A letter from a gentleman in Manchester to his friend concerning a notorious blasphemer who died in despair &c. Gentleman in Manchester. 1694 Approx. 9 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 3 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2008-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A27369 Wing B184 ESTC R28329 10526112 ocm 10526112 45205 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A27369) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 45205) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1394:38) A letter from a gentleman in Manchester to his friend concerning a notorious blasphemer who died in despair &c. Gentleman in Manchester. 4 p. Printed for John Whitlock, London : 1694. Caption title. "Licens'd, Decemb. 28th, 1694." Imprint from colophon. Reproduction of original in the British Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Socinianism. Sunday. 2007-01 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-02 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-03 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2007-03 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A LETTER FROM A Gentleman in Manchester , To his Friend , Concerning a Notorious Blasphemer , Who Died in Despair , &c. Licens'd , Decemb. 28th . 1694. Dear SIR , THough you are more than One Letter in arrears to me already , for which ( according to the Rules of Correspondence ) I might well expect your Returns e're I gave you further Credit ; yet being providentially furnish'd with Extraordinary Matter , I am easily enclin'd to run you one other Letter into my Debt , the Contents of which will be ( indeed ! ) but too Sad and Surprizing . — I am not unsensible that upon such a Melancholy Occasion I could have addrest my self to several , more properly than to your self ; blessed be God , you are not of that unhappy number , that in Works , and even in Words , Deny the Divine Being ; nor dares you entertain the least Thought tending to the Contempt of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ , God over All , Blessed for ever ! Neither the Atheism , nor the more pernicious Socinianism ( I was about to call it ) of this Profane Age has Tainted your truly Christian Soul : And yet I think the Terrible Instance I have before me , of God's Indignation against those Damnable Sins , will not to you be disadvantageously communicated . It may , at least , tend to Establish you in your most Holy Religion ; and thus no doubt but it will be dispers'd by you , much more than by one less seriously dispos'd . And truly , I think such a singular Relation cannot be made too Publick in our Age , wherein all manner of Licentiousness does abound ! But before I acquaint you with Particulars , give me leave to tell you , That you may relate what you shall have from me with all the Assurance in the World. My Evidence is a very Honest Credible Person , who saw and heard most of what follows , and who had the rest from Eye and Ear-Witnesses . But I have no Reason to imagin that the Truth of this Divine Tragedy will be call'd into any Question ; it is known over a great part of the County , and was not so long since acted , but that upon Enquiry , full Satisfaction may be had about it from Persons of the best Credit . And now , without more Preface , I shall give you a Faithful Account of Matter of Fact. At Downam , near Clithero , in Lancashire , there liv'd one T. B. ( the full of his Name , for his surviving Relations sake , is conceal'd , ) about Thirty six Years of Age , well known in that Town , at his Death especially by the Office he then bore of Churchwarden . This Miserable Creature , notwithstanding the good Education which his better Parents had bestow'd upon him , had for a great while indulg'd himself in an Excess of Wickedness , but chiefly in a Sacrilegious Abuse of the Lord●s-Day , on which he would use any unlawful Exercises : Nor did his Office restrain him from committing this Abomination , but as if he ( who should have been First in Punishing ) Prided himself in being the Ring-leader of the Sabbath-Breakers , he would not only Privately , and at Home , but in the very open Streets , Revel and Sport on that Holy Day . For this , and his other Provocations , it pleased God so to leave him to the Devil and himself , that he became guilty of such horrid Blasphemy as procur'd ( it is to be fear'd ) his Ruine in both Worlds . The Manner of it take thus . — On the 26th . Day of August , 1694. being Lord's-Day ( the Day of his sinful Excesses ) he gave his Attendance at Church ; and after Service , with the Minister that preach'd there that Day , he went to the Ale-house , where he stay'd not long e're he remov'd to his own House ; in which seeing a Bible lie on a Table , he takes it up , and turning to the 9th . Chapter of St. Matthew , bursts out into this horrid Expression , Christ is a Lyar ! Upon this , says one that was by , How dare you speak such Blasphemous Words ? The Wretch , pointing then to the 16th . and 17th . Verses of that Chapter , ( where our Blessed Saviour saith , No Man putteth a piece of New Cloth into an Old Garment , neither do Men put New Wine into Old Bottles , ) cryes out , Why look here , he proves himself a Lyar in these two things , besides many more places in the Bible . That Night he was struck with much Sadness and Sighing , which grew upon him every Day more than other for that whole Week , in which he kept much upon the Bed , very listless to speak , or indeed , to take any notice of Worldly Concerns . The Lord●s-Day following he seem'd much more Troubl●d in Mind , and Terrify'd in Conscience , and he desir'd a Neighbour's Company all Night : He would have Pray'd , but could not : His Sister , at his Request , read by him , but he appear'd little affected with what he heard . Two Days more he continu'd Tossing about in the Room , keeping much upon his Bed , and Torturing himself . On Wednesday , several Neighbours and Others hearing of his grievous Condition , came into the Chamber to him ; when suddenly he cryes out , Turn , Turn , Turn , ( many times together , ) Shut the Door , Christ is going to leave me . With that , some step'd to the Door and shut it ; but he having his Eyes still fix'd upon it , with a very hideous Noise , cry'd out , It was too late , Christ was quite gone and left him , he was Damn'd for ever ; He is gone , He is gone ; it is too late , it is too late ; I am Damn'd for evermore . This he repeated frequently ; and all that Day he cried out of the Torments of Hell , and that he saw the Flames of Fire there , and that he was hanging over the Flames ; and ( says he ) Hell is a Hundred thousand Fathoms deep , and I am sinking Deeper and Deeper therein . He added , That he saw a Numberless Number there which he knew not , only One particular Person he mention'd , with whom he had been very Conversant , and from whom he was supposed to have contracted abundance of Guilt . His Relations , and the rest with him , were very much affrighted and troubled at his Expressions and Behaviour , but especially to see his Ghastly and Terrifying Looks : They spoke together of sending for the Minister , and some Godly Persons to Pray with him : But he taking notice of what they said , told them , That it was now too late either to Pray for him , or to tell him any thing of Christ ; And for You too ( says he , turning to one of his nearest Relations ) unless you Repent soon . And further , he told them , That if there were Hundreds and Thousands of Ministers to Pray for him , it was all to no purpose , it was too late . After this time , he would not endure to hear of Prayer , or Reading the Bible , nor would so much as suffer any to take a Bible in their Hands ; nay , so great a Torment did the Sight of a Bible , or Hearing of Prayer seem to him , that upon either , he 'd cry out , Let me go , Let me go ; I will not stay here . And the Minister coming to him with a Book in his Hand , he would have struck it out ; and tossing and rouling his Body , he us'd all the means he could to get out of the Room , all along crying out , Do you not see the Fire flaming in Hell , and the Lake of Hell Fire , and the Depth of Hell , which cannot be fathom'd : O Hell-Fire ! Hell-fire ! Fire of Hell ! Fire of Hell ! Oh , how I siak down in it ! Thus he continu'd Crying out , to the great Amazement and Terrour of all the Company , all that Day , and part of the Night ; and the next Day he was Speechless : And upon Friday , the 7th . of September , 1694. he Expir'd , in the Morning . ☞ His Body , for several Hours after his Death , Sweating very apparently . And thus have I briefly made you this fearful Relation , after which I shall but add my hearty Prayers for Our Selves , and for all whose Ears are made to Tingle with this dreadful Report , That we may be preserved continually , by the Grace of God , from Profaning his Holy Day ; and above all , from Villifying the Glorious Person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ , to forewarn Men of the horrid Danger whereof this Miserable Wretch seems to be set up , by Divine Providence , a Terrible and Speaking Monument ! But here I shall bid you Farewell , and with due Respects to your Self , and the good Ladies your Sisters , in great haste , I subscribe my self , Dear SIR , Yours most Affectionately . Manchester , Decemb. 10. 1694. LONDON , Printed for John Whitlock , near Stationers-Hall , 1694.