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<DATE>2013-05-22</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B120726.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<BIBNO T="umi">99899563</BIBNO>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P><HI>DIGIT&V;S DEI.</HI></P>
<P>A FAITHFUL RELATION and COLLECTION OF Seven wonderful and remarkable, Judgements, lately inflicted by God on &s;everal per&s;ons u&s;ing Execrations and wicked Wi&s;hes to them&s;elves; which &s;uddenly came dreadfully to pa&s;s: <HI>VIZ.</HI>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. A woman at <HI>Atherbury</HI> in <HI>Oxford</HI>-&s;hire burnt to a&s;hes all on one &s;ide, when there was no fire neer her, in <HI>May</HI> 1677.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>John Duncalf,</HI> who denying a Bible that he had &s;toln, and wi&s;hing that he might Rot if he had it, did by degrees Rot away till he died, in <HI>July</HI> 1677. at <HI>King-Swinford</HI> in <HI>Stafford</HI>-&s;hire.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. A woman in <HI>Newgate</HI> &s;truck deaf, blinde and dumb, accor|ding to her wi&s;h, on Saturday the 14 of <HI>July</HI> 1677.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. A man Cur&s;ing at Cards in the <HI>Mar&s;hal&s;eys</HI> in <HI>Southwark,</HI> and wi&s;hing he might <HI>never &s;tir,</HI> immediately fell down dead.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. A woman neer the <HI>Minories,</HI> who having for&s;worn 2 <HI>s.</HI> was (as 'tis conceived) actually po&s;&s;e&s;t with a Devil, and de&s;troyed in the pre&s;ence of hundreds of people, <HI>October</HI> 1675.</ITEM>
<ITEM>6. A woman great with childe neer <HI>Exeter,</HI> a&s;&s;erting a Lye, with a Wi&s;h that otherwi&s;e &s;he might never be delivered; both &s;he and her childe mi&s;erably peri&s;hed.</ITEM>
<ITEM>7. A man in <HI>Suffolk</HI> that u&s;ed to wi&s;h he might Rot if he wron|ged people, before his death peri&s;ht away in a &s;trange manner, perfect Chalk-&s;tones dropping out of the calves of his leggs.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>With an Account of the Circum&s;tances of each Judgement; and a mo&s;t Nota|ble Speech of a per&s;on of Quality on the Ladder about to be hang'd.</P>
<Q><P>Is not de&s;truction to the wicked, and a STRANGE Puni&s;hment to the workers of iniqui|ty?</P>
<BIBL>Job 31.3.</BIBL></Q>
<Q><P>All the&s;e things happened unto them for En&s;amples, and are written for our admonition,</P>
<BIBL>1 Cor. 10.11.</BIBL></Q>
<Q><P>That all I&s;rael may hear and fear; and do no more any &s;uch wickedne&s;s,</P>
<BIBL>Deut. 13.11.</BIBL></Q>
<P><TEXT LANG="eng">
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<DIV1 TYPE="license">
<P>With Allowance.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Ro L'E&s;trange.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed for <HI>D. M.</HI> 1677.</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
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<PB N="3" REF="2" MS="y">
<HEAD>Seven remarkable Judgements, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></HEAD>
<P>'TIs ob&s;erv'd by Phy&s;icians, that every Country extra|ordinarily liable to a Di&s;ea&s;e, doth likewi&s;e yield &s;ome particular Herb or Remedy again&s;t that Di|&s;temper. In this Age, abounding with Fools that &s;ay, not onely in their hearts, but with their bla&s;phemous lips, <HI>That there is no God,</HI> wherein &s;o many po&s;itively deny an Om|nipotent Providence, and almo&s;t all live as if they did not re|gard it, it hath plea&s;ed the Divine Maje&s;ty to manife&s;t his power by more frequent and immediate Examples among&s;t us: For (as the Royal P&s;almi&s;t &s;aith) <HI>The Lord is known by his judgements that he executeth,</HI> P&s;al. 9.16. Of which late dread|ful In&s;tances I have thought it a &s;ea&s;onable &s;ervice to make this Collection, con&s;i&s;ting of &s;uch as have been mo&s;t notorious and remarkable; not doubting but many more might be ad|ded, if Mini&s;ters and others would but be at the pains to ob|&s;erve and communicate them, than which I know not any work can be more nece&s;&s;ary and u&s;eful in a profane and unbe|lieving Generation.</P>
<P>I &s;hall begin with a woman at <HI>Atherbury</HI> in <HI>Oxford&s;hire;</HI> who keeping a &s;mall Ale-hou&s;e, had too much addicted her &s;elf to lewd Speeches, &s;ometimes Oaths, and frequently Cur&s;es, as well on her &s;elf as others. It happened about the beginning of <HI>May</HI> this pre&s;ent year 1677, being all-alone in her hou&s;e, a Neighbour-woman came thither for &s;ome &s;trong drink, which &s;he having drawn and received Twelve pence or &s;ome &s;uch piece of money, in&s;tead of ju&s;tly returning the full Change,
<PB N="4" REF="3">&s;topt and abated Two pence or Three pence out of it, be&s;ides what the pre&s;ent drink came to, pretending there was former|ly &s;o much owing to her; which the other re&s;olutely denying, the Ho&s;te&s;s began to &s;wear, and u&s;e &s;everal abominable Wi&s;hes, &s;aying, <HI>God damn me, and the Devil burn me, if it be not &s;o;</HI> which la&s;t words &s;he often repeated: However, the other con|fident perhaps in the certainty of her knowledge to the con|trary, &s;till per&s;i&s;ting to deny it, and refu&s;ing to be gone with|out the re&s;t of her money, the Ale-wife at la&s;t violently thru&s;t her out of her hou&s;e, and to prevent her coming in again, &s;hut the door and lockt it again&s;t her. Thus with many horrid &s;in|ful Expre&s;&s;ions (if not down-right Perjuries) this poor wretch made &s;hift to wrangle her Neighbour out of this incon&s;idera|ble &s;um, but paid lamentably dear for the &s;ame: For behold! by a &s;tupendious and terrible Jubgement from Heaven, as we cannot but &s;uppo&s;e, &s;he was immediately call'd to an Account, and Burnt to death, as &s;he had fooli&s;hly and wickedly wi&s;ht, in a wonderful and unheard-of manner. For having &s;o &s;hut and lockt the door, the &s;ame was not opened, nor any further news heard of her, till &s;everal hours after, her Husband chanc'd to come home, and wondring to finde his door fa&s;t &s;hut in the middle of the day, without being able to make any body an|&s;wer within, after much inquiry forced open the door, and en|tring with one or two of his Neighbours, their eyes encoun|tred one of the mo&s;t &s;ad and di&s;mal Spectacles that ever Mortal beheld: for in the mid&s;t of the floot lay the Reliques of his Wife; one &s;ide of her Body, and the Cloaths thereupon, from the &s;oal of her foot to the crown of her head, being Con&s;u|med and Burnt to A&s;hes, and nothing left but the Skeleton or Bones; whereas the other &s;ide remained whole, and the Cloaths thereon not &s;o much as touch'd or &s;indg'd, though it was ob|&s;erv'd, that the fle&s;h and skin there was all turn'd black, as if it had been bla&s;ted with Lightning; but no vi&s;ible fire neer her, nor indeed had there been any in the hou&s;e that day. <HI>Con&s;i|der this, all you that forget God,</HI> P&s;al. 50.22. and remember that to the wicked, <HI>Our God is a con&s;uming fire.</HI></P>
<PB N="5" REF="3" MS="y">
<P> The next Judgement is yet more a&s;toni&s;hing, happening on the per&s;on of one <HI>John Duncalfe,</HI> born in the Pari&s;h of <HI>Cod&s;ole</HI> neer <HI>Wolver-hampton,</HI> but lately living in the Pari&s;h of <HI>Kings-Swinford</HI> in the County of <HI>Stafford,</HI> by Trade bred up a Wheel|wright, but of late leading an idle pilfering kind of life; So that in <HI>March</HI> this pre&s;ent year 1677, he did &s;teal a Bible from one Goodwife <HI>Bays,</HI> and &s;old it to one <HI>Norton</HI> of <HI>Wombern,</HI> and being que&s;tion'd for it, he po&s;itively denied it, and wi&s;ht <HI>He might Rot alive, and his hands Rot off,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>if he had meddled with it:</HI> But there is a God that recompenceth the ungodly, and that &s;ometimes according to their own wicked Wi&s;hes: For as &s;oon as he had &s;old this Bible, he was taken with a Trem|bling as it were an Ague, and immediately his Hands began to Rot, and then he look'd on it as the hand of God for his Ly|ing Imprecations. The remarkablene&s;s of his Puni&s;hment drew many from all parts to behold him; and being poor and unable, by rea&s;on of this rotting of his hands, to do any work, and yet &s;eeming otherwi&s;e in health and very good &s;tomach, he was laid in a Barn, a Tender appointed to look after him, and Victuals provided for him. On <HI>April</HI> 26, being vi&s;ited by a Mi|ni&s;ter of that County, he ob&s;erv'd his Condition to be thus: One hand &s;o rotted off that it hung onely by the Mu&s;cles, no skin nor fle&s;h on the wri&s;t for four inches, the whole hand drawn up to|gether; &s;o that both for figure and colour it re&s;embled a Bea&s;t|hoof, which did all &s;oon after drop off: and &s;o he continu'd con|&s;uming by degrees till the middle of <HI>June;</HI> at which time he had neither Hand nor Leg, but all rotted and dropt off from his wri&s;ts and knees, through which the bones appeared, but com|pa&s;s'd with corrupt and ulcerous fle&s;h fill'd with Maggots; and to prevent flye-blowing, u&s;ually cover'd with Dock-leaves. The fir&s;t Hand and his two Legs were buried <HI>May</HI> the 13th, and five days afterwards the other Hand came off. During all this time he could Eat, Drink, and Sleep, and as far as could be perceived had none or very little pain. At fir&s;t he de&s;ired people to pray for him, but afterwards became more &s;urly and moro&s;e, refu&s;ing to di&s;cour&s;e with Mini&s;ters or other godly
<PB N="6" REF="4">Vi&s;itants; and not &s;hewing that Repentance as all good men hoped &s;o terrible a Vi&s;itation might have wrought in him: But rotting on thus by degrees, about the later end of <HI>June</HI> he gave up the Gho&s;t. A Spectacle &s;o &s;ad, that we may apply that Saying of Holy Writ, though &s;poken on another occa&s;ion; Eye hath not &s;een, nor ear heard the like long-continuing Mo|nument of Judgement, as we verily believe, in any Age.</P>
<P>'Tis within the&s;e two years la&s;t pa&s;t, that one that was pri|&s;oner in the <HI>Mar&s;hal&s;eys</HI> for Debt being playing at Cards, upon &s;ome difference about their Game, fell a &s;wearing and cur&s;ing in a lamentable manner; and among&s;t other lewd &s;peeches, often wi&s;ht he might <HI>never &s;tir more</HI> if it were not as he pre|tended: when behold! &s;carce were the words out of his mouth, but he falls down dead in the place without &s;peaking a word, or &s;tirring either hand or foot. Which Example we the rather pre&s;s to your con&s;ideration, becau&s;e many men that would be thought &s;ober, and of good conver&s;ation, have got an ill habit of &s;aying <HI>Ne'r &s;tir,</HI> on every trivial occa&s;ion; which we hope this &s;ad In&s;tance will warn them to leave off: Nor are tho&s;e le&s;s to be blam'd who hope to e&s;cape the puni&s;h|ment of Swearers, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> by mincing their Oaths, as <HI>I'gad, &V;dds|budd,</HI> &amp;c. which indeed are no le&s;s than &s;wearing by the Holy Name, and pretious Blood of God: And therefore <HI>be not de|ceived, God will not be mocked,</HI> Gal. 6.7.</P>
<P>In the month of <HI>October</HI> in the year 1675, a woman living neer <HI>Well-clo&s;e,</HI> and not far from <HI>Ea&s;t-&s;mithfield&punc;</HI> having wron|ged a woman of Two-&s;hillings, by taking the &s;ame away from a little childe to whom it was given to play with, being char|ged therewith before the Ju&s;tice, fell down upon her knees, wi&s;ht that <HI>God would Damn her, and the Dveil forthwith take po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of her,</HI> and many other the like vile Imprecations, if &s;he had the Money; yet in truth, as &s;he afterwards confe&s;s'd, had pilfer'd the &s;ame: And Divine Ju&s;tice dealt with her accor|ding to her Wi&s;h, by giving permi&s;&s;ion to the Devil; who &s;ud|denly thereupon (as &s;he related, and mo&s;t that &s;aw her believe) really po&s;&s;e&s;t her, and would &s;everal times have choak'd her;
<PB N="7" REF="4" MS="y">in&s;omuch that coming on the Lords day into a publick Congre|gation, not far from the place afore&s;aid, &s;he was before them all lifted up above the ground, &amp; exceedingly tormented, with prodigious &s;welling in her throat and danger of being choak'd, and then &s;he would de&s;ire them to pray for her, and &s;eem to &s;trive with the Devil in a &s;trange Agony, crying out, <HI>Be gone, be gone, Satan! I will &s;erve God, I will &s;erve God,</HI> &amp;c. But at la&s;t, as the Mini&s;ter was in his Prayer, was lifted up by invi&s;ible means, and flung down headlong to the ground, whence &s;he was taken up dead. The truth hereof is &s;ufficiently known to hundreds about this City, who with Terrour were Eye-wit|ne&s;&s;es.</P>
<P>'Tis not four years &s;ince a woman neer <HI>Exeter</HI> being great with Childe, and having u&s;ed her &s;elf to a wicked cu&s;tome of &s;aying, when any thing was denied or que&s;tioned, <HI>Let me never be delivered,</HI> or <HI>Let me peri&s;h with what I go with if it be not &s;o:</HI> When her pains come upon her at the Expiration of her Rec|koning, though there appeared no natural Impediments, but rather all the &s;ignes of a happy Chide-birth, yet could &s;he not by any Art be delivered; but after much langui&s;hing Torture both &s;he and her unborn Infant peri&s;hed according to her Wi&s;hes.</P>
<P>Though divers years &s;ince, yet 'tis &s;till within the memory of man, and can be atte&s;ted by &s;everal &s;till living, how a Gen|tleman living at St. <HI>Edmunds</HI> in <HI>Suffolk,</HI> being an U&s;urer and great Oppre&s;&s;or and Grinder of the Poor, under pretence of kindne&s;s, the better to colour his Ill de&s;ignes, was frequently wont to wi&s;h that he <HI>might Rot, if he wrong'd them:</HI> But God made him an Example of Vengeance: For in his later years he peri&s;hed away in a &s;trange manner, perfect Chalk-&s;tones be|ing generated in and dropping out of the Calves of his Legs; of which at length he mi&s;erably died.</P>
<P>I &s;hall conclude with a remarkable Speech and Confe&s;&s;ion of a Per&s;on of Quality, who was hang'd the 20th of <HI>Nov.</HI> 1615, on <HI>Tower-hill,</HI> for being Acce&s;&s;ary to the horrid Murther of the Ingenious Sir <HI>Tho. Overbury.</HI> This Gentleman in an excellent
<PB N="8" REF="5">and penitent Speech made immediately before his Death upon the Ladder, has this pa&s;&s;age <HI>verbatim,</HI> taken out of the exact Copy then printed, <HI>p.</HI> 153. <HI>Viz.</HI>
<Q>I had almo&s;t forgotten to &s;hew you a &s;trange thing which God brought to my memory the la&s;t night, which was this: I confe&s;s I have been a great Game&s;ter, and e&s;pecially on the other &s;ide have wa&s;ted and plaid ma|ny &s;ums of money, which exhau&s;ted a great part of my Means; which I perceiving, vowed &s;periou&s;ly (not &s;lightly or unadvi&s;edly) to the Lord in my Vow and Prayers, <HI>Lord, let me be hang'd, if ever I play any more:</HI> Which not long after is mo&s;t ju&s;tly come upon me, whereof you are all Eye-witne&s;&s;es, becau&s;e a thou&s;and times &s;ince I have broken this my Vow.</Q></P>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><HI>Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not &s;ee: but they &s;hall &s;ee, and be a&s;hamed.</HI> For <HI>they &s;hall not live: thou ha&s;t vi&s;ited and de&s;troyed them, and their memory &s;hall peri&s;h,</HI></Q>
<BIBL>I&s;ai. 26.11. &amp; 14. <HI>ver&s;.</HI></BIBL>
</EPIGRAPH>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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