BOURN, Benjamin, as Belzebub.

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A Sure Guide to Hell. First edition. This satire of contemporary religious tracts was published under a false name and imprint. The author, a dissenting English minister, was targeting works like A Sure Guide to Heaven (1688), a puritanical conversion text by nonconformist pastor Joseph Alleine (1634-1668). Bourn offers mock advice to the youth, promoting negative acts like vandalism; the irony at the heart of the work is utilised to expose the moral failings of Georgian society.

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