, she presently Storms, and sets on the four Countenance, and will not be reconciled till some Peace-making Pearl or Diamond from the Indies be­comes the Mediator.

11. But when the Poor Squire is plucked bare and [Page 63] robbed of all his Plumes, and dismantled of all his gay Trappings, when his Estate is Mortgaged, and his Credit Bankrupted, when all Securities are gone, and Pawns redeemless, then 'tis time for Her to pack off the Indigent Fop, and to be weary of his Visits; Nothing being more common then for those Mercenary Jilts to hate from their heart a poor Gal­lant, tho' they themselves made him so. And glad they are to cast off their troublesome Money-less Guest, tho' a Catchpole or Serjeant should be waiting for him, and the Kings-Bench, or Fleet should be his last Lodging. But if ever he should, either upon some Act of Grace, or pleading himself within the Statute of Pauper's be redeemed from those his Man­sions; tho' he knows himself Cashiered by his Mi­striss, and left to the wide World: yet he has not the Grace with the Prodigal to return to himself, and consider that 'tis high time to betake himself to his Heavenly Father and acknowledge his Of­fence; and think on some other Course of Life then hitherto he has Embraced; but is hardened in his Impiety, and contrives a thousand ways how to Re-inestate himself once more in his Mistrisses favour. In order thereunto he becomes either a Knight-Arrant, and so brings of his spoils, and offers them at his Minions feet; or else turns Rook, and so from Gaming-house to Gaming-house, ga­thers up enough to make his peace with the Female Adversary; or else to the Disgrace of Humanity becomes himself a Mercenary Pimp and Pandar, Bully and Procurer: And so spends the Remainder of his inglorious Days in obscure Brothels, and Houses of Evil Fame. From these sources also a­rises the ruine of most young Tradesmen, who are [Page 64] either in pay with a Bawd themselves, or have loose Servants and Apprentices, whose Extravagancies are such that they Exhaust the Cash to maintain their Strumpets, and insensibly blow up their Masters before the least Warning-Piece is given from whence their Misfortunes came. To such Evil Practices are owing the Ebb of most Estates; and let men Complain of Taxes, and the great Charge of Church and Poor-money never so much, yet they have a piece for a Whore: But did they give less to to her, they would not find it so hard and grating to bestow Liberally on the others.

12. But beside the Body and Estates; 3ly, The Injury For­nication offers to the Minds of Men. the Fornicator injures all the Faculties of his Mind, ren­ders them Captive to his Lust, and turns out the Man in order to receive and en­tertain the Beast. He makes the Temple of the Holy Spirit a Cage for unclean and impure thoughts to reside in. He Vitiates his Understanding; claps a false Byass upon his Will; and exposes himself to the Impetuosity of every Passion: He loses the Di­vine Image, divests himself of all that is Generous, Good, and Brave, and becomes not only weak in Body, but sneaking, low, and feeble in Mind. Hence comes it to pass that the Magnanimity and Courage of the English has of late degenerated into Softness and Effeminacy. And the Nation, which before was a Terror to her Neighbours, is now by those bewitching Dalilahs rob'd of its former Vi­gour, and become almost as weak and Pusillanimous as the rest. So fond have we been of imitating the French in all their Vices, Fashions and Accom­plishments [Page 65] of late; that we have followed them to a hair in all things, even their Cowardize, their tricks and poor sneaking Stratagems not excepted.

13. It would be a tolerable Bargain did the Wretch come off with no worse then the Miseries inci­dent to Sensuality in this life;4ly. The last effect of Fornication is (withiut Repentance) Death Eternal. but alas! he has an after-reckoning to pay beyond the Valley of the sha­dow of Death: 'Tis not his Mind, Body or Estate; His Reason, Life or Fortune, but the Loss of his Soul which must quit the score of that Guilt, contracted by the pursuits of these Ʋncleannesses which he has not repented of. Eph. 5.5. For no whoremonger has any Inheritance in the kingdom of Heaven, but will be judged by God the Righteous Judge, and by his irrevocable Sentence, consigned over to have his Portion in that Abyss of Fire, and Brimstone, which burns for ever and ever, Rev. 21.18. In this Burning Tophet he will then struggle tho' in vain, and in the anguish of those Torments, he will, in all probability, wish, tho' it be too late, that he had never given way to his corrupt Nature, that he had never harkned to the flattering Motions of Flesh and Blood, that he had never yielded to the prevalence of his Inclinations. How then will he execrate himself, and curse his merry Companions that allured him to, and Taught him this Diabo­lical Art? How will he then wish that his Eyes had been plucked out, and his Eye-strings had cracked before they had gazed upon Vanity, and betraid him into a snare? How will he wish then that his Arms had fallen from his Shoulder-blade, before they had been defiled with unclean Embraces: That [Page 64] [...] [Page 65] [...] [Page 66] his Tongue had cleaved to the roof of his Mouth, be­fore he had uttered such immodest Discourse: That his Ears had been stopped with a perpetual Deaf­ness, before he had listned to the filthy Communi­cation of others: That he had been thrown into the Fiery Furnace, before he had leaped into the Bed and Arms of an Harlot? But why should I inlarge upon those things, since Hell is little regarded by the ge­nerality of Mankind, and the Torments of the Damned are looked upon as fictitious Bugbears to frighten deluded Man from his Paradise of Voluptu­ousness, and the Accounts of Holy Writers concern­ing a future State, are generally dis-believed? And if they will not hear Moses and the Prophets, nor be­lieve Jesus and his followers, How can we expect they should give credit, tho' one of their old Compa­nions arose from the dead?

15. I come now in the next place to consider the mischiefs of that Branch of Ʋn­cleanness, Adultery, and the Effects thereof. Adultery; where one or both the Parties concerned are in the State of Matrimony, and which is not only condemned, as being Sensual and opposite to a di­rect Command in the Decalogue, but also as it is un­just, injurious and inconvenient to the Publick So­ciety, of which we are Members. This Sin has not only the Brutality of the two former, but is acted with all the Malice imaginable, against both God and Man. I know not by what kind of Fascination this Vice has prevailed within these few years; but so common is it grown, that 'tis matter of sport and pastime to have the Ingenuity to defile ones neighbors Bed: And 'tis reckoned a small business [Page 67] to pay Quid pro Quo, and a Jest to Horn the Hor­ter. But as common as it is, yet the Crime loses not one grain of its real Estimate; Let the Adul­ [...]erer and Adulteress please themselves with never so merry Thoughts of the contrary. For they there­by incur the Guilt of breaking the whole Law, Affront God, The effects of Adul­tery further illustra­ted in its being a Breach of our Duty to God, our neighbor, and our selves. Injure Others; and Act as Enemies against [...]hemselves: As by considering the following ill Effects thereof, will easily and manifestly appear.

16. God certainly is displeased at it, being diame­trically contrary to a Command which he delivered with Thun­dring and Lightning at Mount Sinai in these express words:1st. Adultery is a sin against God. Thou shalt not commit Adultery. His Edicts are not to be despised, neither are his Commandments to be cast behind our back. Who are we that shall make bold with our Maker, and trample his Institutes under foot, and reckon his Ordinances not worthy our Observance? Can we dispute the lawfulness or unlawfulness of his Or­ders? Or shall we act in opposition to an Almigh­ty's Decrees?

17. But farther, you break not only the Commands of a Just Jehovah, 2ly. Adultery a sin against others; and first against the Pub­lick. but maliciously strike at the Root, and aim at the destruction of that Society to which you belong. Our English Community allows no such promiscuous Copulations, and therefore has care­fully provided, that every Man shall be the Hus­band [Page 68] of one Wife. He therefore that climbs up into his neighbors Bed to defile it, doth what in him lies to put an end to all the Decorums and Observances which the strictness of a well constituted Christian Government requires at our hands. Adultery is a Sin which no Nation or People, tho' never so barbarous has maintained. By the Levitical Law it was punished with the immediate death of both Parties, Lev. 20.10. Deut. 22.22. The Alchoran of Mahomet not only forbids a Lascivious Eye, but punishes the Adulteress, convicted by four of the same Sex, with perpetual Imprisonment. The Pagan In­dians at Dominica, Cuina, Bantam and Japan, punish the Adulterers with loss of Life.Scotch History. The barbarous Chineses have the same sense of the guilt, and inflict no less a punishment upon the Delinquent. At the City of Pequin the Jointures and Dowries of A­dulteresses are bestowed upon the Hospitals of Fe­male Orphans. In Patame, a Province joyning to China, they have a Custom, If any Persons of qua­lity become guilty of this Offence, that by Choice they shall be strangled by their next of Kin. At Brasil the Crime seemed of so black a Dye, that the inraged Husband had Power and Authority at Will to be the Judge, Jury and Executioner of his own Adulterous Wife. But at Angola a City in Aethiopia, the Penalty was more moderate, and the Offender only lost his Nose by the Bargain. These and the like Punishments were inflicted by the very Heathens, which sufficiently let us see what Con­structions they made upon the odious and detesta­ble Sin of Adultery; and enough to shame us into a better Consideration of the nature of such a Beasti­ality. Our own Laws both Civil and Canon are [Page 69] very strict against the Offender, but we are grown so lawless, that no Injunction Ecclesiastical or Civil, Moral or Divine, is any whit regarded by us

18. But look we nigher home, and we shall find Calamities enough infesting, and unavoidably pursuing the A­dulterer and Adulteress. The second wrong we do to others, is done to the Family of the Adulterer or Adul­tress. The First of which Domestick Mischiefs I reckon to be that unavoidable cor­ruption of Families, incident to abu­sed Beds. By this means the Alien is Naturalized, an Ishmael incroaches upon, and oft supplants the True-born Isaac Heir; and a Halfe-Blood-Illegiti­mate Off-spring goes away with a share of the In­heritance and Patrimony, which of Right belongs only to the Whole-Blood Line. This has been so often boasted to be true, that it may be feared there has too often Fire as well as Smoak to build such vaunting upon. And I should think this alone were an Inconvenience sufficient to make the Sin a grievance to any State in which it is, were there none else at the heels of it.

19. But t'is well known, that Messenger of ill Tidings has another ready to en­ter in upon him:The 3d. wrong to others is the breach of the Matrimonial Vow which I call the Breach of the Matrimonial Vow. In all Ages, and among all Nations, Vows have been looked upon as Sacred and Invio­lable, but of all, that of a Christian Marriage-Con­tract has been esteemed the greatest Tye any Man can be obliged withal. So Divine a Ceremony among the Romanists, that 'tis rank'd among their [Page 70] Sacraments; nor no less Sacred with Ʋs, tho' not admitted to so great and unwarrantable an Honour. For besides the many Vows and Protestations, the formal Engagements and the Mutual enterchanging of Hearts which frequently pass between the Par­ties in their Courtship, and which usher in the grea­ter Solemnity; they do afterwards openly in the eye of the World, and more immediate Presence of God, Consummate the Nuptials; in which, in the most solemn and serious manner imaginable, they plight to each other their Troth, and interchangeably pro­mise each other the performance of the respective Duties, they in that state of Life are mutually ob­liged to perform; and both M [...]n and Woman in the same manner protest to live with each other, for­saking all Corrivals of their Love, till Death shall make one or the other free. But how can that Man be said to keep to his First Betrothed, who shall forsake the Wife of his Bosom, and leaving her in Discontent, Disquietude and Solitude, shall bestow his Love upon a Harlot; and give away that trea­cherous Heart to a Second, or Third, or more Ri­vals, which not long since was so solemnly allotted and made over to the Deserts of a more Worthy Person? Base perfidious Wretch! What Injustice and Ingratitude, What Cruelty and Treachery, What Barbarity and Inhumanity art thou guilty of? Is it nothing to wound her Soul with the Sense of thy Unkindness; who is so Tender and Loving, so Dutiful and Careful to thee and thine? Is it nothing to raise in her innocent Breast Perturbations, and Heart-breakings, Jealousie and Discontent? Is it no­thing to put that Dove-like Mind, which for some time bore with thy Unkindness, and could not tell [Page 71] how to turn the Stream of her Affections from thee, upon desperate Attempts, and extorted Thoughts of revenging thee in thy own kind? Will not her Folly and Sin be owing wholly to thy slightings and dis-respect? And tho' she her self will not escape the Judgment of God, yet dost thou think thy Con­demnation and Punishment will not be the greater, because thou, as a principal cause, by thine exam­ple, stirr'd her up to that unchristian Revenge? The same may be said (Mutatis Mutandis) con­cerning an Ʋnfaithful and Treacherous Wife, who shall be so daring as to break into forbidden Embra­ces, through all the Bonds of a Ritual and Sacred Ordinance. And what the sad and horrible effects of a violated Matrimonial Vow are, will appear by Considering.

20. The next evil consequence of Adultery, is Murder. This is the unavoidable subse­quent of the Former,The Fourth wrong to others is Murder. And herein Adultery begins to prove a sin against. 3ly. A Man's self. whenever the unlawful Amour should chance to be discovered by the injured Party. I have traced this sin of Adultery through all its Labyrinths, and find all its Avenues, all its Chambers, and all its Retirements, besmeared with Blood. Murder begins, Murder confirms, and Murder ends the Intrigue. The naughty Couple must remove all Obstacles in order to attain their freedom in Lust. And if any prying Servant, or curious Attendant be known to observe the Motion, His Mouth must be stopped, and His Tongue tied, if not by Gold, then by a Stab or Poison: If the Husband is too watchful, and so a Remora to their designs, a Bonyard or Pistol must [Page 72] send him on a long Journey, and remove the Ʋriah out of the way. So on the other hand, if this Ar­gus of a Husband should but suspect himself to be abused; how Frantick and Mad, how Jealous and Revengeful is he? And should he be sensible of his own Metamorphosis, nothing can stop his Fury, till he meets with an opportunity of revenging himself upon the Gallant, the Mistriss, the Confident and all. Thus every party acts in this Tragedy, and the In­jur'd Husband, or Jealous Wife, the Amorous Gal­lant, and the Designing Adultress are all dipt in the Red Sea of Blood. I have wondred to see the ma­ny recorded Bloody Monuments of Adultery; and that notwithstanding all the examples of untimely Deaths, yet the Sin continues still in fashion all the World over: As if every Kingdom and Metropolis thereof, were nothing else but the common Nur­series of these Lusts and Debaucheries. But I lose that Wonder when I see the next fatal Consequent to this Sin, is as little regarded as any of the for­mer, which is

21. That wrath of God which the Impenitent Con­tinuance in this Impiety, commonly pulls down upon the Offenders Head. The Second Mischief Adultery brings to a Man's self, is the Judgments of God. That Being which doth not afflict willingly, and grieves not the Children of Men, without extra­ordinary occasion, makes bare his Arm of Justice against no Crime more than against that of Adul­tery. In the last Mischief of Murder, tho' to an un­thinking Mind it may appear to be the result of Passion, and the satisfying a private Revenge upon an opportunity offered; yet to one who looks far­ther [Page 73] than second Causes, it is manifest the Finger of God brings all those things to pass. 'Tis he that lays the Train, and spreads the Net, and trapans the Lustful Lovers, and exposes them to the mercy of a jealous and incensed Person; who notwithstand­ing has no power to strike, till the Almighty Arm permits the Blow. 'Tis well known that the Mi­series and Calamities, the Shame and Confusion, the Diseases and Death, and all the other misfortunes the Adulterer either feels in common with the For­nicator, or else endures as peculiarly appropriated to his Species of Ʋncleanness, are all sent and come down from above. But these are easie Penalties to what are laid up for the Incontinent, Impenitent Wretch, in that vast Storehouse of Eternity. There Pains and Aches, Poverty and Want, Prisons and Dungeons, the Stake and Gibbet, and the King of Terrors himself (tho' dress'd up in the most for-formidable Colours Rome or the Inquisition can in­vent) would be eligible and vastly to be preferred before what the Adulterer and Adulteress shall then feel. The Almighty threatned and he would be a swift witness against the Adulterers, Mal. 3.5. and so he is even in this life, overtaking them with a Judgment at their heels: But in the other World, he follows them close, and vexes them with all his Storms, torments them in good earnest, and adds Fuel of Flames to their lustful Souls, Be not decei­ved (says the Apostle) 1 Cor. 6.9. Neither Forni­cators, nor Idolaters, nor Adulterers, nor effeminate per­sons shall inherit the Kingdom of God. And we are as­sured that Whoremongers and Adulterers God will [in a more especial manner] Judge, Heb. 13.3. What mean the exclusion from that Kingdom, and [Page 74] the falling under the Censures of so severe a Judge, is too plain to need any Exposition. I could wish the Soul, who is guilty of the Sin, were but halfe so Considerative upon, as it is (in it's sober fits at least) sensible of, the Punishment, and I question not but it would go a great way towards palling the Desire, and retarding the eager Pursuit after such lascivious Amours, which are opposite to all these Engagements we lye under, both to God and Man.

22. But before I proceed, it will not be amiss to answer an Objection, which too many are apt to make use of in this case.An Objection made by the Adulterer. ‘And is Adultery such a damning sin (may some say) How came it to pass then that Abraham the Patriarch, and other Ho­ly Men of old indulged themselves therein? The Scriptures testifie of them that they walked with God, How then could they allow themselves in that, which is (as you affirm) so displeasing to that B [...]ing, whom they so strictly served? Had not Jacob his Bilhah, and Zilpah as well as his Ra­chel and Leah? Did not David, a man after God's own heart, keep his Wives, and increase the num­ber of his Concubines, and Murder Ʋriab as well abuse Bathshebah? And had not his Son Solomon in his youthful days, his 700 Wives and 300 Con­cubines? Do you think those went quick into Hell? Or if you admit they did repent, may not the Greatest do the same? And will it not be time enough to write Vanity on all Worldly Pleasures, when we have gone through every Scene of them, and tasted every Flower in Paradise?’

23. To all which I Answer. What Dispensation, had the Fathers of old, before Moses, I know not; but this am I very well assured of, by a Mouth that cannot Lye,The Objection An­swered. that, from the beginning it was not so. He that Created Male and Female at first, insti­tuted that Holy Rite of Matrimony, and ordained, that they twain should be one flesh. Whatever the Followers of Lamech did think of the Sacred Tie, yet 'tis well known by the Mosaic Law, that Adul­tery was by the express words of the Injunction to be punished with death: thereby reducing Marriage into its old Channel again, wherein it ran at first in Eden. And as to David, who lived many years af­ter the Jewish Law was published, and so cannot be thought to be ignorant thereof, I shall not go about to extenuate his Crime by pleading (what many unreasonably have) the Priviledge he had by being a King; as it the Royal Prerogative were a sufficient Protection for the Commission of any ex­travagancy, which his own wild Will and Pleasure could prompt him to. No certainly; tho' he was accountable to no Humane Judge, yet there was one Higher then the Highest, to whom he must An­swer for all. He was but Man (the most that can be said for him) and was accordingly obnoxious to all the Infirmities of unguarded Flesh and Blood: But yet his Adultery was followed with Judgments e­nough, and appropriate to his Crime, to leave no room for doubt upon what account they were sent. The poor Man sell from one sin to another, and to hide his Adultery, runs into the Guilt of shedding Innocent [...]ood: The Death of his Adul [...]rous [...]. The Incesto [...]s Rape of his Daughter; The Murde [...] [Page 76] of his Son Amnon, and his Rebellious Absalom's driving him out of House and City, and seizing upon his Wives and Concubines, were all such marks of Divine Wrath, so perpendicularly dropt down upon his Guilt of Adultery, that a burblind Spe­ctator must needs know the Cause from its so Na­tural Effects. And hence it was that we find him so often in his Penitentials, so frequent in his Mise­rere Mei's: Hence was it that his Bed did Swim, and his Couch was watered with Tears; and hence it was that ever and anon he did cry out in the Bitterness of his Soul, for Mercy, Mercy! and beg God to Purge and Cleanse him, to heal and renew a right Spirit within him; complaining of his Bones and Loins, of his wounded Conscience, trou­bled Spirit, and broken Heart. And the Successor of his Throne succeeded him in his Sin and Misery too. For he did (to use his own Words) prove his Heart with Mirth, and enjoyed Abundance of Pleasure; He had his Moabites and Ammonites, Edomites, Sidoni­ans and Hittites, and all the Train of Pomp and Luxury; and drank his Water out of many Cisterns; Yet after all he concludes that there was nothing under the Sun but Vanity and Vexation of Spirit, and what he accounted his Wisdom, was reckoned at last to be but Madness and Folly.

24. As to the Hopes and Probability of repenting like Solomon or his Father, in their old Age, they who object this would do well to consider, whe­ther they are sure of imitating them in their Re­pentance, as they are resolute of following them in their Sins? Is Regeneration (Deluded Souls!) in your own Power? And Repentance at your Beck to [Page 77] come when called for? Are you sure of passing through all the Scenes of Pleasure, and of know­ing when you have so done, and of having Hearts, after all that, so loosned from the Vanities to the which you were so closely United, as to be con­verted in a Moment to God? Can a Habit of so long wearing be shook off so easily, and the Soul be invested in white Robes on a sudden? D'ye think a Sob or two at your last Gasp (for then do some imagine it time enough to repent) will serve the Turn? Or that a Groan in the Last Ago­ny, or a Dying Accent or two of your departing Souls will be good Contrition, and win upon your so long affronted Creator, so as to obtain his Par­don and Atonement for what is past, and to make up the Breach by reconciling you to your Offended God? Doubtless you who are now Guilty of this Sin, and fool your selves up with the Hopes of re­penting Hereafter, are out in your Measures, and are in the ways that tend and lead to the Chambers of Death, when it will perhaps prove too late when one foot is got into the Grave.

25. Now to speak a word or two of the next kind of Ʋnclean­ness, Fourthly, Of Incest, and the effects there­of. wherein the parties con­cerned fall within that Degree of Kindred which does forbid all Carnal knowledge, tho' in the state of Matrimony; and this Unco­vering of a Relations Nakedness, Married or Sin­gle, we call Incest. The little Noise that is made about it within this Northren World, would make one think there was no such Fornication amongst us: But among the many Ʋnlawful, it would not be hard to find some Ʋnnatural Embraces, were they [Page 78] not so commonly hushed up by the Inglorious Cri­minals, and concealed by the rest of the Relations to avoid the disgracing their Families thereby. From the want of due Conviction thereof is it that they go Unpunished, and escape the Censure of a Spiritual Court, and the Sentence of an Earthly Tribunal, but the just Judge will overtake, and his Hand will find them out. What the Consequence of this Sin is (over and above the Common Mise­ries, which if together with Fornication and Adul­tery may be said to endure) appears from the Ex­amples of those, who have met with Divine Ven­geance in or presently after the Act. Lot's Daugh­ters got nothing by uncovering their Fathers Naked­ness, but Shame to themselves, and an intailed Curse to their Miserable Posterity. Reuben, tho' the first born, fell short of his Portion in the Old Mans Benedicat, because he went up and defiled his Fa­thers Bed. Amnon met with sowre Sauce after the Rape and Incest he committed upon his Sister: And Absalom's untimely Death may be assigned to his having layn with his Fathers Concubines as the Chiefest, tho' not the only Cause thereof. Profane Writers are not wanting in Instances of this kind, too long and many to be ennumerated in a Dis­course of so small a Bulk. Nor are our own An­nals, and the present times unfurnished; which, be­cause it would seem Invidious to rip open the faults of such as lye in the Dust, and too reflecting upon many now alive, I shall forbear to particularize: Else such could be named which tasted deeply of the Cup of God's W [...]ath even in this Life for this Crime, and what their Portion is in the other World, my C [...]arity will not admit me to judge.

26. The Last and Highest De­gree of Uncleanness is that of Rape;Fifthly, Of Rape, and the Consequence thereof. wherein the Ravisher bears no regard to any thing but his Lust, for whomsoever that prompts him to enjoy, his Violence constrains to yield to his Embrace: Virgin or Widow, Sister or Mother, Married or Single are all alike to him. One would think from the Multitude of Common Prostitutes in and about the World there would be no such thing as Violence used: But if you Visit the Courts of Judicature you shall find many of those Guilty Wretches holding up their Hands at the Bar. So Offensive have these Constraints been to most Na­tions, that we find, by the Laws thereof, that they are punished with immediate Death. No less Pu­nishment doth the Statute Laws of our Land inflict upon the Offender, and not only the Principal but the Abettors of the Crime have tasted of the same Ignominious Punishment. And how the Fortune-stealer (for so our Gentile Ravisher is now adays called) will answer his Rape at the Last Day, I am struck with Horror to imagine. His Miseries are the same with other Letchers, but aggravated, by being not only his Better self-Hater, but the Common Nusance, Pest, and Disturber of Civiliz'd Societies

27. Thus have I at length winded my self out of that La­barynth of Lust,A word of Advice to the Chast, and the Ʋnchast. and passed through all its Chambers; and proved them to be the direct Road to Want, Mise­ry, Diseases, and Death; to the Wrath of God and Eternal Flames. And if there is so great a [Page 80] Train of Mischiefs attending in the outward Apart­ments of Uncleanness such as are obvious to every View, and which I have only treated on: What and How many must needs be the Evils which are admitted into her closer Retirements, and into her Unseen and Unobserved Secresies? It remains now that I should give a Word of Advice to such as have not as yet been infected with this Epidemical Distemper, as well as to those that at present do Labour under it: And so the Precautions and An­tidotes I prescribe to the One, may prove Effectu­al Remedies to heal the other.

28. To the first I have the Apostles Words ready to say; Keep your selves Pure: Let not Sin reign in your Mortal Bodies that you should obey it in the Lusts thereof: Neither yield your Members as Instruments of Ʋnrighteousness to Sin; But yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the Dead, and your Members as Instruments of Righteousness unto God: Your Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost which is in you; Flee Fornication therefore, and every Sin that defiles that Sacred Place. For you are not your own, you are bought with a Price, Glorifie there­fore God in the Chastity of your Bodies, (as well as in the Purity of your Spirits) which are Gods. 1 Cor. 19.20. And over and above the avoiding the Evil Consequents of Uncleanness, which are in themselves Motives sufficient to deter Men from the pursuit thereof, you have stronger inducements thereto. For thereby you ensure to your selves the Peace and Tranquillity of an Undefiled Conscience, and all the Comforts flowing from a Chast and Humble Conversation: You imitate the Inspirer of [Page 81] your Souls in being Pure as he is Pure; and in a Word by this Angelick Virtue you prepare and fit your selves for the Beatific Vision; for so Blessed are the Pure in Heart pronounced by our Saviour that they, and only they shall see God. Mat. 5.

29. To the Poor Infected Wretch I shall add to what I have already said: Repent of thy Ʋnclean­nesses which thou hast Committed, and Mortify thy Members which are upon the Earth: Suffice it that thou hast hitherto yielded thy Members servants to Ʋn­righteousness, now return and yield them Servants unto God, unto Holiness. Be not carried away with thy Lusts any longer, moderate the Impetuous Heat of thy Youth; Be no longer the Vassal to Impurity; Let not an Idle Exchange Girl, or Com­mon Actress captivate thy Soul. Hearken not any longer to the Allurements of those Minions, and suffer not Solomons Wanton to lead thee as an Oxe to the Slaughter, or as a Fool to the Correction of the Stocks. Be no longer fond of those thy dear bought Pleasures, and hunt not after what will cost thee the wasting of thy Estate, the Misery of thy Re­lations, the Impairing of thy Health, the Hastning of thy Death, and what is more than all, the Price of thine Unvaluable precious and Immortal Soul. Thy Soul which has a Being beyond all the Existen­ces of Material Beings, which cannot, must not die; which must shortly appear before the Judgment Seat of God. Oh! Consider before thou goest to the next Debauch, whether thou art able to endure the Agonies and Torments, the Flames and Pains which the Damned feel. Dost thou imagine that God will Extinguish that Everlasting Fire to indulge thy Carnal Desires? Or that He will put an End to [Page 82] Hell out of tenderness to thy Lusts and Concupi­scence? No certainly, he will not abate one tittle of thy Punishment. Be wise then and forsake thy Impurities before the day of Grace be past, and there remain no Sacrifice, no Atonement for thy Sin.

28. As a means to attain to and maintain that Admirable Virtue of Chastity, I shall touch upon those common Practical Rules, adapted to every Capacity, and obvious to every Understanding.

Nine Practical Rules to be observed by such as would avoid the Odious Sin of Ʋncleanness.

First, Resist the Temptation at the Beginning. What tho' you carry about you the Seeds of Corruption,Principiis Obsta. Ve­nionti Occurito Mor­bo. Pers. and have your Naturals, Composed of the same Flesh and Blood with others? What tho' you are Children of Originally corrup­ted Parents, were shapen in Iniquity and in Sin your Mothers conceived you? What tho' the dire Conta­gion was handed down to you by your Ancestors? Is it not your Care and Duty to keep this Law of your Members (which is always Warring against the Law of your Minds) from getting the Mastery over you? If you had no Temptations nor Inclinations to Lust, where is your Virtue in being Continent?Marc [...]t sine Adversa­rio Virtus. Senec. 'Tis a tryal of your Graces that must make you experienced Champions, and the Victory over your Lusts that must make you More than Conque­rors. Can you fight without Enemies, or overcome without Opposition, or expect the Crown without [Page 83] the Victory? The Devil allures and the Flesh may prompt you to yield, bur neither of them can force you if you will be true to your selves, and keep the Reins in your own Hands. To this end, suppress the very first Motions to Impurity, Crush the Cock­ [...]trice in his Egg, and make a vigorous Repulse at [...]he very first Onset of a Temptation. As for Ex­ample, Think whether you would commit the Sin [...]f you were to die the next Moment, and whether you would be contented to appear at the Tribunal of Heaven in the Embraces of a Harlot, or in the Arms of an Adulteress. Consider also whether you can find any Retirement so Private, any Apartment so Obscure where God cannot see you, or where his hand cannot find you out,

2ly, Avoid Idleness: Have always something to do, and give not an Advantage to the Tempter to break in upon you whilst you are unguarded. The Perching Soul becomes an easy Prey to the Infer­nal Fowler; whilst the Winged Spirit is out of Danger. Beware then of administring to your Youthful Flames by Sloth and Ease, by Entertaining your Thoughts with Unchast Imaginations, which increase by nothing so much as your Idle Hours. If you have Employs be diligent therein, Eating the Bread of Carefulness, for so he giveth his Beloved rest: If you are above the toyls of a Labouring Life, you cannot want business wherein to spend your vacant Hours, if you consider the great Concern of your Souls that lies upon your hands, and requires more time than you have in your own power. A Holy Life has many ways to dispose of the long and te­dious days, and were you intent upon the Duties [Page 84] thereof, you would have no reason to complain of th [...] Idle time which lies upon you, nor would you give th [...] Tempter or any Lust an Opportunity to rob you o [...] your Innocence, or to Prey upon your Chastity.

3ly, In the next place Keep a Constant Watchov [...] your Eyes; those doors of the Soul, those Casement [...] to Imagination, and those Inlets to Vice. Th [...] Wiseman has always one Eye at Home while th [...] other is employed abroad in Speculation: But her [...] 'tis safe to keep both your doors shut, unless yo [...] could stare the Vanity Dead, the Beauty into a Monster, and the Temptation into a Virtue. Bu [...] 'tis dangerous to run the risque of such an Adven­ture, and an Attempt too bold for most to under­take, Your strength is but weakness at best, and your Clear-sightedness oftimes in this Nature be­comes your Blind-side, where the Lust has an Ad­vantage to break in upon you. If you are Wise keep out of Eye-shot, and come not a near the fair Enemy; for there is much in a Painted Face, in a loose Garb, in Wanton Gestures, and in Naked Breasts to work upon the unguarded Eye, and render the Heart prisoner. Nor is it enough to turn your Eyes from beholding Vanity, when Acci­dentally offered to their View, but you should avoi [...] as much as in you lies, all Occasions which may lead them astray. You would do well to abstain from all publick Balls, Shews and Stage-Plays, and all other places of great Appearance, which may be apt to administer Fuel to your Fire. For if at Church, where the Awe of God and the Reverence due to his Immediate presence, should have some Influence over you, if there (I say) you can with [Page 85] much ado keep your Eyes from gazing and wan­dring after Beautiful Objects, and from conceiving Lustful thoughts thereon: How much more difficult will it be to do so there, where your design of going is principally to be Spectators of Folly and Lightness, not to say worse; or where is the Common Mart or Forum for the Gallant to pick up his Mistriss and carry her off Incognito. Nor is it only dan­gerous to behold those Charms to Lust in the Ori­ginal in Living Instances, but also in Effigie. For these dumb obscene Pictures with a tacit whisper captivate the Eye, move the Imagination, and fire the Heart.

4ly, Avoid all Frothy and Idle Discourse; Be nei­ther the Speakers, Hearers, or Readers of such Language; Keep a Watch over your Tongues, stop your Ears, as well as turn away your Eyes from all that looks like Obscenity. Evil Communication (says the Apostle) Corrupts good Manners, 1 Cor. 15. Therefore (as he says in another place) let no Cor­rupt Communication proceed out of your Mouth. Eph. 4. A loose Tongue and Obscene Lips insensibly betray the Soul into the snare of Uncleanness. Therefore as you value your Chastity, and desire to keep your selves pure, Think it not matter of Jest to talk wittilly Obscene, but be assured you are not only to answer for the Words you speak, but also for all the Mischief they may produce upon either your selves or others.

5ly, In the next place, Beware what Company you keep. 'Tis an Italian Proverb, tell me with what Company you go, and I'll tell you where you go; tell [Page 86] me with whom you Converse and I'll tell you what you are. The Society whereof you are, has a great Prevalence over you to make you of the same Mould with the whole: If that he good, you can­not but in Complaisance be or seem to be so too; if That be Evil, it would he no false Logick to conclude the Parts to be of the same Marke with the whole. This is too evident to need Demonstration, and were it to be doubted in other Vices, yet in this of Uncleanness, the Influence which one De­bauch'd Companion has upon another to render him so too, proves the Consequence to be too true. A Loose, Libertine, and Licentious Conversation, does easily incline a man to Joyn with the Multi­tude in one Common way of Lewdness and Debau­chery: Familiarity and Example, Fear and Shame, private Obligations and publick Engagements are as great Inducements to depraved Nature to com­ply with those to whom one stands Obliged in any of the former Respects. And here I cannot chuse but blame such as out of a Frolick to see the Tricks of the Town, and to experience the truth of what they Hear, associate themselves with Lewd and Profligate persons, running from Bandy-House to Baudy House, from one Brothel to another, 'till at last they carry the Coals of Fire so long that they are inflamed by Lust in good earnest.

6ly, To employ your Eyes and Thoughts, and to help you to better Company, I shall advise you in the next place to be frequent in reading and Me­ditating the Holy Scriptures: for wherewithall shall a Young Man cleanse his way (says the Royal Psalmist) but by taking Heed thereto according to thy Word. [Page 87] Herein you will see Life and Death, Blessings and Cursings, Promises and Threatnings, Mercies and Judgments: The one a Royal Priviledge appropri­ated to the Upright and Clean, the other as a Pu­nishment to the Man of Unclean Lips and a Lewd Conversation: Herein you will see a Generously Chast and Continent Joseph exalted from a Dungeon to a Throne, whilst the Incestuous Reuben is put by his Fathers Blessing: Herein you will read of 24000 Israelites being killed in one day amidst their Whoredoms, Numb. 5. whilst Phineas for his Zeal, in punishing the Delinquents, atones for the Rest, and obtains for himself a Covenant of Peace, the Cove­nant of an Everlasting Priesthood: Herein you will see the Cause of the Massacre of Schechem and his People, who were for Dinab's Rape cut off Root and Branch in one day: Herein you will have a view of the Untimely ends of Hophni and Phineas, of Amnon and Absalom, of Incontinent Jezebel, and and many others who by their Whoredoms, Adul­teries, and Incestuous Embraces provoked the Mer­ciful God to plague them with sundry Diseases, and divers kind of Deaths.

7ly, When you have done your utmost to resist, and find notwithstanding the Carnal part to be pre­dominant, Mortify, as St. Paul advises, your Members which are upon the Earth: Keep under your unruly Body, and bring it into Subjection that you do not become Cast-aways. As Drunkenness and Gluttony increase, so do Temperance and Sobriety take away, the Oyl from the Flames: To feed low, and ab­stain from rich and delicious fare, to Eat and Drink [Page 88] only to satisfie Nature, without endeavouring to humour your Palats, or satiate your Appetite, will by degrees moderate your Lusts. Fasting for whole Days, and then to return to a full Table and Ex­cess, is not the way to cast out this Devil; for it is (as a WorthyBishop Taylor. Prelate of our Church observes) a Flatulent airy Spirit which an Empty Windy Sto­mach gives Life and Motion to. It must be a con­stant Abstinence in the moderate use of coarse and homely Fare, such as will not be prejudicial to your Health, that will be of greatest Force to subdue your Corrupt Natures, and to beat down those In­surrections which ever and anon arise, and raise a Civil War between your outward and your inward Man.

8ly, To that of Fasting, and all the other fore­mentioned Helps, add that of Frequent Prayer: All the rest without this are but as dead Letters: Herein the Soul owns its weakness, and acknow­ledgeth that 'tis not in Man to direct his ways; sen­sible whereof it sends up this winged Messenger of Prayer to crave for Assistance from above, and ne­ver leaves intreating till some such Answer as this be given, My Grace is sufficient for thee. Be you in­stant therefore in imploring for the Spirit of Pu­rity, for Chast Thoughts, and Temperate Reins: Make such as these your daily and hourly requests, Create in us a Clean Heart, O Lord! and renew a right Spirit within us; wash us throughly from our Wickedness, and cleanse us from our Sin; Purge us with Hysop and we shall be clean, wash us and we shall be whiter than Snow; Purifie our Hearts, and search [Page 89] throughly if there be any Wickedness in us. And since your Prayers have no express promises of a success, unless your own Endeavours back them, take up Holy Job's Resolution of making a Covenant with your Eyes, that you will not look upon a Maid: And with David keep your Mouth as with a Bridle, that you offend not with your Tongue: Let your Hearts be filled with Chast desires, and your Minds employed in Contemplating on the Goodness and the Mercy of the Lord which should lead you to repentance: Let your hands be pure, and so lift them up to the Throne of Grace; and turn your Feet into the ways of Righteousness.Eph. 6.13, 14, 15, 16.17. Thus being Arm'd with the whole Armour of God, your Loins girded about with the Truth, and having the Breastplate of Righteousness; being shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace, and taking above all things the Shield of Faith (whereby you will be able to withstand the fiery Darts of the Devil) and the Hel­met of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit; you will be the better able to grapple against your Lusts, and be guarded against a Relapse, which oft proves more dangerous and desperate than the disease.

9thly, The Last Antidote commonly prescribed against Uncleanness is Marriage. By this holy Or­dinance God has taken off all reason of Complaint, and the Oppression, Tyranny, Injustice, and all other Invectives cast upon the Deity for implanting in Man such Naturals which must be satisfied, and for prohibiting the fullfilling of these by Express Laws, are quite wiped away; the Murmurings and Imputations of Cruelty, Severity, and the like are here silenced: And if the Letcher after such a Li­berty [Page 90] granted, shall continue in his Unlawful A­mours; if he shall forsake his own to Climb up in­to an Adulterous Bed; He has no plea drawn from the strength of Inclination, the bent of his Consti­tution, or the like, to excuse himself withal, not can he Charge the Sin any where but upon his own Corrupted and Vitiated Will. St. Paul seems to intimate as much, and declares this Honourable In­stitute was appointed to avoid Fornication. Not is it enough to forbear all unlawful and forbidden Embraces, nor even to abstain from what is Physi­cally, as well as Morally, Evil; but Even our allow­ed and warrantable Enjoyments must (like Physick) be taken moderately and with caution, lest our Remedy prove our Poyson. He that thinks because he is in lawful Circumstances, he may give his Lusts their full Swing, deceives himself; for that in Mar­riage a Man may be guilty of Sensuality is past dis­pute. 'Tis unquestionably true, that whoever transgresseth the Principal end of Marriage, viz. of Glorifying God, and subservient thereto those of Propagating our kind, of maintaining Mutual Socie­ty; and avoiding of Unlawful Lusts, has passed the boundaries of Nature, Reason and Religion all at once.

In the entring upon such a Sacred Rite, there are many things to be observed, and seriously con­sidered, both by the betrothed Parties and their Friends, in order to have the Marriage successfull and made in Heaven first, before the striking, of Hands, and the Plighting of Troths here on Earth: and for want of the due Consideration whereof a­rises so many Unhappy Matches, Family Distur­bances, and Civil Broils; so frequent Separations [Page 91] from, and Pollutions of the Conjugal Bed, which every day happen afresh in the World. I shall but just touch upon these Necessary Precautions, and so conclude this particular of Uncleanness.

As for you who have Adult Children of your own, or else are Guardians to such; Beware of de­barring them from entring into the state of Matri­mony, when either their Years, their Inclinations, their Affections, and their other Circumstances re­quire the same: Consult your Pupils in all respects, and be not (more than prudently) urgent in disswa­ding them from their own, or in perswading them into an Approbation of your Choice: In disposing of them, have an Eye more upon their Temporal Happiness, and their Eternal Good, than upon the Flattering Prospect of their being Noble, Rich, or Great: Covet not to Marry your Sons or Daugh­ters, or any other Relations committed to your Trust, into Families of a Higher Rank than your selves, and despise not to Match them with those of a Degree lower than you, especially where the Vir­tue and Generosity of the person can toss your lighter Scale of Birth and Fortune up to the Beam.

As for the Young parties, I desire they would not take ill the following Advice, before they put on the Wedding Suit, which will not cost them so much, and perhaps do them more Service. Be sure then to avoid all Hasty, sudden, and Unpremeditated fits of Passion: Love not for Lusts sake, and Idolize none for their Beauty, Wit, Strength and Fortune, lest your Affection be no more than Skin-deep; call in Wiser Heads to advise in so Weighty a Cause, and if your Modesty or any other reason will not admit you to ask your Friends advice therein, yet [Page 92] be pleased to think God worthy to be of your Council: In a word let no Object Charm you but what has the Lineaments of Virtue, and the Endowments of a Noble Mind, which with, or without the out­ward Qualifications, are of force only to Captivate our Souls. Hence it is that we perceive the Love, grounded upon these External Objects only, to be short-liv'd and Transient, soon Hot, and soon Cold; lasting no longer than the Object appears to be Beautiful, Strong, Witty and Wealthy, and grow­ing Nauseous when Impotency, Wither'd Age, or Poverty over-takes them, and often before: whilst the more substantial Love, founded upon and raised by the inward Ornament of the Mind, gives Life to the Love of outward, and maintains its own Flame within, when all the Fuel administred from without is taken away. This Noble Intellectual Love Unites and Consolidates the Parties tho' in Rags and Poverty, tho' in Gray-Hairs and Wrinkles, and breaths after a Union beyond this and the Grave. This is that Love, we should be all inflamed with, and desire to Contract with each other, not because we have Painted Faces, and a handsomer piece of Clay for our Share than others are Moulded into, or because we have more of Giddy Fortunes Favours; but be­cause of those inward Ornaments of Piety and De­votion, of Sobriety and Temperance, of Modesty and Humility, of Chastity and Charity, of Meek­ness and Affability, which set off the subject in which they are inherent with such invincible and ir­resistible Charms, as no being above a Brute can forbear to be inamoured with.

Of the Profanation of the Lord's Day. CHAP. IV.

The Reasons of keeping Holy the first Day of the Week instead of the Seventh. The Lord's Day, How and by whom profaned, viz. I. By neglecting the Publick Ordinances of the Church. II. The Private Duties of the Family. III. By Exercising our ordinary Callings thereon, whether by our selves, our Servants, or our Beasts. IV. By publickly Exposing to Sale. An Objection answered, and what Works are Law­ful to be done. V. By works of the Flesh, such as (1.) Tipling, (2.) Feasting, (3.) Gaming, (4.) Dancing and Singing, (5.) Country Revellings and Riots. And earnest Expostulation and Exhortation for Celebrating the Lord's Day: Rules for it, viz. 1. Preparation on the Eve. 2. Frequenting the Pub­lick Ordinances of the Church. 3. Family Duties. Motives thereto drawn from the benefits of observing it; and the Mischiefs of Profaning it both to Private Persons, and to the Publick.

THat to serve the Invisible God (by whom we Live, Move, and have our Being) in the whole course of our Lives is a main End for which we were Created: That every Day and Hour should be Holy unto the Lord; that we should have the Fear of Him always before our Eyes: That every Moment of our time is truely His, is indisputable. But forasmuch as we are but Men, in a little lower [Page 94] degree then those Blessed Spirits whose task and Hap­piness it is to be employed continually in Contem­plating, Adoring and Praising their great Creator; and whereas since the Fall we are placed in such circumstances as require the sweat of our Brows, and the Expence of a great part of our time in the procuring the Necessaries of this Life; we can­not so readily bestow all our hours on Religious Exercises. Nor doth God require we should, but dispenses with the greatest part of our Lives, and only appoints a seventh part of the whole for the more Solemn and Immediate Acts of Divine Worship; and is pleased so to Order it that every Action in our Ordinary Callings may be such as may Glorifie our Father which is in Heaven: Our Fields and Gar­dens, Our Shops and Studies, Our Dining-Rooms and Closets may be all Sanctified by a Religious and Holy Life: Sobriety and Modesty, Temperance, and Moderation may make our very Diversions and Recreations Holy. But then we are not to stick here, our walking with God in the Private Duties of our several stations, Exempts us not from the Publick Adoration of Him in the Congregation of the Faithful. For as the Lord of Hosts has been near­ly conce [...]ned in appointing the Persons by Whom, the Manner How, and the Place Where, so has he shewed no less Regard in assigning the Time When, he will be more peculiarly Worshipped. This He did at the very first Creation, sanctifie the Seventh Day resting thereon from all His Works which he had made; and to the Jews he appointed a Seventh Day to be kept Holy. So great a Veneration was [...] b [...] the M [...]sai [...] Law bestowed on that Mystical [...], that every Seventh Year was appointed for a [Page 95] Sabbath of rest; and every Seventh of these Saba­baths of Rest was a Jubilee unto the People o Israel.

2.The Reasons for keep­ing the First Day of the Week Holy, in­stead of the Seventh, considered. I shall not here run into needless Disputes about the Changing of the Sabbath from the Seventh to the First day of the Week, Reasons for it in a Christian Nation are superfluous; and it is to be observed none cavil so much about it as those, that would be glad, if there were no time at all allot­ted for those Sacred Solemnities. 'Tis true, there was some Scuffle in the Primitive Times in the Eastern and Western Churches about this Matter, One keeping the Jewish on the Seventh Day of the Week, the O­thers observing the Christian Sabbath on the Lord's Day, the first of the Week: but the general Assent that was given by all the Church soon after, shewed the Celebration of the Lord's Day to be of Apostolical Institution, and not ordained by Human Tradition. For a scrupulous Conscience (if any such there be in this Profane Age) it may be sufficient to consider, that the very Jews did not observe the precise Nu­merical Seventh Day from the Creation, but a Seventh, counting from the Day of their Deliverance from the Land of Aegypt: Nor could they be so strict in Sanctifying precisely their own Seventh Day, since after the Commandment was written, the Sun stood still for the space of a whole Day on Gibeon, and went back 10 Degrees in the time of Hezekiah: But besides the uncertainty the Jews were in them­selves, of keeping their Sabbath on a precise Day, there is another Consideration which renders it [Page 96] impossible for all Nations to keep the same Sabbath all the World over at one instant of Time, and that is the Diversity of Meridians, and the inequa­lity of the Rising and Setting of the Sun, which causeth the Days in one place to vary from what they are in another, in some 6, in others 12 Hours difference. The reasonableness of Transla­ting the Sabbath from one Day to another will ap­pear more, if we consider the many Memorable Passages of the Old Testament which shadow out this Change unto us, as well as those Remarkable Instances of the New, which all happened on this first day of the Week. On this Day God began the work of Creation, to build the curious Fabrick of the World, and to Form all Beings out of that Chaos in which they were at first involved; and it is very probable he designed as much Honour should be paid to the Memory of this great Day, as of That in which he had finished all: On this Day (as a Hebrew Author Observes) the Cloud of God's Glo­rious Majesty sat first upon his People, then did Aaron and his Children first enter upon and Exe­cute their Priesthood; and thereon did God first solemnly Bless his People Israel. This is the Day (as David Prophesying of the Resurrection of Christ testi­fies) which the Lord has made, let us rejoyce and be glad therein. And how great, wondrous and asto­nishing things were done on this Day under the Gospel dispensation? It was on This day that Christ finished the Glorious Work of our Redemption, and rose again from the Dead for our Justification. On this first Day of the Week did He appear after his Resurrection to his Disciples several times; On this Day fell the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles as [Page 97] they were assembled together; and at the same time upon St. Peter's Sermon were there added no less than three thousand Souls to the Church; On this Day was it that the Disciples afterwards met frequently together to break Bread, and to lay up their Charitable Contributions for the use of the Poor.

3.The Lord's day How and by whom Pro­faned. These things being pre­mised, I proceed to consider how Shamefully and Odiously the So­lemnities of this Day are slighted, derided, and Pro­faned by this our Corrupt and Dissolute Age. And herein I could wish the Openly Debauched and Li­centious person were the only Delinquent. But alas! if we deal Impartially, we shall find many of those, who seem to look Wisely, and would be an­gry if you called them by any other Name than that of Christian, to be deficient enough in this respect. ‘They tell you Judaism only required so strict an Observation of the Sabbath; that Christ the Lord of the Sabbath has remitted that rigour with which the Mosaic Law obliged its followers; That it is Puritanical, Enthusiastick Zeal which spurs on some to be so Religiously given on this Day.’ This is no invented Account grounded upon a mere Hypothesis, but what is to be seen by every Days Experience: And if none else can bear me Witness of the truth hereof, yet I might appeal to some Judicious Mens Opinions, who have declared the Suppressing of the Profanation of the Lords-Day to be triffling, Nugatory, and little less than a Grievance to the Subject. So little is the Concern which Men now a-days have for God and Religion; and such [Page 98] slighting thoughts do they bear to the Divinity of the Lord's Day. I know not what Church allows so much Licentiousness thereon, sure I am the Church of England is far from it in her Doctrines and Dis­cipline, let her pretended Followers use their Chri­stian Liberty for a Cloak of Wickedness as long as they please.

4. Who can forbear lamenting the sad Degene­racy and Apostacy of the Age, wherein to reform from Superstition is to run upon the other Extream and be Profane, wherein the Cure of Pharisaical Hypocrisie consists in being openly loose and Debauched, wherein to plead for the Keeping holy the Lords-Day is Malepertness in the Minister; Cant, Imper­tinencie and Presbyterianism in a Private Person? But notwithstanding all this I shall pursue my design in tracing the Profane and Irreligious in all His By-Paths and transgressions, to lay open the several Ways by which he Violates this Holy Institution, and drive him or shame him if possible into the Power, as well as the Form of Godliness.

5. One would think in Complaisance to the fa­shion, and in Conformity to the Custom of the Country wherein they Live,The Lords-Day is pro­faned. First by neg­lecting to c [...]me to the publick Ordinances of the Church. there should be none but what went to one Assembly or another, but we have too many who neither go to Church, nor to any other place of Divine Worship tolerated by Law on that Day. ‘Can't God, (say they) be served as well at Home, as in the Publick Con­gregation? Will not our Reading a good Book [Page 99] profit as well in our own Houses, as the Hearing of a Sermon in the more frequented Oratories? Will the Churches contain the confluence of Audi­tors? Will our Absence or Presence lessen or augment the number of the Faithful? Had not we better tarry away than go with unprepared Hearts, to fleep or stare away the time?’ Such as these are the Evasions made now a-days by many: but, (Poor Creatures!) little do they consider who it is that suggests those Idle Reasonings into them, else they would see clearly that 'tis Gods Command that we, by keeping Holy this His blessed Day, might meditate on his Glorious Works of our Cre­ation and Redemption, and learn how to know and to keep all the rest of his Holy Laws and Com­mandments. This is the Market-Day of our Souls, and where should we go to buy the Food of Angels and the Waters of Life, the Wine of the Sacra­ment, and the Milk of the Word of God to feed our drooping Souls, but at those Ordinances where they are to be had without Money, and without Price? Where should we receive the precious Eye-salve to Unscale our benighted Eyes, and heal our Spiritual Blindness, but from those Spiritual Physitians? How can our wounded Consciences, and troubled Spirits, and broken Hearts be cured of their Maladies, unless we come there where the Balm of Gilead drops from the Lips of the Preacher? Besides in this publick Ordinance of the Church we own God to be not on­ly the Lord and Maker of every Individual person, but to be the Head of the Mystical Body, to be the Sovereign over the Universal World.

6. There are others who are constant in the Publick Congrega­tion, Secondly, By neg­lecting the Private Duties of the Family. make as it were a Consci­ence of going Morning and Even­ing to Church; but then this is all they think is re­quired at their Hands. If you should tell them of Repetition, Meditation, Family-Duties, Catechising, Exhorting, &c. ‘They must beg your Pardon there. They do not design to make the Lord's Day a Burden to them. They will not turn their Houses into Conventicles, They will not be Righteous over much, they must be excused from being singu­lar: And they will not differ from their Neigh­bours.’ This and the like Language you shall be sure to find from most. For (God knows) to the shame of Christianity, Men are so stupid and cold; so Luke-warm and indifferent in their Great Concern, that it is well if a Prayer be said in a Private Family Once a Week: And what is more to be lamented, That is wanting also in most Houses. And when the Master of the House is so remiss, no wonder if the Servants and Children trifle away the Remainder of the Day; and after His Example, grow as un­concerned in their Private and Closet Duties, as he was in the more publick Ones of His Family. Nay more; it is to be feared he himself is as seldom in Secret, as he cares to be Openly Good and Pious. I would not be thought Uncharitable, and therefore leave the Judging of their retired Thoughts to Him whose only Jurisdiction it is to know and discern the Secrets of all Hearts; and pass on to the Con­sideration of the next way, by which men may be said to profane this Holy Day, viz.

7. By following the Works of their Ordinary callings either by themselves, their Servants, Thirdly, The Lords-Day profaned by fol­lowing our Ordinary Callings by Our selves, Servants, or Beasts. or their Beasts. If the neglect of Sancti­fying the Lords-Day by our Pub­lick and Private Duties be a Pro­fanation thereof, How much more then is it pro­fane to violate it by any servile Labour or forbid­den vocation? It is the Express Letter of the Com­mand, that on this Day we should do no manner of Work, neither we, nor our Sons, nor our Daughters, nor our Men-Servants, nor our Maid-Servants, nor our Cattel, nor the Stranger that is within our Gates. How then shall they Answer the Outfacing of so strict a Command, who shall presume contrary to both God's and Humane Laws to follow their Ordi­nary Imployment thereon, whether by Themselves, their Servants, or their Beasts? And with these I must beg leave to Expostulate a while. ‘Are not six Days enough to bestow on this World, and the Concerns thereof? Cannot you spare one day in Seven to cease from your Labours? Will you be so cruel as to give your selves no respite from the fatigues of Toyl and Business? Shall the Ten Commandments, and the Constitutions of a Chri­stian Government be kinder to your Nature, and more Compassionate thereto than you your selves? And is it not enough to afflict your own Bodies and rob your own Souls of that Spiritual Nou­rishment, but you must lay burthens upon your Servants, and deprive them of that Advantage which they might reap by the Religious Observa­tion of this Day.’ 'Tis sad to reflect upon the many Unfortunate Servants who are Articled under [Page 102] such Pagan-Christian Masters, and I cannot forbear bestowing a Sigh and a Tear or two at their unal­terable Calamity. For this our Metropolitan City, without looking further, can furnish us with many Hundreds (I wish I could not say Thousands) of those Unsanctified Wretches, who having not the fear of God before their Own Eyes, care not how little those that do belong to them are instructed in the Points of Religion. And as they are for cut­ting off all other Opportunities of their growing in Grace, so are they carefull to debar them of This season of improving themselves therein by Sanctify­ing the Lords Day. Thus is the Miserable Young-man, by a Seven Years irreligious Course of Life, become at last as Stupid and Profane a Person as his Master before him: And when out of his Time it is seldom that ever he recollects himself, but deals as hardly with his own Apprentice. And can we expect the Profane Wretch would be more merci­ful to his Beasts? No certainly, He would use them as hardly as his Servants, were not the Laws of our Land strict in the restraining of such unac­countable Cruelties. And truly it is as much as the Magistrate can do, to keep the Traveller from his unnecessary Journeys, and to debar the Hackney-Coaches from plying in our very Streets on the Lords-Day.

8. And Here I cannot but wish the Gentry would forbear their visiting the Churches in State, and contrive a better way of going thither then in their Ceremonial Chariots. 'Tis true, their Beasts may not be put to hard Service, but then their Coach­men, who have Souls as precious in the Eyes of the [Page 103] Lord as any others, lose the Priviledge of the Pub­lick Ordinances by being forced to attend and look to their Coach and Horses at the Church doors. I speak not this to affront any, but only to put them in mind of contriving ways (if they must be Coach­ed to Church) so to dispose of their Coach and Horses, that their Servants as well as Themselves may have the Benefit of serving their Common and Great Master

9. But to return, there is (besides this of Labour) another way by which the Lords-Day is profaned,Fourthly, The Lords-D [...]y profaned by pub­lickly Exposing to sale. and that is by publickly Exposing Goods to sale thereon. This is that which Righ­teous Nehemiah could not endure, when he contended with the Rulers of Israel, and would not suffer the Carriers nor the Merchants of the Land to bring up their Wares to Jerusalem on the Sabbath-Day, Neh. 13. And how small a Matter soever it may seem to some in our times, yet by Him it was reckoned the cause for which God plagued Israel, and suffered them to be led Captive intO a strange Land. And without doubt our Legislators of the Last Age, and the BeginningStatute 29. Car. 2. of this, were of Opinion that the suffer­ing the least Ware to be sold off on the Lords-Day would prove an Introduction to a greater Profane­ness: which made them prohibit the Exposing of any Commodity to sale thereon, upon the Forfei­ture of all so Exposed (be it of never so great a value) which was to be sold, and the Money con­verted to the use of the Poor. And truly they who now take it ill, should they for the selling of a Trifle [Page 104] be forced to pay the Penalty which the Statutes of our Land require, will hereafter think that Punish­ment easie and Light to what they shall then feel from the great Lawgiver, when they shall give up their Last accounts.

10. And here some one may say;An Objection An­swered, and what Works may Lawfully be done on the Lords-Day. Sure this must be some Puri­tan; How strict he is? What will be allow nothing to be done this Day? Must we do no manner of Work thereon? Does God require we should be tyed up from all Motion and Action, but that of the Soul and Spirit? Is it not better to Work than Sin on this Day? To which I reply, Ex Confesso it must be granted that there are three sorts of Works which the strictest Christian may on this Day per­form, viz. Works of absolute Necessity, not fained or which might have been done the Day before, or may be done the Day after: Works of Charity; and lastly, Works of Piety. Beyond these, none may lawfully use his Christian Liberty; Nor did our Saviour re­lax any thing of the strictness save in these respects. As to that, whether it is not better to Work than to Sin on this Day; True it is, SaintIn tit. Ps. 91. Austin's Opinion is so, affirming that it is better to Plough than to Dance on the Lords-Day. But then it is not thence to be concluded, that the Greater destroys the Less, or that the Guilt of Profaning this Holy and Blessed Day by our Ordi­nary calling is less in its own Nature, because it can be Violated by a more Horrid and aggravated Sin.

11. But to proceed, if the doing that upon this Day, Fifthly, The Lords-Day profaned by the Works of the Flesh, such as are, first, Tip­ling thereon. which at another time is both Lawful and Necessary to be done, be so great an Offence (as certainly it is;) How extreamly must the Crime be aggravated when we do that thereon, which is Unlawful, or at least Unnecessary to be done at any other Time? Such as the Works of the Flesh, to wit; Carousing, Feasting, Dancing, Sing­ing, Gaming, Rioting, and the like. Tho' the Naming of these is abominable to any serious Man, yet the Practise of them is so Universal and Com­mon, that there is a Necessity, as it were, of insist­ing some time upon each of them.

12. 'Tis strange methinks that Men should be so absurd as to imagine the small service they pay to God by an Hour or two upon a Sunday, should to­lerate them in serving of Sin and Satan all the Day and all the Week after. Yet it is too true to need any Demonstration, that most, especially of the Infe­riour Rank of Men, are no sooner out of a Church, but strait you find them in an Alehouse or a Tavern; where they do not, as they pretend, go only to sa­tisfie their Natures, but to spend, on that their Idle Day, all the Profit and Gain of the foregoing Week. An Intolerable thing this! And a Profanation not to be endured in any Civil much less in a Christian Society, notwithstanding the Cry of all the Ale-House-keepers and Vintners to the Contrary: Who will give out (where their Complaints can be ad­mitted the Hearing) that the Suppressing of Tipling on the Lords-Day would tend Immediately to their [Page 106] Ruin and Destruction. But better it is they should Murmur, than that the whole Land Mourn; better they should lose the taking of Pounds, than so many Wives and Children should be undone and Perish by reason of the Extravagancie of the Man. Will those Inn-keepers and Vintners supply the wants of the Indigent Wife and Children, when they are by their means reduced to beggery? Will the Host or Hostess exchange their draughts of cold Water for a Cup of small Beer? No, it is certain the Man himself shall not be welcom without Money in his Pocket, tho' he has spent his All to Enrich them, and Mortgaged his Estate to the Tap and Tankard.

13. Another sort of Profanation of this Holy Ordinance is by Luxurious Feast­ings,A second Work of the F [...]esh, is Feasting on the Lords Day.and Voluptuous Entertain­ments, too common on this Day. It is true this Day is a Festival, but such a One as ought not to be Dedicated to a­ny but to the Memory of a Crucified Redeemer. A Festival indeed it is, in which the Soul (not the Body) should be Glutted with good things: in which we should strive not for the Meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth to Everlasting Life; in which we should thirst after the Living Water, and Hunger after the Bread of Life which is able to make us Live for ever. The sincere Milk of the Word, the Flesh, and Blood of a Dying Saviour are indeed Dainties and Repasts, which every faithful Soul is satisfied with, and Breatheth after. But Gluttony and Gor­mandizing, Pampering and High-feeding, are but pitiful subsequents of a Morning Sermon, and worse Preparatives for an Afternoons Lecture. Were [Page 107] Hospitality and feeding the Poor at the Bottom of those Feasts, there might be something said in Ex­cuse thereof. But forasmuch as the Cost and Luxury of the Treats is but barely to keep up Mutual Cor­respondence, and to return former Entertainments, they might be very well let alone till some more sea­sonable Time. All that I can conceive may be al­ledged in favour hereof is, that the Sanctity of the Day may have some Influence upon the Guests to keep them within the Bounds of Sobriety and Tem­perance. But alass! there is no such Notice taken, nor has it any Influence to with-hold the Epicure from his Excess, as is evident enough to any who have been at those Luxurious Tables. And what is the mind, after such Repletions, good for? Can the full fraught Stomach forbear sending up its fumes into the Drouzie Head, which cannot hold from sleeping one single Hour? No certainly we find the Unhappy Creature, tho' he has so much grace left to come to Church after his Epicurean Dinner, yet overtaken with sleep before Prayers be half said, and in his Slumbers before the Minister has named his Text twice over. And can we think God is well pleased with such a Man's Sacrifice? Can the most Charitable Christian now living allow such a stupid Soul to have Sanctified the Lords-Day aright?

14. But to prevent this, Others are so cautious as not to go to Church at all;A Third work of the flesh is Gaming on this Day. and the Cloth re­moved, they betake themselves (to what they then are most fit for) to Softness and Effeminacy, to Gaming and Dancing, to Singing and telling of Idle Stories. 'Tis very well known how [Page 108] many (I wish I could not say of the Higher Rank of) Men spend the Close, if not the greatest part of the Lords-Day: Not in Reading and Meditating, not in Instructing and Praying with their Families, but at Chess or Tables, at Cards or Dice. I would very willingly know whether their Time is so much Employed on other Days, that they are so forward to set this Day apart too for their Sports and Pastimes. Shall the Devil not only Engross the Week-Days, but have the Sunday spent in his Service too? Strange and Horrible this! That Men should be so Insatuated and Enslaved; so Bewitched and In­veigled to their Idle Pleasures, as to bestow all their time both secular and sacred upon them.

15. But this is not all, to fill up the measure of Iniquity they must have their An­ticks and their Merry strains on this Holy Day. A fourth Work of the Flesh is Dancing and Profane Singing on this Day. They cannot go to Bed without a Song or a Dance to refresh their drooping Spirits. Poor Hearts! They have been fatigued with the long and tedious Duties of the Day, have with pa­tience undergone the Burthen thereof; and attended (till they were weary) to Mr. Parsons Discourse of an Hour long: And must they be debarred from a harmless Diversion, which hurts no body, and is an Offence to none but meddling Fools, and unaccoun­tably-scrupulous Puritans? Perhaps this might be tolerable, were it not attended (as is most commonly) with Masqueradings and Balls of half a Nights Con­tinuance. But shall such Farce and Sonnetting go down? Shall such Fooleries and Apishness make up the Con­clusion of the Sunday? Shall Singing of Divine An­thems, [Page 109] Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, so much recom­mended by St. James, and so much in use among the truly merry-hearted Primitive Christians be a­bus'd, ridicul'd, and laid aside by most? And shall the Melodious Harmony of the Saints, and the Con­sort we may hold with the Heavenly Host be Conver­ted into Obscene Modern Songs, which would not take at any other time, were it not for the Panda­rism of a Musical Composure?

16. But as yet we have seen but the best part, the foulest is still behind, what I have said of the two last ways by which the Lords-Day is pro­faned, to wit,The last way w [...]ereby the Lords-day is pro­faned, viz. By Coun­try Revellings and Riots. by Singing and Dancing, is what the Civilized Citizens and more Gentile Cour­tiers are guilty of: But if you step into the Country, you will see Franticks as well as Anticks on this Sa­cred Day. No sooner is the Evening-service over, but you would think Hell it self were broke loose, and that every Parish and Village were a Universal Bedlam. They are Sober indeed who keep House, and pass away the time in some idle Romantick Discourse, and are not seen with the more Licenti­ous Multitude. But good God! What Routs and Disorders, what Cudgel-playing, and Wrest-ling, what Races and Foot-Ball Matches are set on foot in their open Fields on this Great Solemnity? Dancings and R [...]vellings, May-games and Wakes are so Customary that if you offer to suppress them, you incroach upon the Priviledge to the Subject. Nor is this their Practise only on a Licentious Carnival, or a Jovial Whitsuntide, but on every Sunday in the Year. Not [Page 110] is it the Custom of any peculiar Place, but almost of every Village, Division, Hundred and County in the whole Kingdom. This Pest reigns in every Air, this Plague is Predominant in every Clyme, and this Profane Infection has taken hold of every Quarter and Corner of the Nation.

17. But Brutes that you are! How unreasonably do you style your selves Christi­ans,An earnest Expostu­lation and Exhortati­on for the duly Cele­brating the Lords Day. when as you do that on the Lords-Day which a Modest Hea­then would blush to do at any time? Are there any Pagans in Nature worse than your selves in Practise? What is it you think of? Are your Sports and Pastimes, your Routs and Revellings all the Even­ing Sacrifice God is like to have at your Hands? Will those be an Incense of a sweet savour unto his Nostrils? Is God the Master of your time, and are you accountable to him for All, and must the more precious Minutes thereof be Squandered away at this Rate? Can you find no leisure Hours from your Business to recreate your Bodies, but the day which the Lord has set apart for himself? Must that be your Vacation, your Play-day? Ʋngrateful Wretches that you are! Had God desired some Great thing at your Hands, could you have denied him, since your Breath, your Lives, your All, are of and from him? And can you, when he only bids you remember the Seventh Day to keep it Holy, find tricks and ways how to rob him of his right in that too? Monsters of Ingratitude! Where is your Love, where is your Du [...]y, where is your Thankfulness, and where is your Obedience to that Being by whose Permission [Page 111] alone it is that you breath out of Hell one Moment? What hinders but you may be Zealous in Observing this Sacred Day? Are you afraid the Church will disown you for being righteous overmuch? Are there any stronger Encouragements to be Zea­lous unto good Works, than what are to be found within her Bosom? Is it a disgrace for a Church of England-Man to be strict in obeying God's Com­mands? Is the Name of Precisian, Singular, or Pu­ritan so powerful to frighten you from walking ac­cording to the Precepts of our Blessed Saviour? Are you afraid or ashamed to be His followers? Why than do you affix His Name before yours? And take it as an affront if you are called by any other Name than that of Christian? Be persuaded than to be Christians indeed, to bear a Reverential Zeal and Fear to all that belongs to God, to his Attributes, to his Name, to his Word, to his Works, and to his Day. For the Celebration of the Last of which, take these following Rules.

18.Some Rules laid down for the right Obser­vation of the Sabbath. First, Preparation on the Eve. Prepare thy Heart for this Great Solemnity. If there was so much Devotion and Decorum, so much Preparation and Cleansing re­quisite for the Receiving the Law, the Approaching the Ark, and the Entring into the Tabernacle, and they were punished with Death who were rash and Unprepared in their Approaches; How much more should we provide our selves for the partaking of the Holy Mysteries under the Gos­pel Dispensation? And how dangerously Guilty are those who heedlesly and rashly run into those Holy Ordinances? Keep thy foot when thou goest into the [Page 112] House of the Lord, is Solomon's advice; and it was not the not Washing of the Hands, but the unclean, unpurified Heart that our Saviour condemned in the Pharisees. He that so uses the world as tho' he used it not, and has God always before his Eyes, is a continual Sacrifice, and needs not much blowing to raise up his Soul into a Flame. But the Carking Worlding, who all the Week is fastned to this Earth, should take some time to disintangle his thoughts, and make them ready for Spiritual Objects. He would do well to leave off his Business as early as conveniently he can on the Eve of every Lords-Day: to call himself to account, and see how cases stand betwixt God and his own Soul. He would do well to retire into his Chamber, to commune with his own Heart, to search it throughly, and to examine whether he be sensible of that Majesty before whom he must on the Morrow appear. 'Tis for want of this Premeditation that the Heart relishes Spirituals so ill on the Day they are offered to it; that it is so soon cloyed and glutted with sacred things, which had the Mind been prepared would have lain well upon, and been easily digested by the Soul.

19. Having thus provided for the Approaching Solemnity, and made His Ad­dresses in His Closet to the God who hears in Secret,Secondly, Frequenting the Publick Ordinan­ces of the Church. He will find it no such Difficult matter to be present at, and demean himself decently and de­voutly in the Publick Ordinances of the Church; and to stay them out were they something longer than they are. And here the Devout Soul needs not to be admonished, tho' the Lazy, unprepared [Page 113] and unsanctified Hearts should be put in Mind, to consider in whose presence it is that they then ap­pear: that they may be struck with an awful Reve­rence, and an humble Fear of that Majesty with whom they then and there more immediately converse. It is the Assembly of the Saints, the Congregation of the Faithful, the Confluence of God's Elect, a Cho­sen Generation, a Royal Priesthood, a Peculiar People, a Holy Nation, that they then and there represent, to shew forth the Praises of him who hath called them out of Darkness into his marvellous Light. 1 Pet. 2.9. Oh how should such thoughts inflame them to lift up pure Hands, to cast up pure Eyes, to dart up pure Affe­ctions, to lift up a clean Heart, and to pour out Holy Prayers before the Throne of Grace! How should such thoughts make them joyn with the Minister in that admirable Form of Morning and Evening Prayer the Church in her Liturgy has pre­pared to their Hands; the Excellency of which ap­pears to none more than to the truly Pious, Fixed, Warm, and attentive Soul! How should they be in­flamed with Love, and not only offer up their Pray­ers, but their Praises also to that Being who gives them the Cause, the Power, and the Faculty to Praise! How should they run out to meet God in his Ordinances; to Hearken to his Messengers shod with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace! How would they be Enamoured with the Mercies, sup­ported by the Promises, and forewarned by the Judg­ments and Threatnings of the most High! How will their Instructed Minds, and Informed Wills breath after a Spiritual Participation of the Bread of Life, and the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant! And in this Mysterious Solemnity a Devout Communicant [Page 114] would not come to offer but to receive his Crucified Master, he would sacrifice his Sins, and offer up him­self a Living sacrifice Holy, and Acceptable unto God, which is his reasonable service. He would offer up his Ʋnderstanding, his Will, his Affections, his Passions, his All to be directed, governed and guided by the Royal Will and Pleasure of Heaven.

20. Were every Christian that goes to Church thus affected (as in some degree all must be that will sanctifie the Lords-Day aright) He would not find it so difficult to consecrate the Remainder there­of at Home, Thirdly, By Family Duties. and in his Closet. He would not then think it Puritanical or a business Indifferent, but ab­solutely necessary and indispensable to take care that He and his House serve the Lord, not only in the publick Solemnities of the Church, but in the more retired Duties of the Family. He would not then be ashamed, nor esteem it tedious and irksom, to spend the Close in Reading, Exhorting, Meditating, and Contemplating, in Praying to and Praising of the Holy, Blessed and Glorious Trinity: But would think it his Happiness, his Joy, and his Delight. For this inward, Spiritual and Caelestial Pleasure I appeal to those who have tasted what a Sweet and Pleasant thing it is to be thankful, Holy and Zealous­ly Religious on this Day.

Motives for the keep­ing of the Lords-Day Ho [...]y, [...]rawn from the the Consideration of the Benefits of Observing it, and the Mischiefs of Profaning it both to priv [...]te Persons and to th [...] Publick.21. And if the Charms of this Festivity rightly observed, be not of force enough to prevail with [Page 115] the Profane to come in and joyn with the strictly Pious, yet the Consideration of the Benefits that Redound from a Due observation of the Lords-Day, [...]nd the Mischiefs of Profaning it that Infest every in­dividual Person as well as the Publick will I hope per­swade him to think it his Interest as well as Duty to be strict and exact in remembring a Seventh Day to keep it Holy.

22. The first Benefit that na­turally flows from the due Obser­vance of the Lords-Day is the up­holding a sence of Religion in the Person that thus Observes it. The first Benefit of sanctifying the Lords-Day is the upholding a sence of Religion in us. It is on this Day that we are taught our particular Duties of Living Soberly, Righteously and Godly in this present World. It is then Grace is administred to the Hearers; Grace to assist them in performing what is commanded, and Grace to resist and avoid the Temptations of doing Evil. Then are we told of a Heaven and the joys thereof laid up in store for all such as truly Love, Fear, Obey, and Believe in God; and are acquainted with a Hell that is prepared for the Unbelievers and Pro­fane. There we have the faculties of our Souls en­lightened, our Understandings cleared, our Wills rectified, our passions subjected to our Reasons, and our Outward in all things made subservient to our Inward Man. It is then we have our Faith, Hope, and Charity, Our Love, Patience, Meekness and Humi­lity, Our Sobriety, Temperance and Chastity, and all the other Virtues of a Christian and Holy Life re­vived, renewed, enlarged, regulated and appropri­ated to their propet Objects. Then (in a Word) [Page 116] we Learn to Glorifie God the Father who hath Cre­ated us, to adore God the Son who hath Redeemed us, to Reverence God the Holy Ghost who hath San­ctified us, and to Bless and Magnifie the Trinity in the Ʋnity, who by such mysterious Works of Mercy has brought such mighty things to pass. And it is then we are exhorted to be Merciful as our Heavenly Father is Merciful, and to Love him because he first Loved us; to imitate the Holy Jesus, to be like him, and to be conformable to his Sufferings, to be Meek, Pure, and Humble as he was.

23. But should we look on the other side we shall find the D [...]sho­nouring God in his Day to be the ready Road to the not honouring him in any thing else. The first Mischief of Profaning the Lords-Day. It being the Opinion and Obser­vation of the Best and Wisest of Men, that were the Sanctification of the Lords-Day laid aside, in less than an Age the Christian World would turn Pagans and Infidels. And I am afraid half that time would do the business effectually. For if we can dispense with so strict a Command, what other is it that we can boggle at? The violation of this Precept is ma­nifestly the I [...]let to all the Immoralities Humane Nature is capable of. If we once lose our Zeal and Fervour for Religion in any one part, we quickly grow Lukewarm in the whole, and at last we become quite Cold and Dead, and irrecoverably stupid in a continual course of Profaness and Impiety. Nemo repente fuit Turpissimus (says theJuvenal. Poet) but the Wretch never attains to the Height of Wickedness so soon, as when he makes the Profanation of the Lords-Day the [Page 117] first step thereunto. It is by our Absence from Ho­ly Duties in Publick that we come to leave off those in Private too; that we lose our true Notions of the Godhead; that we have but Glimmering Ap­prehensions of the Joys and Torments of another World, being taken up only with such as are pre­sent and affect our Sence; that we think all the Vir­tues of an Holy Life to be but Sham and Invention; that we esteem Vices Natural, and to have nothing condemnable in them; that our Hearts become har­dened, and our Consciences seared, our Reason blinded, our Ʋnderstandings darkened, our Wills depraved, and our Passions Headstrong. And to conclude, it is from this that our Souls lose more and more their Original Purity, forget their own Divine Nature, and dishonour themselves by stoop­ing with the Body to low, base, and unbecoming Enjoyments. And no wonder when the Master-Beam is removed, and the chief Pillar of the Fa­brick gone, but the Superstructure soon follows and falls to the Ground. Nor is it strange the Man should not be able to withstand the Torrent of Vice, when with his own hand he opens the Sluce, and lets the Impetuous stream break in upon him.

24. The next Benefit of Sanctifying the Lords-Day is that it weans us from the eager pursuit of Worldly Things; A second Benefit is the weaning us from this World. This solemn Sequestration of our thoughts from Earthly, carries them out to Heavenly subjects: and by contempla­ting on the Joys and Glories of another World we lose our Veneration and Esteem for this; and by being raised above this Worlds Enjoyments we have [Page 118] an opportunity of seeing what a Point it is we are too apt to doat on, and what mighty Nothings they are which so often captivate our Souls and lead them on to their own Destruction. By Con­templating of the Crowns and Diadems of the Hea­venly Jerusalem, we moderate our Desires as to the Conveniences as well as pleasures of this Life: By Meditating on the Eternity which is just ready to Succeed, we are informed of the Inconstancy and Swiftness of this Moment, this Span of time we New enjoy. By Contemplating the Durableness of all Caelestial Fruitions we come to know that this World vanisheth away, and the Fashion thereof is every day upon its Alteration. By Considering the Immortality of our better Parts we are instructed how Frail, Mortal, and Short-liv'd our Earthly Ta­bernacles are. To conclude, by being Fixed and Spiritualized, by conceiving right Notions of God, and surveying the Charms and Endearments of those Mansions prepared for us above, we arrive to that height of Admiration, Love, and Esteem, as to ac­count all things but Dung and Dross that we may gain Christ; to breath earnestly to be dissolved, that we may be settled there, where true Joys are to be found.

25. But then on the other hand, we shall find those who slight God's Worship, so tyed down to this World, A second Mischief is that it makes us do [...]t upon the things of this World. doating upon, admiring, adoring, and ea­gerly pursuing after the things thereof: That they cannot so much as lift up a thought towards Heaven, their Mind is so busie and fixed upon this Earth. The [Page 119] Plummets of Care hang so heavy upon them, that they are always groveling here below; and tho they may cast up an Eye accidentally to­wards a Coelestial Canaan, yet their desires are still to remain on this side Jordan. Nay, such a one is so ravished with the Delights and Pleasures of this Life which affect his sense, and are present with him, that he has but faint, if any desires after those which are only Notional and affect the Intellectual Man, being the Substance of things Hoped for, and the Evidence of things not seen. Hence it is that he cries it is good for me to be here, and is so loth to leave the World when the Messenger of Death knocks at his Door. Hence is it that he makes him friends of the Mannon of Ʋnrighteous­ness, and thinks of nothing but of building up Barns and enlarging his Stores, till the Embassy comes to him, of Thou fool this night shall thy Soul be required of thee. Luke 12.

26. Another Benefit arising from the Per­formance of this our Duty, is that it gives a Blessing to our Or­dinary Callings. A third benefit is, that it blesses our Ordi­nary Labours. We are so far from losing one day in seven, that we gain (if I may so phrase it) six days in one. The sincere Observer hereof will tell you the Truth of what I here assert by his own Ex­perience; and can witness with Joy, that he has not only found a serenity and calmness of Mind, but a prosperous success in all his Affairs of the following Week. And who would not serve God one day for his assisting him six days in re­turn? What Worldling, if he knew his own In­terest [Page 120] aright, but would sanctifie the Lords-Day, since he may be sure he shall not serve God for Nought? That Work must certainly succeed which is begun, furthered and ended with the Blessing of God. His Hand will undoubtedly fill our Industry with Good Things, and His Bounty will not send our Holy Labours empty away. He will be ready to support us in our Toyl, and bear a part with us in our Burthens, and bring all our Endeavours to Good Effect. He will be with us in our going out, and our coming in, and will take care of our down-sitting and up-rising, and will surround us in all our ways. And then who can forbear crying out Happy is the man who is in such a Case, Yea blessed is he who has the Lord for his God.

27. But as for the Ʋngodly and Prophane it is not so with them. They may be more eager in the pursuit of the profit of this Life,A Third Mischief is, that it causes a C [...]rse on our Private C [...]cerns. but then if they attain it, it is a Curse to them, and in the midst of their Plenty they find no Satisfaction▪ with the Horse-leech they crave more, more, more, and so on ad infinitum. They cannot Enjoy, tho they may possess large Inheritances. They may plant Vineyards, but others shall eat of the Fruit thereof; they may rise up early, and sit up late and eat the Bread of Carefulness, but it is but lost labour, it is but vain, since God does not Pronouce a Blessing upon their Works And can they ex­pect he will prosper their Labour, who will not so as much throw up, with the Congregation, a Sun­days [Page 121] Prayer for his Blessing upon them? Are his Benefits so cheap and inconsiderable that they must be bestowed, without a seeking for, and that upon the Sinner? No certainly, the Al­mighty is truly Propitious only to those who Reverence and Honour him in his Name, Word and Day: and tho the Wicked should increase his Estate, yet his Prophaness is that Canker in the Heart, that Worm in the Root which will quickly destroy and undermine all.

28. Lastly, The Devout Soul, who truly celebrates this festival, entitles her self to that which surpasseth all that this World can afford. A fourth benefit is, that it fits us for, and Entitles us to Eternal Happiness. She enjoys a Heaven upon Earth, and is eve­ry day made better and better and makes nearer advances to the State and Per­fection of Angels, till at last being arrived to that mature degree of Holiness and Purity, she may be let loose from this Prison of Earth, and suffered to satiate her self with Coelestial Joys for ever­more. There her holy breathings and pray­ers shall be swallowed up with Praises and Eter­nal Hallelujahs. There shall she enjoy an Ever­lasting Sabbath of Rest, and Drink of the Living Waters, not as she doth here below, at the too often disturbed streams, but at the Crystal Fountain-Head. There shall we see the perfect beauty of holiness, and behold God no longer darkly in a Glass, but as he is, face to face. There Contem­plation, Admiration and Desire will be lost in the fruition of that Good, the Vision of that Blessedness, and the Adoration of that Perfecti­on, [Page 122] which she before contemplated, admired and de­sired.

29. But can the Profane Libertine expect he should be invested with that Glory for which he prepares not himself,The fourth mischief of the neglect is, that it consigns the prophane over to eternal mise­ries. nor so much as thinks of? Can he imagine Heaven will be the rewards of his Impiety? And that an In­corruptible Crown will be put upon his dishonoura­ble Head? Whatever his thoughts are, I know not; but this am I assured of, that the Heart of such a one is a very unfit receptacle for the Holy Ghost here, and how much more unfit must he needs be to be partaker of the Fruition of the Blessed Trinity hereafter? He grovels here below, and suffers the things of this World to engross all his thoughts, and thinks of nothing beyond this and the Grave. He is fixed to this Earth, till at last he convert to Earth and Worm [...]-meat himself, and drop into the Infernal Lake before he be well aware whereabout he is: And how se­verely he there pays for his Irreligion, his Scoffings, and his Profaness, I cannot without horror and trembling conceive.

30. Thus far of Individuals and the Body Natu­ral, I come now to consider the Advantages as well as Incon­veniences that attend the Body Politick, The benefits and mis­chiefs which flow to the Publick fr [...]m the Observation or Propha­ [...]tion of the Lords-Day, are two. First Benefit. It conduces to the maintaining the Publick Peace. viz. these Communities [Page 123] wherein the Lords-Day is either duly celebrated, or shamefully abused and prophaned. It is to be lament­ed there is no Nation so strict therein as they ought, yet the Blessings even the Sinner enjoys in a Kingdom where the Worshippers of God are but the lesser party, plainly indicate that greater would be our happiness, if our strictness in this respect were but greater too. For, [First] The Solemn sanctifying of this Blessed Day, conduces much to the preserving the general peace of Societies. This may very properly be called the Ligament by which the whole frame of a civilized Constituti­on is bound up and kept from falling to Pieces. It is on this Day that the Madding-world, if ever has its fits of Sobriety. It is then we may be taught to be just and honest, obliging and affable, bountiful and charitable to all, as occasion shall require, knowing that we all serve one common Master, who is more than all these to us. Then we come to un­derstand how to behave our selves in all our Re­lations; to be respectful, submissive and obedient to our Superiors; to be loving, kind and courteous to our Equals; to be condescending, tender-hearted and compassionate to our Inferiours. Then the Magistrate is put in mind to be just and merciful, impartial and unprejudiced to all; to condemn and punish the bad and guilty, and to discharge the good and in­nocent man; and then the Subject is instructed to be observant of, dutyful and obedient to those in Au­thority. Thus is the Community maintained in an uninterrupted peace and quiet, and the whole knit together by indissoluble bonds of concord.

31. But on the other side, How many are the disorders that follow the prophana­tion of this Day? The first Mischief of this Neglect, is disturb­ing the Publick Peace. How easie do the Irreligious Croud fall toge­ther by the Ears? and set the whole Country in Flames by their Animosities? If we can make a slight of God, and can venture to break his Statutes, no wonder if they have little esteem for the Laws of Men, but run out with a Non Obstante to all the irregularities and disorders imaginable. Insurrections and Rebelli­ons are naturally the product of a loose licentious Kingdom. They have lost all their modesty and fear they had for God, and it is not strange they should cast off the Reins of an Earthly Go­vernment when it lies uneasie upon them. The giddy and prophane Multitude turn every thing topsie turvy, and what Outrages will they not commit, what Routs and Riots will they not be guilty of, when once they lose their sense of Religion, which will soon happen when they once slight that which is the great Support and Pillar thereof? There is no need to go far for Demonstration, the quarrels and frequent di­sturbances which happen among the Prophane Sabbath-breakers (and commonly on this very day) declare, how great the Combustion would be, were the Kingdom swallowed up in Irreligion, and become thereby its own Incendiary.

32. To wind up all and draw to a Conclusion, the celebration of the Lords-Day, The second Benefit and Mischief considered together. as it entitles the particular Ob­servers thereof to the more peculiar [Page 125] Eye and favour of God, so it puts the whole Communi­ty of People that call upon his Name, nuder his more immediate Care and Providence. The Ark of God where-e're it came was sacred; and brought to a Religious2 Sam. vi. 11. Obed-Edom and his godly fa­mily Blessings, Plenty and Success; and to the Sa­crilegious, Idolatrous and Pro­phane1 Sam. v. Philistins it sent the plague of Emerods and sores: The inquisitive pryingChap. vi. Beth­shemites were smitten for look­ing thereinto, and the rude unsanctified2 Sam. vi. Ʋzzah for his familiar touching the Seat of Gods Holiness was pu­nished with immediate death. The Parallel will hold good in the consideration of the Keeping or not Keeping Holy the Lords-Day. The Lord of Hosts has in all ages of the World been jealous for his Honour, and has declared that them that Honour him he will Honour, but those that despise him shall be light­ly esteemed: 1 Sam. ii. 30. But in nothing is he abused at this time more than in his Name and Day What the result of the first is I have already shewed, and what the Effect of the Last is, the Jews, to look no further, will sufficient­ly demonstrate. As long as they received God's Ordinances, and hallowed his Sabbaths, and obeyed the Voice of the Lord their God, and hearkened to his Precepts to do them: He was their God, and they were his People, He went out with them and fought their Battles, He de­livered them from the Hands of their Enemies [Page 126] and Oppressors, and setled them at length in a Land that flowed with Milk and Hony, and be­came a Wall and a Hedge of Defence on the Right Hand and on the Left, to keep them from them that lived round about them;Psal. xci. 5, 6. That they might not be afraid for the terror by Night, nor for the Arrow that sleeth by Day: Nor for the Pesti­lence that walketh Darkness, nor for the Destruction that wasteth at Noon Day. But no sooner did they go a Whoring after their own Inventions , serving strange Gods: No sooner did they violate the Statutes of the Lord and defile his Sanctuary, and pollute his Sabbaths, but he left them to dye in the Wilderness, to be led away into Captivity, and at the last in his Wrath cut them off from being a People.Cap. xx. 13. Ezekiel te­stifies that because the House of Israel in the Wilderness rebelled against the Lord their God, and walked not in his Statutes, and despised his Judgments, and greatly polluted his Sabbaths, therefore he poured out his fury in the Wilderdness to consume them. And tho they were setled in the Promised Land, yet because they were a backsliding People, apt to abuse their Great God in his Worship and Day, he leaves Cnnaanites in the Land to prove them as Thorns in their Flesh, and Goads in their Sides. For ever and anon upon their Revolt from the Holy One of Israel, he leaves them to be oppressed by the Kings of Mesopotamia, by the Moabites, Cana­anites, Midianites, Philistines and Ammonites; to the Incursions of the Amalekites, Syrians, Egypti­ans and Edomites; to be carryed away at last in­to [Page 127] Captivity the Ten Tribes by Shalmanaser into Assyria (where we lose the very Memory of them) and Juda by Nebuchadnezzar into Babylon. That the Prophanation of the Sabbath was a Princi­pal Cause of all this their Calamity, none will doubt that believes what Nehe­miah says.Chap. xiii. 17, 18. What e [...]il thing is this that ye do, and prophane the Sabbath? Did not your Fathers thus, and did not God bring all this evil upon us and upon our City! Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by prophaning the Sab­bath. And it is more than probable that for this very sin, as well as for many others, God rejected the Remnant of Juda, and permitted them to be dispersed by the Romans, and suffer­ed their Sanctum Santorum and their Holy City to be laid level to the Dust, and not one Stone left upon another.

33. What remains then but that we take warning hence to be more Religiously Obser­vant of this Sacred Day, that we may like the Obedient Israelites be the Darlings and Favourites of Heaven; that we may attract the Divine Overshadowing, and win God himself to be our Sheild, our Buckler, our Refuge, our Defence and our Invincible Rock on every side of us? But if we should (which God forbid) persist in our Impieties, and continue in prophaning the Lords-Day, can we expect to escape better than the beloved people of God did? Can we expect he will be more favourable to the Ingrafted than to the Natural Branches? They were his chosen Peo­ple, his pecu iar Flock, and the Lot of his Inheri­tance; [Page 128] and did he write such bitter things against them, and can we imagine He will be partial to Ʋs? No certainly, our Crimes are Equal and so will our Punishments be too. He will add greater Plagues to what we have already felt, and make our Punishment as Ʋniversal and Gene­ral as is our Guilt. This Land has already met with particular Judgments, which have reign­ed in those Places where the Lords Day has been most prophaned: The Plague, the Fire and the Sword have already been our Portion, Divisions and Schisms, Factions and Rebellions have already been the Whips and Scorpions wherewith we have been scourged and wounded. What remains but that for our Obstinate Perseverance in this as given as in other Crying Sins our Goodly Land be given over as a Prey unto our Enemies; that our Heritage as it is defiled, become also full of Devastations; that our Candlestick should be re­moved that our Churches should be thrown down; and that we should be forced in a Strange Land to wan­der from Sea to Sea, Amos viii. 12. and from the North even to the East to seek the Word of God, and shall not find it. Oh let the terror of these thoughts afrighten us to our Duty, and if we have any regard for our selves, and are not con­cerned whether we are saved or damned, whether we prosper or go backward in our Affairs, whether our Minds are spiritualized or no, whether the sence of Religion be upheld or lost in us: Yet as we regard the Welfare, Peace and Tranquility of the Society wherein we live, as we would not have that in­volved in a Common Heap of Ruin and Destru­ction, [Page 129] as we would not willingly be the Cause of our Posterities Misfortune, nor expose our in­nocent Babes to the rage of the Adversary; let us run into God's House, embrace his Mer­cy, embrace his Ordinances, honour his Holy Name and his Word, obey his Commands, fulfill all Righte­ousness, and sanctifie his most Holy Day. Let us break off our Sins by Repentance, and stop those Judgements which threaten us; who knows but the Lord will have Mercy, and will repent him of the Evil that he hath designed against us? that he will dispel the Clouds, and make the Sun of Peace and Righteousness to break out upon us, making us rejoyce for the time wherein we have suffered Adversity.

To this End it would not be amiss to cry out, From Hardness of Heart, from Contempt of thy Holy Word and Commandments, from Fornication and all other Deadly Sin, from Intemperance and Prophaning of thy most holy Day, from all the Judgments which we have most righteously deserved, from Lightning and Tempest, from Plague, Pestilence and Famine, from Battle and Murder, and from sudden Death, Good Lord Deliver us! And O Blessed, Adorable and Glorious Trinity, Remember not our Offences, nor the Offences of our Fathers, neither take thou Ven­gance of our sins, but Spare us Good Lord! Spare thy People, whom thou hast redeemed with thy most pre­cious Blood, and be not angry with us for ever. Have mercy upon us, Have mercy upon us, Have Mercy up­on us most Merciful Father! Save and Deliver us from all our Sins; Confirm and Strengthen us in all Goodness, and bring us at length to Life Eternal. Amen, Amen!

A Modest Advice to the Ministers and Civil Magistrates.

TO make the preceding Discourse the more Effectual, it might perhaps be ex­pected that I should add something to the Ministers and Civil Magistrates of this Church and Kingdom; and that I should shew how far both of them are obliged in their several Stati­ons (the one by the Sword of the spirit, the other by that of Justice) to do what in them lies to suppress the Reigning Immoralities of the pre­sent Age: Of which the Vices spoken against in the foregoing Treatise are not the least in Rea­lity, tho they may be so in all outward appea­rance, by reason of that little notice the un­thinking World takes of them.

To the Ministers of our Church there is a very little need to say any thing For besides those Worthy and Reverend Prelates, whom (God's Providence, and the Care and Piety of our Princes has placed at the Helm) there is a Clergy under them, that for Learning, Virtue and Sincere, not meerly formal Devotion, we may dare all the Churches in Christendom to shew its equal. Our whole Nation, and especially the Metropolis thereof, has many of those pious Souls, whose Lives and Doctrines go hand in hand to stem that [Page 131] torrent of Atheism and Prophaness which has of late years been so Impetuously breaking in up­on us. Their Practical Preaching, and Moral but withall most Excellent Discourse [...] now in Print (concerning the Reasonableness of the Christian Religion, the Loveliness of all that is Good and Virtuous, and the Deformity of all that is Bad and Vicious, with the like) is sufficient proof of their Zeal for the Honour of God and the Good of His Church: so that we should wrong them if we thought they stood in need of Instructions to Direct them, or of Motives to Incite them to do a Duty which is so Incumbent upon them, as to press home for a Reformation of this Degene­rate Kingdom, when the Glory of their Great Master is so nearly Concerned therein.

But amidst these Excellent Persons, there are (it must be Confessed) some others that give too open a Scandal to our Holy Religion by their Vile Principles and their Viler Practices. Some of these are notoriously Bad, and live in Direct Opposition to what they are bound to Preach to others: Whilst Others spend their time in dry Notions and insipid Controversies, which profit their Congregations but very little, if any thing at all.

As for the first, if the Common Obligations they lie under as Men endued with Reasonable Souls, if the ordinary Ties of Christianity they are, bound with in their Baptism, or if the ex­traordinary Ones they are obliged with in their Ordination are not of force to put them upon mending these their Irregularities; yet 'tis hoped the Example of the more Strict and Conscienti­ous [Page 132] will shame them to some degree of fervour, and cause them to put on the Form at least, if they will hot the Power of Godliness. But if that will do no good upon them, yet 'tis presumed the Worthy Fathers of the Church will by their Care and Inspection either remove those that are a Publick Shame unto it; or else prevent the Like Mischief for the future, by admitting none into Holy Orders but such as they have sufficient Te­stimony of, that they will not by their unsanctifi­ed Lives give cause for the contempt of the Clergy. I say 'tis presumed the Bishops will in their seve­ral Diocesses take care of those things, which Confidence I ground upon those many excellent Charges which have of late been given in many Visitations. After all this I cannot but wonder how any one can so far offer violence to his Rea­son and Conscience, as to live in the Wilfull Breach of any known Duty, when he has so many upbraidings from all hands to check him, and stare his sins out of Countenance. What a dreadful Account they must give of their Cure, and that Charge of Souls which is committed to them Sacred Writ will sufficiently inform them; and what a weight lies upon their shoulders tho at present so little regarded by them, Bishop Bur­nets Pastoral Care, lately published, will put them in mind of, if they can give themselves but time to read it over, and calmly to consider thereon.

As for those who busie themselves about un­profitable Speculations and matters meerly Con­trovertal, 'twere to be wished they would leave off their Heats and Animosities, throw aside all Prejudice and Faction for this Sect or that Party, [Page 133] and give over Quarreling and Disputing about Modes and Figures, about [...] of Reli­gion, the Knowledge or Ignorance of which would neither promote nor hinder our Great Concern. 'Twere to be wished, I say, that they would lay aside all such Curious Niceties, and Disputable Points, fit for none but Schoolmen and wrangling Sophisters to employ their parts upon; and that they would reason of Righteousness, Tem­perance and Judgment to come, Preach up with the Primitive Christians the necessity and usefulness of a Holy Life, lashing Vice and protecting Virtue where e're they find it, tho their very Patrons were guilty of the one, and their greatest Ene­mies Masters of the other. Such profitable Rules of Morality would better become the Gravity of the Preacher, as well as suit with the Capacity and Regulate the Lives and Practices of the Audi­ence; than an unintilligible Discourse of an Hour or two long about the Particular Tenets of Cal­vin, Arminius, or some other Learned Sophister of the Church, which can neither Inform our Judgment, nor Influence our Manners, but only help us to call Names, and to cast Dirt into one anothers Faces. How much better would it be for all sides to forbear those Opprobrious Ti­tles of Calvinist and Arminian, of Antinomian and Antisidian and the like, and endeavour to do that which might make us worthy of that one, Glo­rious Name of Christian. Could I but see that Spirit of Unity and Concord maintained in the Bond of Peace, could I but see the Primitive Golden days return once more upou the Stage, I should with a Chearful Heart (like Old Simeon) sing my nunc Dimittis too.

One that knows what Laws we have against Pro­phane Swearing and Cursing, against Drunkenness and Prophanation of the Lords-Day, made with such Care by the Legislators of former Ages, and Commanded to be put in Execution by the Zealous Princes of This, would wonder that the Civil Magistrate should need one Word more to put him in Mind of Discharging his Duty. But notwithstanding they have Statutes made to their very hands, and have had as much Incitements from Above, as Injun­ctions and a Royal Command comes to, yet we find matters at the same stand they were in, when we had no such Opportunities put into our Hands. To think any Justice of Peace ignorant of his Duty, would be to charge him with want of Common Prudence, an affront I would not lay at any Mans Door: But I am more inclined to think that 'tis want of Zeal which makes so many remiss and negligent in the Discharge of that Trust, which the Higher Power has Committed to them. To such therefore as are Backward in their Offfice I shall beg leave to offer some few Considerations, which perhaps may prove Mo­tives to stir them up to a Vigorous Execution of the Laws now in force against that horrid Pro­phaness and Debauchery which has overspread this unhappy Church and Nation.

And first consider what 'tis God and Religion requires at your Hands. He that raiseth up whom he will, and casteth them down again at his pleasure, has not placed you in those Posts to make a great Figure of you, and for nothing else. He requires you should be as much con­cerned for the Advancing of his Glory, as you [Page 135] are for your own private Interests. 'Tis as much your Duty to punish an Offence against God, as to punish a Crime against the Publick, and yet we see the one Connived at, whilst the other is prosecuted with the utmost R [...]gor. But is it not a burning shame that the daily Affronts and Blasphemies offered against Heaven should be passed by with silence, when at the same time a Lessening Expression against a Prince, a single Calumny against your selves, or a Scurrilous Re­flection cast upon a Private Person shall meet with all the Severity the Law in its Largest Ex­tent will allow of?

But Secondly, Consider what 'tis you owe your Princes from whence you derive your Authority. The Commission they have given you extends to the offences mentioned in the foregoing Treatise, as well as to any other whatsoever. And as if that were not sufficient, how car [...]ful have they been by Letters and Proclamations to put you in mind of your Duty in this Particular. And can you Affront their Authority by slighting and contem­ning their Orders and Injunctions? Think what a base reflection you cast upon them, and how uncivil (to say no worse) you have been by your Connivance and Neglect.

Thirdly, Consider what 'tis your Country requires of you. She expects you should not stand as Cy­phers, nor bear the Sword of Justice in Vain, but that you should administer it to the punish­ment of Wickedness and Vice, and to the main­tenance of true Religion and Virtue. Those who among the Romans Rescued the Common­wealth from Tyranny and Oppression were [Page 136] justly stiled Fathers of their Country; our Kingdom is at present overawed with the Tyranny of Pro­phaness and Debauchery, and none but God knows what the fatal consequences of it may prove; Now if you would (Gentlemen) un­dertake an Enterprize worthy English Men and Christians, if you desire the Peace and Tranqui­lity of your Country, and would do something that might render your Memories famous to suc­ceeding Generations, you can do nothing better than in your several Stations to Redeem the Na­tion from the Thraldom of those Pernicious Vices under which it lies, and so Divert those Judgements we have just cause to fear will fall upon us, if we continue Obstinate and Rebelli­ous.

But Lastly, (that it may not be too long) Con­sider what 'tis your Oaths taken with all the Solem­nity Imaginable oblige you to. I shall not here re­peat at length all that a Justice of Peace is bound to do; it may suffice to take notice that he is engaged to Convict all Offenders against the known Statutes of the Realm, of which he shall have any Cognizance: and not to refuse upon Due and Lawful Information to bring any Of­fender to Condign Punishment out of Fear, Partiality, Prejudice or Interest. I hope there is scarce a Gentleman in the Commission of the Peace but will lay these things to heart; and will not, when he Considers seriously what it is, that God, their Majesties, his Country, and his own Conscience exacts from him, be any more negligent in the Discharge of that Trust which is reposed in him.

I have been warm in this point, but with­all as short and as modest as possible: I hope the Gentlemen will pardon the little sallies of a well grounded and well-intended Zeal; since my Design was not to affront any, but purely to excite those who have been hitherto Remiss to be more vigorous in Executing the Laws against Prophaness and Debauchery for the fu­ture. So that not one Tittle of this Discourse is directed to such Worthy Persons who (tho too few in number) are in the Commission of the Peace all over the Kingdom, and have gi­ven sufficient Testimony of their Prudence and Zeal by those excellent Orders of Sessions which here and there have been issued out in those Places, where the Good have been the Prevail­ing Party.

But how can the Justices of Peace suppress those Immoralities, since let them be never so forward, 'tis impossible for them to know of every offence unless the under Officers, whose Duty it is to make enquiry af­ter the Breach of the Laws, give in their Informa­tions; And that tho they may issue out their Warrants, yet if the Constable, or Overseer, or any other Officer be negligent in executing them, what will their Care signifie? To which I answer, that 'tis too noto­rious how Careless and Remiss all under Officers are as well in giving in their Informations, as in executing the Warrants and Levying the Pe­nalties accordingly; and 'tis no wonder they should be so, since they are like to get nothing by their Office, but hard Words and a few Curses, which is but a small Encouragement to those little hearted Creatures, who for the most [Page 138] part know not what the Pleasure or Profit of a Good Conscience resulting from an Honest discharge of Duty means. However this their Neglect excuses not the Justice, but rather re­flects upon his Conduct, who will not, when 'tis in his Power, make those Instruments of Ju­stice more Careful and Diligent in their Respe­ctive Offices. For there are Laws whereby he may correct their Negligence, as well as any o­ther Crime whatsoever.

That these Inferiour Officers may not pretend Ignorance, I have hereunto subjoyned an Abridg­ment of those Statutes which are now in force against the daring Wickedness of these times; which may not only be of some use to them to inform them of part of their Duty, but also may be serviceable to others who either have not mony enough to buy, or not time enough to run over the Voluminous Statute Book. I have likewise added the Queens Letter to the Justices of Middlesex, their Order thereup­on, and their Majesties Proclamation since, to shew what Encouragement we have from them to set about a Speedy Reformation.

Against Prophane Swearing and Cursing. 21 Jac. 1. Cap. 20.

FOrasmuch as all Prophane Swearing and Cursing is forbidden by the Word of God, Be it Enacted, &c. That no Person shall prophanely Swear or Curse, and that it any person shall be convicted of the said Offence in the hearing of any Iustice of the [...]eace, Mayor, Bayliff or Head-Officer of any City or Town Corporate; or by the Oaths of two Witnesses, or by the Confes­sion of the Offender before any Iustice of Peace, Mayor, &c. Then the Party for every such Offence of which he is Lawfully Convicted as aforesaid, shall forfeit the sum of twelve pence to the use of the Poor of the Parish, where the Offence shall be com­mitted: which sum the Constable, Church-Wardens and Overseers of the Poor of that Parish shall Levy by Distress and Sale of Goods, rendring the Overplus to the Offen­der. And in Default of such Distress the Offender, if above the Age of twelve years, shall stand in the Stocks for every such Of­fence the space of three hours; if under the age of twelve years then the Party shall be whipped by the Constable, or by the Parent or Master in his Presence.

That if any Officer be sued for Levying the Penalty, or for Whipping or setting in the Stocks, then the said Officer shall plead [Page 140] the General Issue, and if it is found against the Plaintiff, then the Officer as Defendant shall be allowed Costs.

Provided, That the Offence be Complain'd of within twenty days after it be Commit­ted.

Be it further enacted, That this Statute be read twice every year in every Parish Church by the Minister after Evening Prayer. 3. Car. 1. Cap. 4. this Statute was con­tinued. And 17. Car. 1. Cap. 4. Made perpe­tual.

Against Perjury. 2 Eliz. Cap. 9.

BE it Enacted, that whosoever shall suborn or procure any Witnesses by any sinister and vnlawful means to give any Evidence or to Testifie In perpetuam rei memoriam, before any Court of Record, shall for the said of­fence upon Lawful Conviction thereof, for­feit the Sum of Forty Pounds, and in De­fect of such Forfeiture, shall suffer Impri­sonment for the space of six Months without Bail or Mainprise, and stand in the Pillory for the space of one whole Hour: That no such Offender be thenceforward Received as a Witness before any Court of Iustice, till such Iudgment given against him be rever­sed.

That whoever shall Commit any Wilful Perjury by his Depositions in any Court [Page 141] of Record aforesaid, being examined Ad per­petuam Rei Memoriam, shall being Lawfully Convicted of such Offence forfeit the Sum of twenty Pounds, and suffer Imprisonment for six Months without Bail or Mainprise, and be disabled for ever after from being a Witness till the Iudgment against him be Reversed.

That in defect of suth Forfeiture of twenty Pounds every such Offender shall stand in the Pillory, and have both his Ears nail­ed.

That the one Moiety of the Forfeiture a­foresaid go to the Crown, the other Moyety to the Person or Persons that shall be wron­ged by such Offence, and who will sue for the same.

That the Iudge of such Courts where the Offence is committed, the Iustices of Assize and Goal Delivery in their several Circuits, and the Iustices of Peace in every County shall have Authority to determine the Offen­ces aforesaid.

That the Iustices of Assize of every Cir­cuit shall make open Proclamation of this Statute twice a year, viz. in the time of their Sittings, so that none may plead Ignorance of the same.

Provided that this Statute extend not to any Court Ecclesiastical, nor to the Restrain­ing the Power given by Act of Parliament made in the time of King Henry the seventh to the Lord Chancellor of England and others of the Kings Council. 29 Eliz. 5. made per­petual. [Page 142] 1 Jac. 1. Cap. 5. Continued. And 21 Jac. 1. 28.

Against Drunkenness and Tipling. 4 Jac. 1. Cap. 5.

FOrasmuch as Drunkenness is the Root and Foundation of all other Enormous Sins, as Murder, Fornication, Adul [...]ry, and the like: Be it Enacted that whosoever shall be Convicted thereof by the Oath of one or more Lawful Witnesses, shall for the said Offence forfeit the sum of five shillings within one week next after the Offence to the use of the Poor of the same parish; which penalty if the Offender re [...]use or neglect to pay, then Distress to be made upon his Goods, and in Default of such Distress he shall stand in the Stocks the space of six hours.

That if any Constable or other Inferior Officer of the Parish where the Offence is committed shall negl [...]ct the due correction of such Offender, then every Officer so offend­ing shall forfeit the sum of ten shillings to the use of the Poor aforesaid, to be levied by Distress by any other person having a Iu­stices or any other Head-Officers War­rant.

That every one who shall be convicted of Tipling in any Inn, Victualing House, or Ale-House being in the same City, Town, Village or Hamlet of which they are Inha­bitants, [Page 143] saving in the cases provided and li­mited by one Act of Parliament made in the first Session of this present Parliament, shall for every such Offence forfeit the sum of three shillings and four pence to the use of the Poor of that parish where the Offence shall be committed, and in Default of such For­feiture the Offender shall stand in the Stocks the spacr of four hours.

That all such Offences be diligently en­quired into and presented before the Iustices in their several Circuits, the Iustices of Peace in their Quarter, or Petty-Sessions, the Mayors, Bayliffs, and other Head-Of­ficers, by all Constables, Church Wardens, Headborroughs, Tithingmen, Ale-Conners and Sidesmen according to their Charge in their Oaths.

That for their second Offence of Drunken­ness the party be bound over to his Good Behaviour.

Provided that this Statute extend not to restrain the Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction, nor to prejudice the Liberties of the two Vniversi­ties.

Prov [...]ded also that no man be punished twice for the same Offence, and that none be punished but what are convicted within the space of six months after the Offence is com­mitted. This Statute made perpetual 21 Jac. 1. Cap. 7.

Against the Prophanation of the Lords-Day, commonly called Sunday. 29 Car. 2.

ALL Laws in force concerning the Ob­servation of the Lord's Day, are to be put in execution: This day is by every one,1 Will. and Mary. to be sancti­fied and kept holy; and all Persons must be careful herein to exercise themselves in the Duties of Piety, and true Religion publickly; and every one on this day (not having a reasonable Excuse) must diligently resort to some publick place where the service of God is exercised, or must be present at some other place (allowed of by Law) in the Practice of some Religious Du­ty, either of Prayer, Preaching Reading or Expounding of the Scriptures, or Confe­rence upon the same, as also privately.

Such as repair not to Church, &c. on Sundays and Holy-days, one Witness. Twelve Pence for every default, to be levied by de­stress, or to be committed to some Prison, until the same be paid. 1 Eliz. 23 Eliz. 3 Jac. Cap. 1. 19 Eliz. Cap. 1.

Absenting for a Month, If a twelve month, or more, twenty pounds per month, and for­feiture of two parts in three of their Estates.

If any come not to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper once a year. Their Names and Surnames to be presented: Forty [Page 145] Shillings reward to such as present them. 3 Jac. Cap. 4.

None shall speak or do any thing in Con­tempt of the most Holy Sacrament. By Oath of two lawful Witnesses, by three Iu­stices Quorum un. to be bound over and pro­secuted in Sessions. 1 Ed. 6. Cap. 1.

Whosoever shall disturb any Preacher al­lowed, in his open Sermon or Collation, or be procuring or abetting thereunto, or shall rescue, &c. any Offender, &c. Accusation must by two Witnesses, or Confession, To be com­mitted by any Iustice of the County to safe Custody, and within six days the said com­mitting Iustice, with one other Iustice (if the Offender upon examination shall be found Guilty) shall commit him to Goal without Bail, &c. for three Months, and farther to the next Quarter Sessions, 1 M. Cap. 3.

Such as meet or assemble out of their own Parish upon the Lord's Day, for any Sports or Pastimes whatsoever, or such as shal use any unlawful Exercise or Pastime in their own Parish upon the Lord's day, three shil­lings and four pence to the Poor, where, &c. to be levied by distress and sale, restoring the Overplus, &c. and for want of distress, to be sent to the Stocks for three hours, but they must be questioned within a month. 1 Car. Cap. 1. 3 Car. Cap. 4.

If any Carrier, Waggoner, &c. with Horse, Wain or Cart, or Drover with Cattle shall travel upon the Lord's Day by themselves, or any other for them, twenty shillings for [Page 146] every offence, to be levied by distress and sale to the use of the poor. 3 Car. Cap. 1.

If any Butcher, or any other for him, shall kill or sell any Victuals upon the Sunday, one Witness view or Confession, He shall for­feit six shillings and eight pence, if questioned within six months, to be levied, &c. or may be sued for in Sessions, &c. 3 Car. Cap. 1.

If any Shoe-maker shall go with intent to sell any Boots, Shoes, &c. on the Sunday, He shall forfeit such Goods, and three shillings and four pence for every pair. 1 Jac. Cap. 22.

If any person of the age of fourteen shall on the Lord's Day, or any part thereof, do any worldly labour, &c. except works of Ne­cecessity and Charity, shall forfeit five shil­lings for every offence. 29 Car 2. Cap. 7.

If any person shall cry, shew forth, or put to sale any Wares, Fruit, Goods, &c. except Milk only, before the hours of nine in the morning, and after four in the afternoon He shall forfeit the said Wares, Fruite, Goods, &c. to the use of the poor. 29 Car. 2. Cap. 7.

No Drover, Horse-courser, Waggoner, Butcher, Higler, or any of their servants, shall travel or come to their Inns on the Lord's Day, shall forfeit twenty shillings for every offence. 29 Car. 2. Cap. 6.

No person shall use to travel upon the Lord's Day with any Horse, Boat, Wherry, &c. except allowed by one Iustice of Peace so to do, by View, Confession, or one wit­ness, the fofeitvre is five shillings for every offence: The Conviction upon this Statute, [Page 147] must be before any Iustice of the County, &c. who shall give warrant to the Constables, &c. to seize the Goods shewed, &c. and to levy the Forfeitures by distress, and for want of distress, to put the Offender in the Stocks for two hours: the Iustices, &c. may reward the Informer out of the Forfeitures, not ex­ceeding the third part. 29 Car. 2. Cap. 7.

This Act extends not to dressing of Meat inn Cooks Shops, Inns or Victualing-Houses.

The Queens Letter.

TRusty and Well-beloved, We Greet you well. Considering the great and indispensible Duty incumbent upon us, and to promote and encourage a Reformation of the Manners of all our Subjects, that so the Service of God may be advanced, and those Blessings be procured to these Nations, which always attend a Conscientious Discharge of our respective Du­ties, according to our several Relations. We think it necessary, in order to the obtaining of this Publick Good, to recommend unto you the putting in Exe­cution, with all Fidelity and Impartiality, those Laws, which have been made, and are still in force against the Prophanation of the Lords-Day, Prophane Swearing and Cursing, Drunkenness, and all other lewd, enormous and disorderly Practices, which by a long conntinued Neglect and Connivance of the Magistrates and Officers concerned, have universally spread themselves, to the Dishonour of God and the Scandal of our Holy Religion; wherby it is now be­come the more necessary for all Persons in Authority, to apply themselves with all possible Care and Diligence [Page 148] to the suppressing of the same. We do therefore here­by charge and require you to take the most effectual Methods for putting the Laws in Execution, against the Crimes above-menioned, and all other Sins and Vices, particularly those which are most prevailing in this Realm; and that especially in such cases where any Officers of Justice shall be guilty of any of those Offences, or refuse or neglect to discharge the Duty of his place for the suppressing them, that so such Of­ficer by his Punishment may serve for an Example to others. And to this end we would have you be care­ful and diligent in encouraging all Constables, Church-wardens, Headborroughs, and all other Officers and Persons whatsoever, to do their part in their several Stations, by timely and impartial Infor­mations and Prosecutions against all such Offenders, for preventing those Judgments, which are so­lemnly denounced against the Sins above-menti­oned. We cannot doubt of your performance hereof, since it is a Duty to which you are obliged by Oath, and are likewise engaged to the discharge of it, as you tender the Honour of Almighty God, the flourish­ing condition of his Church in this Kingdom, the continuance of his Holy Religion among us, and the Pro­sperity of the Country.

And so we bid you farewell.
Given at our Court at Whitehall, the 9th. day of July, in the Third Year of our Reign.
By Her Majesties Command. Nottingham.
To our Trusty and Well-be­loved the Justices of the Peace for our County of Middlesex at Hick's Hall.

The Late Order of the Justices of Middlesex, for suppressing Prophaness and Debauchery.

WHereas their Majesties, both by their seve­ral Letters and Proclamations, have from time to time been graciously pleased to declare their earnest desire, That all the Laws against Vice and Prophaness be duly Executed, and have expresly Commanded us Tneir Majesties Justices of the Peace of this County, to take the most effe­ctual Care for the due Execution thereof: And whereas this Court in persuance of Their Ma­jesties Commands, have by their Order, bearing date the Tenth Day of July last, Commanded all High Constables, Petty Constables, Headbur­roughs, Church-Wardens and other Officers with­in this County, to Use their utmost Diligence, for bringing to condign Punishment all the Offen­ders against the said Laws, which upon the Oaths of divers credible Winesses (as we are infor­med) hath through the diligence of the Offcers, in divers parts of this County had this good effect, that many Houses of disorderly Tipling, Debau­chery and Gaming have been suppressed, and very great Numbers of Bawds, Whores, and o­ther Lewd Persons, prophane Swearers, Cursers Drunkards and Prophaners of the Lords day, have been Convicted and Punished according to Law; Yet notwithstanding in some other parts of this County, through the Negligence, Connivance and Evil Practices of the Constables, Headbur­roughs, Church Wardens and other inferior Officers of such Places; the Offences aforesaid have [Page 150] received great incouragement, and such Lewd Offenders as had been so suppressed, have been yet received and permitted there to continue such their Lewd Practices. This COURT therefore taking the same into their serious consideration, and being stedfast in their Resolutions effectually to carry on a Reformation of manners by the due punishment of the several Offences aforesaid, in all parts of this County, the same being a Work acceptable to Almighty God; and so earnestly and piously recommended by Their Majesties, Doth Order and strictly Require, all High Con­stables, Petty Constables, Headburoughs, Church-Wardens, and all other Officers, to be diligent in making more frequent searches after such as keep Houses of disorderly Tipling, Debauchery and Gaming, and such as haunt the same, and of the said Offenders, and of all prophane Swearers, Cursers, Drunkards, and Prophaners of the Lords Day, and to give due information thereof from time to time, to some One of Their Majesties Ju­stices of the Peace of this County, That no Par­tiality. Connivance or underhand Practices, by Private Notice to Offenders, of any other ways, by such Officers, may prevent the conviction, or Detection of them, but that the several Offend­ers may be punished, according to Law; And whereas the publick Sports, and playing of Boys, and others, on the Lords Day, in Church-yards and else where, is a great Contempt to the Wor­ship of God, and tends to the Corruption of Youth; The said Officers are therefore hereby Ordered, and Required to take notice on the said days, of such disorders, and to disperse such [Page 151] Prophaners of the Lords day, or to apprehend them, and to bring them before One of Their Majesties Justices of the Peace for [...]his County; that they may be proceeded against according to Law; And we being resolved to proceed with all due strictnes [...] against all such Officers as shall be found faulty in the due observance of this our Or­der do recommend it to all persons who shall at any time hereafter have Knowledge of any of the Of­fences aforesaid, or of any neglect or undue Pra­ctice of any Officers aforesaid, whereby the Con­viction or Punishment of any of the said Offen­ces shall be hindred, or avoided, that they will give timely Information thereof, to some One of Their Majesties Justices of the Peace of the said County, from whom they shal [...] re [...]eive all due Incouragement; And whereas the keeping of Musick Houses of late practised in several publick Taverns and Ale-Houses within this County, to which there is a great Resort of Idle and Dissolute Persons, is of ver [...] ill Consequence, and tend [...] to the Debauching and Ruin especially of the youn­ger sort of people, of both Sexes, and doth also occasion many Quarrels and Riots, to the great dist [...]rbance of the publick Peace. It is hereby further Ordered that the several Officers afore­said, do make a due Return to some Justice of the P [...]ace in their respective Division of the Christi­an Name, Sir-name and Place of abode, of all Persons keeping the said Musick Houses, and of such as frequent the same, to the end they may be prosecuted according to Law; And it is fur­ther Ordered by this Court, that the Clerk of the Peace for this County do forthwith cause this [Page 152] Order to be Printed and Affixed upon the great Gates of Hick's-Hall, the Church Doors, and all other publick Places of each P [...]rish within this County, and distributed to the several High-Con­stables within this County, who are Ordered by this Court forthwith to send the same to the seve­ral Petty Constables, Church-wardens and Head-buroughs within their several Divisions, to the end Publick Notice may be taken thereof.

By the King and Queen, a Proclamation against Vitious, Debauched and Prophane Persons

AS we cannot but be deeply sensible of the great goodness and mercy of Almigh­ty God (by whom Kings Reign) in giving so happy s [...]ccess to our endeavours for the rescuing these Kingdoms from Popish Ty­ranny and Superstition, and in preserving our Royal Persons, supporting our Govern­ment, and uniting the Arms of most of the [...]rinces and States in Christendom against our Common Enemy (so we are not less touched with a Resentment, that (notwith­standing the these great Deliverances) Im­piety and Vice do still abound in this our Kingdom: And that the Execution of many good Laws, which have been made for sup­pressing and punishing thereof, have been grosly neglected, to the great dishonour of God and our Holy Religion: Wherefore, and for that we cannot expect increase or continuance of the Blessings we and our sub­jects enjoy, without providing Remedies to [Page 153] prevent the like Evils for the future, we judge our selves bound by the duty we owe to God, and the care we have of the people com­mitted to our Charge, to proceed in taking some effectual Course therein: And being thereunto moved by the pious Address of our Arch Bishops, we have thought fit, by the advice of our Privy Council, to issue this our our Royal Proclamation, and to declare our princely intention and resolution, to discoun­tenance all manner of Vice and Immorality in all persons from the highest to the lowest degree in this our Realm. And we do here­by for that purpose straightly Require, Charge and Command all and singular our Iudges, Mayors, Sheriffs, Iustices of the Peace, and all other Officers Ecclesiastical and Civil, in their respective stations, to ex­ecute the Laws against Blasphemy, prophane Swearing and Cursing. Drunkenness, Lewd­ness, prophanation of the Lords-Day, or any other dissolute, immoral or disorderly practi­ces as they will answer it to Almighty God, and upon pain of our highest Displeasure. And for the more effectual proceedings herein, we do hereby Direct and Command our Iudges of Assizes, and Iustices of the Peace to give strict Charges at the respective Assizes and Sessions, for the due prosecution and pu­nishment of all persons that shall presume to offend in any the kinds aforesaid; And also of all persons that contrary to their Duty shall be Remiss or Negligent in putting the said Laws in Execution.

FINIS.

A Catalogue of some New Books, the three first never Published before this Michalmas Term. 1692. and most of the others published but a little before in the same year; all Printed for, and Sold by Tho. Sa­lusbury, at the King's Arms next St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet.

THE Reformed Gentleman, or the Old English Morals rescued from the Immoralities of the present Age; shewing how inconsistent those pre­tended Genteel Accomplishments of Swearing, Drinking, Whoring and Sabbath breaking are with the true Generosity of an Englishman. With an account of the proceedings of the Government for the Reformation of Manners. By A. M. of the Church of England, Bound in 8o. price 1 s 6 d.

2. An Essay against Ʋnequal Marriages, in four Chapters, 1. The Introduction. 2. Against Old Persons Marrying with Young. 3 Against Per­sons Marrying without Parents or Friends Con­sent. 4. Ag inst Persons Marrying without their own Consent. By S. Bufford, Gent, in 12o. bound price 1 s.

3. The Parsons Vade Mecum: or, A Treatise containing Choice Observations about the ac­counts of the year, Moveable Feasts, Ember­weeks, Ecclesiastical Censures, the memorable Things in the three first Centuries, and some af­ter Ages, Archbishops and Bishopricks, their Ele­ction, Consecration, Installment, &c. Patronag [...], Institution, Induction, Non residence, Dispensa­tions, Pluralities, Deprivation, Dilapidation, Priviledges of Clergymen, Tithes and Simony; very fit for all Clergymen and Gentlemen in 12o. bound, price 1 s.

4. The Measurers Guide, or the whole Art of Measuring made short, plain and easie, shewing how to measure any plain Superficies, all sorts of Regular Solids, Artificers Works, viz. Carpen­ters, Joyners, Plaisterers, Painters, Paviers, Gla­ziers, Bricklayers, Tylers, &c. with the Art of Gauging, of singular Use to all Gentlemen Ar­tificers and others. By J. Barker in 12o. bound, price 1 s.

5. Taxilla, or Love preferred before Duty; a Novel. By D.W. Gent. 12o. bound, price 1 s.

6. Eachards Gazetteers, or Newsmans Interpreters, being a Geographical Index of all Cities, Towns, &c. in Europe, with their distances from each o­ther, and to what Prince they are now subject to; very necessary for the right understanding of all Forreign and Domestick News Letters and Ga­zetts. 12o. bound, price 2 s.

7. —A most Compleat [...]ompendium of Geography, Ge­neral and Special, describing all the Empire, King­doms and Dominions in the whole World, col­lected according to the latest Discoverys, and a­greeing with the choicest and newest Maps, 12o. bound, price 1 s. 6 d.

8. — Exact Description of Ireland, Survey­ [...]ng all its Provinces and Countie; shewing the exact state of that Kingdom, and all the princi­pal. Thin [...]s that are necessary to be known; Il­lustrated with five Maps, one of the whole King­dom, the others of each particular Province, 12o. bound, price 1 s. 6 d.

9. — Flanders or the Spanish Netherlands, most accurately described, shewing the several Provin­ces, their Bounds, Dimensions, Rivers, Riches [Page] and Strength; with an exact description of the Cities, and who they are at present subject to; very necessary for the understanding the Wars in those Countries, 12o. bound, price 1 s.

10. — The Duke of Savoy's Dominions most accurately described, with some adjacent parts; shewing all that is necessary to be known, and very useful for the understanding of the pre [...]ent War in those parts, price 3 d. The five last all done by Laurance Eachard, A. B. of Christ's Col­ledge in Cambridge.

11. Nomo AEXIKON, A Law-Dictionary, interpreting such difficult and obscure Words and Terms as are found either in our Common or Statute, Ancient or Modern Laws, with Refe­rences to the several Statutes, Records, Registers, Law-Books, Charters, Ancient Deeds and Ma­nuscripts wherein the words are used, being the very best extant, the Second Edition. By Tho. Blunt of the Inner-Temple, Esq; in Folio bound, price 10 s.

A Treatise of Civil Bonds and Contracts, and the Nature, Causes, and Effects of Suretiships, with Cautions against it. By R.A Gent. 8o. bound, price 1 s. 6 d.

13. Tryon's New Art of Brewing, Beer, Al [...] and other sorts of Liquors, so as to render them more healthful to the body, and agreeable to Nature, with less Trouble and Charge than ge­nerally practised; with the Art of making Mault. The third Edition, 12o. bound, price 1 s.

14. — Wisdom Dictates, or Rules Physical and Moral, for preserving the health of the Body and the peace of the Mind; fit to be regarded by all [Page] that would enjoy the blessings of this world: To which is added a Bill of Fare of 75 Noble Dishes of excellent Food, without either Fish or Flesh, 12o. bound, price 1 s.

15. — Pythagoras's Mystick Philosophy revived, or the Mistery of Dreams and Visions unfolded; wherein the Causes, Natures and Uses of Noctur­nal Representations. and the Communications of good and evil Angels are Theosophically un­folded, 8o. bound, price 1 s. 6 d.

16. A New Art of making above 20 sorts of English Wines, Brandy and other Spirits more pleasant and agreeable than those of France; il­lustrated by the Doctrine of Fermentation and Distillation, by Curious Examples on the growth and product of this Island, 12o. bound price 1 s. 6d.

17. Chymicus Rationalis, or the Fundamental Grounds of the Chymical Art, rationally stated, and demonstrated by various Examples in Distil­lation, Rectification and Exaltation of Wines, Spirits, Tinctures, Oyls, Salts, Powers and Ole­osmus, in such a Method, as to retain the Speci­fick Vertues of Concreets in the greatest power and force, 8o. bound, 2 s.

18. Jacob Behmens Theosophick Philosophy, un­folded in divers Considerations and Demonstrati­ons; shewing the Verity and Utility of the se­veral Doctrines contained in the writings of that Author; with an Abridgment of his Works. [...]y E. Taylor. 4o. bound, price 6 s.

19. Arithmetical Rules Digested and Contracted, made plain and easie for the help and benefit of the Memory, very necessary for all Gentlemen and Tradsmen, as for Youth and Aprent ces in Merchantile Affairs, 12o. bound, price 1 s.

20. The Safety of France is Monsieur the Dauphin, or the Secret History of the French King, proving that there is no other way to secure France from approaching ruin, but by deposing his Father for a Tyrant and Destroyer of his People. Done out of French. 12o. bound, price 1 s.

21. The History of the late great Revolution in England and Scotland, with the Causes and Means by which it was accom­plished, with a particular account of the Extraordinary Occur­rences which hapned thereupon, as likewise the settlement of both the Kingdoms under their most serene Majesties King William and Queen Mary, with a List of the Convention. 8o. bound, price 5 s.

22. Remarks on the Dream of the late Abdicated Queen of Eng­land, and upon that of Madam the Dutches of Lavalee [...], late Mistress to the French King, wherein is plainly shewed the late successes of King William in Ireland, as likewise his future suc­cesses in France, with the miserable end of the French King, translated out of French. 4o. price, 6 d.

23. A Collection of the Famous Mr. George Whither's Wonder­ful Prophesies, relating to the English Nation and Government, many of which not yet fulfilled. 4o. 6 d.

24. Ecclesia Reviviscens. A Poem, or a short account of the Rise, Progress and Present State of the New Reformation of Manners. B [...] a late Gentleman of the Temple. 4. 6 d.

25. Gilbert R [...]les's President of the Scots Assemblies, his Vin­dication of the Church of Scotland from the Aspertions and Ca­lumnies of the Jacobites and Grumbleronians. 4. 6 d.

26. Miscellany Poems, viz. Rem [...]r [...]s on the Death of King Charles, and the succession of King James the Second, upon Faith, upon Patience, upon Ambition, to the University of Oxford: The Soul to a Good Conscience, the Soul to a Bad Conscience. By J. Whitchall. 4. 6 d.

27. Bragadoci [...]. A Comedy, by a Person of Quality. 4. 1 s.

28. The Vadois Declaration to all Christian Princes and States, of the Reasons of their taking up Arms, and putting themselves under the Protection of King William. 4. 2d.

FINIS.

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