[Footnote 81: Religious parody seems to have carried no sense of
impropriety with it to the minds of the men of the 15th and 16th
centuries. Luther was an adept in this art, and the preachers who
followed him continued the practice. The sermons of divines in the
following century often sought an attraction by quaint titles, such
as--"Heaven ravished"--"The Blacksmith, a sermon preached at Whitehall
before the King," 1606. Beloe, in his _Anecdotes of Literature_, vol. 6,
has recorded many of these quaint titles, among them the
following:--"_The Nail hit on the head_, and driven into the city and
cathedral wall of Norwich. By John Carter, 1644." "_The Wheel turned_ by
a voice from the throne of glory. By John Carter, 1647." "_Two Sticks
made one_, or the excellence of Unity. By Matthew Mead, 1691." "_Peter's
Net let downe_, or the Fisher and the Fish, both prepared towards a
blessed haven. By R. Matthew, 1634." In the middle of the last century
two religious tracts were published, one bearing the alarming title,
"Die and be Damned," the other being termed, "A sure Guide to Hell." The
first was levelled against the preaching of the Methodists, and the
title obtained from what the author asserts to be the words of
condemnation then frequently applied by them to all who differed from
their creed. The second is a satirical attack on the prevalent follies
and vices of the day, which form the surest "guide," in the opinion of
the author, to the bottomless pit.]