THE SABBATH. 19 



with commodities " on Sunday, drops into a riYer: God's 

 retributive justice is seen in the fact. Wells travelled 

 far in search of instances. One Utrich Schrcetor, a 

 Swiss, while playing at dice on the Lord's Day, lost 

 heavily, and apparently to gain the devil to his side 

 broke out into this horrid blasphemy: " If fortune de- 

 ceive me now I will thrust my dagger in the body of 

 God." Whereupon he threw the dagger upwards. It 

 disappeared, and five drops of blood, which afterwards 

 proved indelible, fell upon the gaming table. The devil 

 then appeared, and with a hideous noise carried off 

 the vile blasphemer. His two companions fared no bet- 

 ter. One was struck dead and turned into worms, the 

 other was executed. A vintner who on the Lord's Day 

 tempted the passer-by with a pot of wine was carried 

 into the air by a whirlwind and never seen more. " Let 

 us read and tremble," adds Mr. Wells. At Tidworth 

 a man broke his leg on Sunday while plaving at foot- 

 ball. By a secret judgment of the Lord the wound 

 turned into a gangrene, and in pain and terror the crim- 

 inal gave up the ghost. 



You may smile at these recitals, but is there not a 

 survival of John Wells still extant among you? Are 

 there not people in your midst so well informed as to 

 " the secret judgments of the Lord " as to be able to tell 

 you their exact value and import, from the damaging 

 of the share market through the running of Sunday 

 trains to the calamitous overthrow of a railway bridge? 

 Alphonso of Castile boasted that if he had been consult- 

 ed at the beginning of things he could have saved the 

 Creator some worlds of trouble. It would not be diffi- 

 cult to give the God of our more rigid Sabbatarians 

 a lesson in justice and mercy; for his alleged judgments 

 savour but little of either. How are calamities to be 

 classified? Almost within earshot of those who note 



