GO D's

REVENGE

Against the
BREAKERS

OF THE

Ten Commandments.

ILLUSTRATED BY

A great Variety of Melancholly EXAMPLES,
as well Modern as Antient.

AND

Calculated both to INSTRUCT and ENTERTAIN.

INTENDED

For the Ufe of every FAMILY, where there are
CHILDREN and SERVANTS.

LONDON

Printed for W. OWEN, near Temple-Bar.

M. DCC. L.

(Price 3. Bound, Į

B.L

THE

PREFA C E.

PT a Time, when all Manner of Immo rality and Prophaneness feems to have overspread thefe Kingdoms like a Deluge; when all Virtue and Public Spirit has been openly ridiculed, and laughed out of Doors; whilft Corruption, that Bane of all Goodnefs, Nursery of all Vice, and Root of all Evil, has been as openly practifed and defended; to which bitter Fountain alone, are owing all the Calamities, under which this unhappy and divid d Nation has lately laboured, and without great Care, and due Amendment, may yet, we fear, languish much longer. At fuch a Time, we fay, when every Kind of Wickedness reigns triumphant, a Treatife, exprefsly calulated, to recommend and inforce the Practice of Virtue, by explaining and pointing out the full Extent of Every One's Duty, and at the fame Inftant fhewing the Danger, and dreadful Confequences, of either neglecting or fwerving from it; at fuch a Time, we repeat it, if ever, fuch a Treatise must be abfolutely neceffary; though, forry we are to say it, there is then leaft Reafon to hope for its being well re

ceived.

In effect, we do not much flatter ourselves with the Thought of feeing it in the Hands of the very Gay, the Fashionable, or Polite; and

much

much less in thofe of fuch refined Gentry, as glorg in diftinguishing themfelves, by the modifh Name of Free-thinkers, under which they include Atheists, and Deifts, or fomewhat get worse: Nevertheless, bad as the Age is, we believe there are yet many, Tubo are not arrived at that Height of Licen tioufness, to make a Feft of Dammation, and feaff at all Religion; and from fuch, we do not despair of a good Acceptance, even though they should be young, genteelly educated, and of a chearful Dif pofition; no Pains having been spared, to render it as agreeable and entertaining, as the Nature of the Thing would admit.

As for thofe, indeed, who are downright Giglers, and leave nothing that will not make them laugh, or who are fond of loofe Reading, they must not expect to find any Thing to their vitiated Tafte here; but, for fuch as have Solidity enough, to be pleafed with a good Piece of Hiftory, or a moral Tale, whereby they may be at once improved, infired, and amused, they will here meet with abundant Matter of Entertainment. And there may be alfo fome Convenience, in this little Treatife, for those who are polite and fashionable; provided they are not fo far in the Height of the Mode, but they can bear to be feen fometimes in the Infide of a Church, and even to behave with Decency when there. To fuch as thefe, it is well known, that Sundays, with all the little Helps of Chit-Chat, Vifiting, and Tea-Tables, are apt to hang very heavy upon their Hands; what then muft they do, should they happen to be so much indifpofed, that they can neither go Abroad, nor care to receive Company at Home? They may, perhaps, fcruple to read a Play, or Prior's Poems, on fuch a Day; and to go through the Fatigue of poring over above a Chapter or two, in that Out

of

of-the-way Book the Bible, might increase their Illness, by giving them the Vapours; in fuch a fad Cafe, then, they may find this fhort Treatife, neither quite fo tedious as they think the latter, ner altogether fo improper for the Day, as the former; befides its having the Charms of Novelty to recommend it. We shall freely own, however, it was not for any of thefe beforementioned it was chiefly compiled; no, it was defigned for the Ufe of fuch, as believe it worth while, now and then to think, of their future State; and to confider, whether they are in the Way to eternal Happiness, or endless Mifery: To all fuch, we are perfwaded, the being inftructed in the full Extent of their Duty, with regard to each of the Commandments, and at the fame Time agreeably entertained, will be deemed no fmall Advantages; and thefe, we doubt not, even in the prefent Times, are fufficiently numerous, to take off a larger Impreffion, than are now printed of these Sheets.

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